doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca Flues with side plates

We've been discussing cracked frames, and cracked Sterlingworth frames (plural), since 2009 and I don't get why the image of one is so triggering. Unfortunately, the images here are mostly lost
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=145267&page=5

No one has implied an intrinsic design flaw in Fox frames, and AFAIK no failure analysis with photomicrographs of the fracture edges looking for defect have been done.

BTW: I asked METL to composition analyze 5 vintage double's frames and the results are at the bottom here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dnRLZgcuHfx7uFOHvHCUGnGFiLiset-DTTEK8OtPYVA/edit

A c. 1929 Fox Sterlingworth frame was non-standard AISI 1020 with low concentrations of nickel (.07%) and chromium (.08%)
July 1, 1920 American Machinist published an Ordnance Salvage Board Surplus Property Sale of almost 75,000 pounds of “Spec. Shape Gun Steel” from the A.H. Fox Gun Co. with C .15-.25%, Mn .5-.7%, S & P < .06% = AISI 1020
https://books.google.com/books?id=ezRMAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA409&lpg

Hopefully this image won't give anyone the vapors Sent to me long ago by David Trevallion. A Fox HE with 2 3/4" chambers subjected to lots of 3" magnums. No one used this as evidence of a design flaw in the Fox top rib extension, but photomicrographs would have been interesting.






IMHO the take away from these images, lacking a failure analysis of each, is that guns should be used with loads for which they were designed. Pretty simple concept.