doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com CAUTION: Graphic Blow Up Injury

Drew;
I want to personally thank you for posting this & for doing all within your power to try & get to the bottom of what caused this dramatic failure.
Its all too easy for many to simply say "Well its Damascus Ain't it, whatta you expect". In all likelyhood the fact it was Damascus played only a very minor role "If Indeed" a role at all.

+1

Drew,

It's nice to see that you have found a metals lab nearby and I hope they will be able to assist you in getting to the bottom of the subject "issue" without too much expense. I expect the report to be very interesting and of great value to many, especially of course fans of damascus barrels.

Regards,

Mark

The failure does seem by the pictures, that the barrel acted like a monosteel. Thanks also Doc Drew.

Drew another sign of excessive pressure is that the metal base takes on the shape of the extractors. That is, the extractor is imprinted on the metal base of the hull, both the flat bottom and around the sides.

Any sign of that?

Burrard has many pictures and explanations for sleuthing out the cause of barrel bursts. He was an expert witness in suits for and against gun makers. Do you have that book? If not I will loan you mine. Just PM me your address and I will mail it to you.

Best,


Mike

Burrard, Volume III, pg 415: "But in the case of an obstructional burst the really essential evidence is the ring bulge. If there is a ring bulge, there must have been an obstruction; and the absence of a ring bulge is conclusive proof that there could not have been an obstruction."

Burrard, Volume III, pg 415: "But if the burst occurred at the breech, and was the direct result of a high pressure, confirmatory evidence will be found in the appearance of the brass head of the cartridge which caused the accident. For it is utterly impossible for a very high pressure to be developed without it leaving its mark on the fired case"

Keep up the good work!

In my humble opinion, it's too soon to say with confidence that the hull shows impressions of the ribband and damascus pattern. The striations seen on the hull could be scratches that are from the shell being removed from the barrel. Because the hull is also ruptured, it could have required turning the case while manually extracting it from the barrel. The way the hull is positioned in the picture is not necessarily how it was at the time of the failure. The owner may not have any idea if the case was removed and then reinserted in a different orientation, since the gun was out of his possession for several days. Only after close examination by an expert will we be sure.

The relative rarity of an occurrence like this is evidenced by the amount of interest in this thread. I for one have never seen a barrel burst, damascus or otherwise, and I hope I never do. Like everyone else, I'll be interested to hear the final autopsy. Sure seems like an overload to me, but I'm no expert. Hard to imagine that level of failure happening from an 8k psi load though, and with that much barrel wall thickness evident.

Drew, Thanks for all your efforts to seek answers to such problems. I know your intentions are to keep us safe shooting the old guns. It appears you are spending a bit of your personal monies to pay for research in this matter. I am a little strapped these days but I would sure as hell send ya a check for 20 bucks or so to contribute to find the answers. and I am sure many others would do the same or more. Would you be so unselfish to accept it?
By the way to those who do not know Drew he has measured many sets of my barrels with his equipment and absolutely would not accept a dime from me.
Thanks again Drew. I don't care what everyone else says about you behind your back. "I think your alright"