doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lefever Damascus

"Delaminated", that's a good one. Otherwise known as a hole. My G-grade has more of a true Damascus pattern and those barrels are quite sound.

Rich,
I have shot my twist barreled H's in the past using black powder. I didn't know enough about the proper smokeless powders at that time. I never had a problem. And the pheasants and rabbits didn't know either.
Chris

Yes I have shot my twist bbl'd Hs with appropriate loads. I have told this before but has been some time ago. A good number of years ago I purchased an H "Parts Gun". The left bbl had a crack in it 14" up from the breech. From the appearance of it I think it had been struck on a sharp cornered object which cracked the bbl along a seam of the twist. It had apparently been fired then & had lifted up a flap. The break was about ¼" long around the bbl & lifted up enough you could look inside the bore through it. Out of curosity as to what it would do, I put my dent plug under it & hammered the flap back down & it became very hard to see. I then proceded to strap it into a tire & remotely fired several 3¼de-1 1/8oz factory loads through it with no noticable affect. I then fire some 3 3/4de-1¼oz factory "Duck" loads again with no affect. I next fired some 1 3/8oz handloads using Unique powder in a low velocity load which probably did not stress it as much as the high velocity factory load. It has sat in the cabinet ever since in case I should "Ever" need a part from it & to this day in order to find that crack I have to examine it with a magnifying glass, & would not find it at all if I didn't know right where to look. In spite of it already being cracked, all those rounds of regular factory ammo, did not open it back up. Of course I don't put it to my shoulder & fire it, but I do the sound ones & with lower pressure loads.

Miller, you are the man. My H Grade is the strongest looking set of barrels of any of my Lefevers. I have never shot smokeless in Damascus or Twist guns, but with all the attention being given to them in the Sherman Bell articles, I'm about to load some "summer loads" with 7/8 ounce or one ounce over light charges of a slow powder like Unique. Not much of that type of load in the books, but it should be about 5500 to 6500 psi. I don't think I own a composite barrel gun that would object to loads like that. I guess this is the year I start shooting all those neat guns.

Thanks for the feedback on shooting twist. I appreciate it. Rich

I shoot both twist and damascus with low pressure loads. If you have a sound set of barrels they have no way of knowing if you are shooting black or smokeless powder. I choose to shoot low pressure loads as much to save stress on 100 year old wood as 100 year old barrels. Have the barrels checked for all the normal concerns and if they pass shoot and enjoy them as they were meant to be shot.

This black vs smokeless is a stupid debate to me. Several different people have convinced me that the black powder pressure curve is not that much different from a smokeless powder curve. So it boils down to finding a low pressure load that keeps peak pressure to a very safe range. Most guns will work well in warm weather with sub 6,000psi loads. These are type loads that i enjoy shooting and feel reasonable confident will not make it difficult for me to count to ten, an improtant skill in the world I live in these days.