Looks good Gene.
A bit more on new fangled rifle barrels from
The Gun and Its Development: With Notes on Shooting, 1881
http://books.google.com/books?id=LAsAAAAAQAAJ GUN-MAKING—HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION.
“Gun-barrels”
In the earliest firearms the barrels were made of plain iron, usually from one strip, which was bent, whilst hot, round a mandril, and the two edges welded together. Later on two pieces were used, one for the breech-end of the barrel, the other for the fore-end, or muzzle-piece. In some old blunderbusses the breech-piece is of iron or steel, and the muzzle-piece of brass or bell-metal. Plain iron barrels were drawn as early as 1808, when one Benjamin Cook patented an invention for making barrels for fowling-pieces, muskets, &c. His plan was to roll a block of iron or steel, and drill a hole through it: a mandril was placed in this hole, and the bar drawn, whilst red hot, between rolls with taper grooves into a barrel of the required length. The breech-end of the barrel was first formed, the roller watching his opportunity, and inserting the bar of iron when the broad section of the groove presented itself. This plan is the one now in use for Bessemer steel rifle barrels and decarbonised steel shot barrels; but the hole now is punched through the bar or block of metal, and afterwards gradually drawn out upon a mandril. By this principle a barrel is obtained without a single weld in it, and a material saving thereby effected. This plan of rolling was discontinued after a few years; the method adopted in its stead was to roll the barrel out of a short strip of iron, which was turned round a mandril and drawn through rolls, the edges being welded whilst passing between the rolls; this mandril is only used to start the barrels, and is not drawn through the rolls. This plan was used for several years, all the military barrels being made this way, the weld running straight along the barrel on the under-side. It has since been discontinued for all but the very common barrels, the rollers having reverted to the plan first described. In the patent of Benjamin Cook there is also a plan for rolling rifle barrels with the grooves in. To accomplish this the barrels are rolled or drawn with fluted bars inside them; the barrels receive grooves from the flutes of the bars, and are to be afterwards twisted until they have the required amount of spiral. All plain-drawn barrels have the fibre running straight along the barrel, not round.
This is certainly the best for all barrels that are intended for rifling, for, although the plain iron or steel will not stand so great a strain as the twisted metal, yet in rifle barrels there is generally a large body of metal required in the barrel to counterbalance the recoil, so that they very seldom give way, and may be advantageously used for such purposes, as the spiral grooving does not cut across the grain of the iron, whereas in a twist barrel the grooves run in a transverse direction to the fibres of the metal.
For shot barrels plain metal is altogether unsuitable, there not being sufficient thickness of it to obtain the strength necessary to withstand the strain of the explosion.
The “solid fluid compressed steel” barrel, as made by Sir J. Whitworth, withstands heavy charges better than any plain metal barrel now used; but they are very expensive, and not well liked, for they, in common with other plain metal barrels, show no figure whatever when finished, but resemble in appearance a musket barrel. Gentlemen are unable to tell whether they possess a genuine “fluid steel barrel” or whether the gunmaker has used instead (at one-third the cost) a common steel barrel; whereas with a twist barrel the sportsman can easily tell the quality of his barrel by the fineness of the figure.
For this reason the
plain iron barrels will never become popular for best shotguns whilst good laminated steel or Damascus barrels can be obtained.Greener patented his own “Greener's Solid Weldless-Twist Barrel” about 1880
http://books.google.com/books?id=3HMCAAAAYAAJ&pg=P238&source This quote "As late as 1888 WW Greener in his book Modern Shotguns stated that Whitworth Steel barrels were not as strong as high-quality Damascus." needs to be interpreted in light of Greener's self-promotion, and his own "Silver Steel"
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hph1QPAVDHd_KvHLrejKVykigwGgvMLFl4K6Ru6Dcig/edit In 1893, Whitworth's “No. 1 Red Gun Barrel Steel” was reported to have a tensile strength of 66,000 - 67,200 psi - more than damascus and similar to "cold-rolled" Decarbonized steel (Winchester's Standard Ordnance steel)
Krupp Fluss Stahl (Homogeneous Fluid Steel) was introduced about 1890 and by composition was similar to AISI 1045 with a standard tensile strength of 85,000 psi
Interesting advertisement in 1896 for Greener’s Wrought Steel “Indestructible by Gunpowder”. I don't know the process or composition. It was not part of the 1891 Proof House Trial report, but Whitworth's and several other English steels were
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cvqRzkg0wEjhAAcFWr8gFi7aPFRsSIJ_hahfDxmrNAU/edit ![[Linked Image from photos.smugmug.com]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Barrel-Evaluations/Steel-Strength/i-cMgb3Z7/0/Mpqt4pTdVWggRmXZvpQ9jTNg9tDrxPJHwKRXqqTHt/L/Greener%20Wrought%20Steel%201896-L.jpg)
The Gun and Its Development, 8th Edition, 1907 he appears to have joined the fluid compressed steel fan club.
http://books.google.com/books?id=3HMCAAAAYAAJOwing to the great difficulty in procuring perfectly welded barrels, gun-makers are now discarding tubes of the Damascus variety for those of solid steel which are free from greys and blemishes, and if carefully chosen and tested will fill every requirement of the sportsman; in fact, guns of every quality, from the cheapest to the best, are being fitted with barrels made from one or another of the numerous brands of steel available. The harder the Damascus barrel the greater the liability to “greys,” and a soft barrel will not make a fine shooting gun. Of the steels used for shotgun barrels, the best known is Whitworth's fluid compressed steel.
This is a cast steel; the ingot whilst in a liquid or a semi-liquid state is submitted to pressure, with a view to eliminating blow-holes. The top and bottom of the ingot is cut off and thrown aside as usual. Eminent metallurgists contend that in the process of cooling the contraction of the ingot is so great that no pressure which can be brought to act upon it by mechanical means can affect the metal — at any rate, beyond a few inches from the surface. The process is therefore by some regarded as quite superfluous. On the other hand, it is generally allowed that the Whitworth steel is of excellent quality, and it has been used for barrels for so many years that its suitability for that purpose may be taken as fully proven.
