Deltaboy,
Regarding your failed LCS barrel: There is a very professional project underway to characterize, and understand much more thoroughly, antique barrel steels. Zircon (VP of metallurgy for an internationally-respected producer of very specialized high strength tubing) is the principal investigator, and Chuck H and I are lending a hand. Around 3 dozen bbls will be characterized metallurgically, for tensile strength in two axes, and in key cases chemically. We aren't releasing results piecemeal, but some findings made to date will be very interesting. I tell you this because as new participant, you may not have seen considerable prior traffic concerning it.
Failure analysis is not the project's purpose, but in limited, very relevant cases Zircon is able to determine failure modes and likely causes. That is the case for the two Parker bbls, one steel and one Damascus, deliberatly tested to destruction by Sherman Bell and Tom Armbrust, which have been about 80% processed to date.
We have, and will analyze another LCS homogeneous steel bbl, similar to yours, with a very similar-appearing failure. Rabbit has seen a third, also.
Because these three failures are of a very uncommon type and are so similar, there may be a common (systematic) cause. To determine this, we would appreciate your donation of the failed portion plus about 8" toward the muzzle, and an inch or two toward the breech, if possible. (I understand that you will probably have the failed tube replaced.) This should allow Zircon to determine if it, and the one we already have failed the same way, and probably identify an underlying defect if one exists.
I'm guessing that your gunsmith will probably monobloc a new tube into the breechmost several inches of the failed tube. If so it may be most convenient to send the entire forward portion he will cut off.
If you need more info, I'll provide it. If you can make the donation, PM me and I'll provide shipping instructions.
Thanks for considering this!
Last edited by Fred; 11/06/06 05:05 PM.
