You've gotten some great advice above!
To directly answer your question, there IS evidence showing that SOME, SOUND Damascus and steel barrels of the era had very comparable strengths. Oscar Gaddy and Harry Collins donated Damascus and steel Parker barrels for testing to destruction, by Sherman Bell and Tom Armbrust. Both bbl sets were made in the same year, in the late 1890s.
The result astonished just about everyone: Both digested increasingly higher pressure loads, finally failing at nearly equal gas pressures -- about 30,000 psi! Both have been almost-fully analyzed by Zircon for the vintage barrel strength project (one final test is still underway).
Full info will be published when the project is finished. I will comment now that: 1) observable cyclic fatigue damage began at much lower gas pressure than 30,000 psi, but nonetheless each bbl was plenty strong. 2) Metallurgical failure mechanisms were different; this documents and explains some long-held opinions.
Importantly, these were exactly two cases, one of each, and CANNOT be extrapolated to broader conclusions.
Last edited by Fred; 11/07/06 12:00 PM.
