When muskets were rifled, the gunsmith used a bit to carve grooves in the length of the barrel. The groove is a depression cut, which created a lan, which was the uncut area. Rifling served to impart a spin on the projectile, which stabilized the flight of the bullet, helping it to travel farther and more accurately. The Minie ball, which is a conical shaped bullet, was hollow at the base, with a skirt about 1/16" of an inch thick and about 3/16 in depth. When the black powder ignited behind the bullet, the force of the explosion caused the skirt to expand, engaging the soft lead bullet into the rifling, thus causing the bullet to spin.
Lands and grooves.
Grooves cut into the inside of a gun barrel for the purpose of spinning the bullet when fired.
The spiral grooves in a guns barrel are known as rifling. Its what puts a spin on the bullet as it leaves the barrel for accuracy. The grooves are called..... well, grooves. The ungrooved part between grooves is called a land. So looking through the barrel of a rifled firearm, you will see the "lands and grooves" that make up the rifling.
Barrels have lands and grooves, not ammunition.
On the INSIDE of the barrel, they are called grooves. Together with the ungrooved areas, called lands, they make up rifling. On the OUTSIDE of the barrel, they are called flutes. These are cuts made in the barrel to make it lighter.
In the US, rifled guns (handguns, rifles, machine guns, and cannons (artillery) caliber is measured from "lands to lands" (inside the bore); in Europe caliber is measured from the grooves. The lands are the raised portion of the inside steel barrel (inside the bore), the grooves are the cut portion, the valleys of the bore's interior. Therefore, a 20" gun would measure close to 20 inches directly across from one "land" to the other "land." If you measure from groove to groove, the diameter will be larger.
No one best. During WW 1, the 1903A3 rifle was made with 2 lands and grooves- and they shot quite well.
The stripes of the lands and grooves will be on the sides of the bullet. If the bullet is "stripping" through the rifling of the gun, the striations (proper name for the rifling marks) will be smeared.
Lands and grooves are the portions inside the barrel that make up the rifling, which is a spiraling series of raised lines (lands) which put a spin on the projectile as it travels down the barrel. This stabilizes the projectile and allows longer range and better accuracy.
Lands
on the muzzle end of the barrel there will be 3 grooves for the handgaurd/extension, if the barrel is smooth on the outside with no grooves it is a riot gun.
When rifled, the rifling tool cuts the GROOVES. Material left between the grooves is the LANDS.