doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Damascus gun blow up in Md last weekend?

+1

I doubt that load would be the first choice for most of us.

Even so, I'd not expect this sort of failure without the gun giving some warning first.

Damascus has shown a fair amount of ductility in tests and not a pattern of sudden brittle fractures.

Is it just me or does this particular barrel show some pretty grainy material?

Count me out also.
However:

Parker Brothers 1893 Catalogue
�Our guns are bored on the latest improved system for shooting Nitros, or Smokeless Powder, and all our guns are tested with some one of the most approved makes, and a tag accompanies each gun, giving the results of such a (pattern) test.�

c. 1900: The �standard� U.S. 12 gauge Field and Inanimate Target load was 1 1/4 oz. shot with 3 1/4 Dram Equivalent (1220 fps) of Bulk Smokeless in a 2 5/8� or 2 3/4� case, with a modern transducer pressure of 8000 - 9500 psi.
Live Bird loads were usually 1 1/4 oz. 3 1/2 Dr. Eq. Bulk Smokeless Powder with a pressure of about 11,750 psi (modern SAAMI max. limit is 11,500 psi)


Metal embrittlement has a �rock-candy� appearance, but it is impossible to tell from that image.

So was it the load or the metal in the barrel? Or both?

No, it looks typical for a blown chamber, to me. I have a close friend who blew the chamber out on a Charles Boswell damascus gun years ago. He claims an obstruction caused it because he was using reloads which were housed in later AA hulls, which are supposedly subject to base wad separation. However, the loads he used were way above recommended, with Unique and as mentioned, compression formed hulls. I warned him not to use that load, that it was the wrong powder and the wrong hull. He ignored me and the result was a ruined gun, but thankfully no injuries.

There was/is no ring bulge which would indicate an obstruction, and in my mind I know the cause was an improper load. It looks entirely typical for a blown damascus chamber, to me.

SRH

You mean to tell me that in 1900 they were shooting "standard" shells that developed up to 9500 psi of chamber pressure? Or is that CUP or LUP recorded chamber pressure that was converted to psi?

All here just for the reading
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F2sQuPm05IE4VWYYnCkvuXmYEzQoWd_SQgaAfUOZEFU/preview

What could they have been thinking?

Please tell me this isn't the one that was just posted on Facebook as being handed down to him on the fox collectors site?

I just checked my Parker EH 10 gauge for the presence of that screw though the short top rib section. I could not detect any screw, or even a joint indicating a 2 piece rib. Also, the rib over the chambers is matted which would hide this screw if present. Of course, mine is a hammerless gun.

I also took another look at Sherman Bell's "Finding Out For Myself- part II" in the Winter 1999 issue 4 of Double Gun Journal. On page 32, there are pics of the ruptured barrels. On pages 34 and 36, Bell describes what he found in his post-mortem. He seems to think the ruptures originated in the thinner area between the chambers, and mentions a screw that retains the extractor and runs upward between the barrels and ends just under the short rib extension. Both chambers peeled open, but the ruptured area did not break totally free of the barrels as this one did. However, the condition of the shells looked much worse and the primers were blown out in the nuclear loads he used which developed over 29,000 and 31,000 psi respectively. I hope we can get a better look at the damage and maybe learn what actually happened. Of course, all Damascus is not created equal, and the tubes in this old hammer gun may have been structurally inferior to the pitted tubes Bell sacrificed.

Looks like too much pressure and not an obstruction too me. It seems that screw hole was the thin spot that initiated the failure. If shooting the factory Remington Nitro 27 handicap loads shown, then that's too hot for an old gun. Considering the destruction shown, maybe they were reloads. I hope we find out.

The RST tent was right there selling proper loads. I hope he regrets saving a few bucks on shells.