Realize that even though the strength of the steel is given in PSI & the chamber pressure is in PSI, this does not mean that a steel having a 54,000 PSI strength has a 6 3/4 times safety factor for an 8,000 PSI load. The formulas for calculating this are fairly complicated.
For a simplified example a ˝" steel bar has a bit less than 20% of a square inch in cross section so if made of 54,000 PSI steel it would suspend only less the 20% of that weight without breaking. Dependant upon its actual Yield strength it would stretch long before it broke. In the shotgun barrel a bulge results when the yield strength is exceeded & a burst when the tensile or ultimate Strength is exceeded.
Perhaps one of our Engineers can give us the best formula to use for calculating this.
