After corresponding with Graham Greener and reviewing the Appendix to W.W.'s book, I'm informed that Sterling steel was a fluid steel.
STERLING STEEL AND HOMOGENEOUS METAL FOR GUN BARRELS.
APART from the question as to which metal is the best for shot-gun barrels, it is possible to consider the merits of steel and iron alloys as material suitable for manufacture into gun barrels.
Steel of good quality has been proved to possess sufficient strength to resist the strain to which a shot-gun barrel is ordinarily subjected, and Messrs. Whitworth, by careful manufacture, have turned out barrels of a uniform quality of excellence.
The question of steel as a suitable metal for gun barrels has occupied the attention of gunmakers for several years, and after many experiments, a superior description of steel -possessing valuable qualities has been adopted. " Sterling Steel" is the name given to it by the author.
The mode of manufacturing is not to draw the steel at all, as generally understood, but to forge out the barrel into a solid rod, and afterwards drill the whole length. Barrels so made are of close metal, stronger and denser than any obtainable by other means.
The " Sterling Steel " recommended is made of a homogeneous metal, of very fine quality, and admirably adapted by its great tenacity, or tensile strength, for use in gun barrels. It has been thoroughly tested by the author, as well as at the Government Proof House, with very heavy charges, viz., 28 drachms of powder and 4^ ounces of shot, this charge being equal to seven ordinary charges of powder and four charges of shot. This test and many others it withstands perfectly.
" Sterling Steel " barrels are of sufficient strength for all practical purposes, and only in appearance are they at a disadvantage when compared with twisted Damascus and laminated steel barrels.
Unlike "cast-steel" barrels of the old type, " Sterling Steel " barrels bulge instead of breaking, and increased strain produces an open burst similar to that of a welded barrel instead of a sharp break or a longitudinal rip as is found to result with imperfect steel barrels. The quality of the metal is such that it will stand successively more than double the strain to which a sportsman can submit his gun with fair usage. And it will not " rip " or " crack," however sharp may be the explosive used.
Good steel barrels have the following advantages over the Damascus barrels : they are less liable to honeycomb from the corrosive action of gun-powder, they are not so easily bent from rough usage as twisted barrels, and being harder are not so likely to be injured when accidentally dropped. Many guns have been ruined by this cause alone.
There being no welds in these barrels they are absolutely free from greys or flaws of any description. They may be relied upon as being equalto those manufactured by the Whitworth Company ; and further, they do not add to the cost of the gun, whereas Whitworth barrels cost more, and
"Sterling Steel" is always obtainable without the annoying delays which often result when a special barrel is required of Whitworth metal.
