Thread: Tony Hawkin's and I wonder what happened to his rifling machine

Someone on the forum will know who brought Tony Hawkin's gear when he died in 85 ?

I could spend hours on the internet
But you knowledgeable forum members will already know all the answers

So any clues on where the gear went and who might have it now ?
Probably not being used and maybe scattered in all directions
But you never know

I have been looking a lot at .58 barrels from the USA
And recalled Tony did 58s which at that time was a little odd
He did 38, 45 and 58 cal
But not 50 cal

Anyway leads on the barrel making gear or any others much appreciated

Cannot help with where his gear went but vaguely recollect it was bought by someone to continue making barrels but heard no more.

Met Tony on many occasions both at shoots (and after shoot functions!) and at his workshop in Captain Springs Road.

I'm really struggling with recalling but Tony may have button rifled? Someone will know for sure. I still have a new 45 cal barrel of his so should get it out and have a squiz.

He made all his own barrel making equipment which was pretty amazing for a guy without any real engineering background. No Internet back then so studied up from books.

I'm sure someone with better memory cells than me will recall where his gear went.

Eagle arms in Tauranga bought it, I believe.

I don't know what happened after that.

Yeah, your mention of Eagle jangled my memory.

Here's a link to the other pub FishnHunt - New Zealands Famous Hunting and Fishing Forum Since 1995 - Barrel liners
Last couple of posts.
Looks like Eagle were gone before 2015.

I looked to Eagle Arms to build my STW rifle back in the early 90's, they sent me elsewhere as they were going under back then.

Tony's gear was sold to a gunsmith up south head and last heard it was all sitting rusting outside his shed. That was 15yrs or more ago.

Originally Posted by Walker

Tony's gear was sold to a gunsmith up south head and last heard it was all sitting rusting outside his shed. That was 15yrs or more ago.

I unlike that one !

But probably what I was expecting to hear

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Someone on the forum will know who brought Tony Hawkin's gear when he died in 85 ?

I could spend hours on the internet
But you knowledgeable forum members will already know all the answers

So any clues on where the gear went and who might have it now ?
Probably not being used and maybe scattered in all directions
But you never know

I have been looking a lot at .58 barrels from the USA
And recalled Tony did 58s which at that time was a little odd
He did 38, 45 and 58 cal
But not 50 cal

Anyway leads on the barrel making gear or any others much appreciated

Eagle Engineering Co in Mount Maunganui. The remains of a barrel lathe, with drills were at TEI engineering , now Mount Maunganui Engineeringa few years ago, the button dies where sold on.

O my god, , sitting rusting in the rain!!. I was toying with the idea of pushing a button with some threaded rod but getting a .457/8" rifling button,???.
After a long break I`m setting up to drill some 4140 stock and try out my new .450" T/C pull through reamer then hope fully rifle it 1-18" to .458" bore. I still have two
muzzle loading barrels.

@akaroa1 I saw a youtube vid on someone who had made a civil war cannon replica.
The cutting rifling machine's "guide" was made from twisting a length of mild steel flat bar. So long as it was all equally tempered the twist would be constant along the whole bar.
Sounds easier than making the wooden guides used in classic rifling machine setups ... and if you want progressive twist rifling you might modify that method a bit by clamping it higher and higher in between applying twist.

Anyway, easier than trying to find under-appreciated machine tools sold to someone by someone else in 1985.

I think he did .257 blanks too? I’m sure I have one of his on a build from my NZ days.

I believe Arthur Cleland had a few 22 barrel blanks from him.

Rifling buttons available on Alibaba

Originally Posted by Cordite

@akaroa1 I saw a youtube vid on someone who had made a civil war cannon replica.
The cutting rifling machine's "guide" was made from twisting a length of mild steel flat bar. So long as it was all equally tempered the twist would be constant along the whole bar.
Sounds easier than making the wooden guides used in classic rifling machine setups ... and if you want progressive twist rifling you might modify that method a bit by clamping it higher and higher in between applying twist.

Anyway, easier than trying to find under-appreciated machine tools sold to someone by someone else in 1985.

The best mechanical solution I have seen uses a gear rack attached to the "Cross slide" of the machine and an angled bar off the backside that the end of the rack is attached to. The gear is attached to the cutting head and as you slide the carriage along, the rack moves in and out based on the taper you have. If you want gain twist rifling, make a curved guide bar. Looks kind of similar to a taper turning attachment for a lathe.



I think nowdays, the best solution would be a couple of stepper motors, an encoder and some trickery with an arduino board. Basically the same thing as an electronic leadscrew which lots of people are adding to hobby lathes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTs9...annel=Clough42

Originally Posted by Dicko

I think he did .257 blanks too? I’m sure I have one of his on a build from my NZ days.

Tony rebarreled my BAR 270 to 257 Roberts, plus a couple of BSA Majestics in 257 Improved. The BAR was his last rebarrel before his passing on to the gunsmiths place upstairs.