Originally Posted By: 2-piper
The number of damascus barrels which have passed British Proof over the last century simply Pales the blowing up of a single barrel set. How much more "Proof" does one need.
Some years back I bought a F grade Lefever Parts Gun with "London Twist" barrels. 14" up from the breech in the left barrel was a crack. Appearance was it had been hit on a sharp object which dented it in & perhaps cracked it at the same time. It had subsequently been fired which resulted in one side of the crack being lifted with the other side still into the bore with a gap showing that you could look through & see the opposite wall. Bore was very rough & pitted as well.

I put a dent plug under it & raised the inward side & beat down the outie until you had to look close to see the crack at all. Then proceeded to place it in the "Firestone Proof Chamber" & fired several rounds through that barrel. These included factory 3¼-1 1/8; 3 3/4-1¼ & some handloads with 1 3/8oz of shot. I examined the barrel after each shot & at no time did I ever see any sign of any soot even on the outside much less any opening of the crack. What did this prove, well very little actually except that this particular barrel even though already damaged withstood those number of shots which were not "Low Pressure" loads, nor proof loads of course.
I think it does "Confirm", not prove, that the danger in Damascus has been highly magnified & does not lay at some distance from the breech as has been often stated. When Bell blew up those two Parkers, one Damascus & one steel, they both eventually blew in the Chamber area at near the same pressure level, around 30K psi as I recall.


What that proves is as long as there are no extenuating circumstances even cracked barrels can hold together under load....that is where I worry about old Damascus barrels, will they add that extra level of safety when something goes wrong....are there hidden flaws between the layers that would cause the barrels to burst instead of bulge.....even in good looking examples that pass proof.... Im just not a fan of shooting them....they look nice but when you put it to your shoulder give me a few seconds to step away.....


gunut