doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How thin is to thin?

On steel and damascus barrels, how would 18 and 20 thousands be?

Go to the auto parts or hardware store and pick up a feeler gauge. You can tell exactly how thin 18 and 20 thounsands is (damn thin!).
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605...=33-135365945-2
Steve

It depends on WHERE the "thin" is. At muzzle... just cosmetic. At breech... BAD

Count your fingers now. After firing count them again. Is it worth it?

at 18 thousanths Id be afraid to grab the barrel much less shoot it....

How much money for the gun? I would not invest big bucks in a gun with thin barrels. Safe or not thin is not a selling point in my books. You get what you pay for if you know what you are doing and putting big money in to any gun with barrels that are .002-.005 of needing to be sleeved is not a good idea. Some would consider them already in need of sleeving. I prefeer .025 as a decent thickness and when a gun nears .020 my interest drops off quickly. But location is everything on these issues.

If near the muzzle .018-020 is not too thin but it is near the min. acceptable thickness. If within 20" of the breach face I would pass. Thin barrels, near the muzzle, are a greater denting risk than bursting risk. That is if you use common sense and use proper low pressure loads. If you shoot 10-12K psi shells then the barrels might rupture before the stock splits.

I also check if the barrels are uniformly thin from end to end or is it just one local area. If there is very little metal on most of the barrel from end to end I would consider the barrels to have been reamed to death. If it is just one area near the choke it might be fine to shoot. It was just cleaned up to remove a area of pitting. Bottom line is do you want a gun with barrels on their last leg? Because you will never be able to ream a single time more or even hone lightly. They are at their end of reaming.

I think I read where Holland & Holland are now saying anything under 21 thou. is too thin for shooting.

Don't fool yourself about thin walls being OK at the muzzle end of choked guns. Here's a set of Krupp steel barrels on a graded Fox that were struck to remove surface corrosion before rebluing. They seemed fine until about 100 shots were fired through each tube..... 1 ounce lower pressure lead loads on a sporting course. One pic is worth a 1000 words; that's a bulge, gents. Choke wall is .018" thick where shown by the arrow. Both tubes measure about the same in that area and both have bulges. Silvers

Frank, I know nothing about Foxes, but it seems to me that area for the choke is very short. Most guns start at around 5" from muzzle have a smaller diameter for the choke area and so have a heavier wall thickness in this area. If someone filed this area that small, then the wad is bulging this.
By the time the pressures reached this area they were significantly lower and in my opinion did not cause this.