doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Lump hardness of chopper lump

The lumps of chopper lump barrels are made from the same steel as the barrels as opposed to the lumps of dove-tailed barrels which are made of a different piece of steel. My question is, knowing barrel steel is relatively soft, are the lumps somehow hardened with chopperlump barrels or are they of the same hardness as the barrels themselves? If soft like the barrels, it would seem to me dovetailed lumps would be superior as lumps because they could be hardened prior to the jointing. Any opinions?

Buzz I would never consider most barrel steels as soft, they wouldn't ring as they do if so. Action...... yes, thats why they harden them after engraving.

You can get any type of metal to ring, and besides ringing a barrel doesn't really prove much except they have a tone to them.

A feeler gage along the tops and bottom ribs is a better way. I have seen barels ring with a gap between the ribs, and picked it up by using feelers.

True JDW but I'm thinking barrel steel still pretty hard

The lumps may not be all that hard - I have seen many that are scored, probably from grit.

You can't get lead or tin or copper to ring unless it's work-hardened.

Barrel steel is hard if you're comparing it to a piece of pine. As steel goes it is comparatively soft. The brazing of either a chopper or dovetail lump joining will assure it doesn't have much residual heat treatment if it had it to start with. A dovetail lump can be made (& normally are I believe) from a higher carbon stel which will be harder even in its softened state. There are few instances where a given feature is better than its competitors on all counts. There are virtually always compromises. I've never had a problem with a dovetail lump, or even a conventional lump without the dovetail for that matter.

copper wind chimes ring.

I agree with Miller. Barrel steels are relatively soft in the scheme of steels. I've never encountered a barrel that had much hardness in our doubles. That's why they can be engraved without annealing and then not crack even though we've made stress risers by engraving right over the chambers, and dents come out easily.

Our later Fox, LC, Parker, and Ithaca barrels seem to be of moderate carbon content, enough that hardening can take place if heat treated. However, I don't know of any that were harder than normalized.

as steel ages it hardens...is there any formula to this natural hardening...and how much harder than when new would 100 year old barrels be???......

I don't know if I believe that, as it ages it hardens. I think if that was the case, especially with guns that are shot weekly with hundreds of rounds through them, that if work-hardened would have cracks and have issues.

Some steels do get work hardened, an example is your lawn mower blade. Used 2 times a week for a few months and try to file the edge, the file glances off. Break the skin and it files fairly easy.

If barrels were made with too much carbon, and shot by tournament shooters, they would have a problem as the friction built up would work harden it.