The lumps of chopper lump barrels are made from the same steel as the barrels as opposed to the lumps of dove-tailed barrels which are made of a different piece of steel. My question is, knowing barrel steel is relatively soft, are the lumps somehow hardened with chopperlump barrels or are they of the same hardness as the barrels themselves? If soft like the barrels, it would seem to me dovetailed lumps would be superior as lumps because they could be hardened prior to the jointing. Any opinions?
