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Which is sue of the DGJ was it that Sherman Bell reported on trying to blow up old doubles with high pressure loads?

The Double Gun & Single Shot Journal “Finding Out For Myself” series by Sherman Bell with technical assistance from Tom Armbrust
Vol 10, Issue 2, Summer 1999, Part 1, p. 9
Vol 10, Issue 4, Winter 1999, p. 21 - Destructive testing of Parker GH Damascus
Vol 16, Issue 2, Summer 2005 - Destructive testing of Parker VH Vulcan Steel
Vol 17, Issue 3, Autumn 2006, p. 12 - Destructive testing 8 Damascus doubles
Vol 17, Issue 4, Winter 2006, p. 28 - Destructive testing 7 Damascus

Vol 18, Issue 1, Spring 2007 -
Destructive testing on a Damascus barrel with thinned walls; calculated by O.D. - I.D. and not measured.
Destructive testing using various obstructions, including a 20g shell.
Destructive testing using a shell loaded with 3 1/4 Drams by volume or 56 grains of Unique (similar to “Infallible”) with 1 1/4 oz. shot. The chamber burst with the first shot.
The 3 1/4 Dram Equivalent load is 24 grains of “Infallible”.

Vol 19, Issue 2, Summer 2008, p. 18 - Destructive testing 1 Damascus, 6 Twist
Vol 20, Issue 3, Autumn 2009, p. 108 - Destructive testing 1 Damascus, 5 Twist
“Bottom-Of-The-Barrel Wall-Hangers”

The Remington Proof Loads used by Sherman Bell and Tom Armbrust were reported to be 18,560 psi.
Total 28 vintage doubles/54 Twist and Damascus barrels + 2 Vulcan (Fluid) Steel


The pseudonymous Zircon posted “Contribute Junk To Advance Barrel Strength Knowledge” on two public internet forums in 2005 requesting vintage barrels for composition and strength testing. By 2006 he had accumulated almost 40 samples, both Fluid Steel and Pattern Welded. Part of the collection included the Damascus barrels from the Parker GH and the Vulcan Steel barrels from the Parker VH that had been the subjects of destructive testing by Sherman Bell published in The Double Gun Journal Vol. 10, Issue 4, Winter, 1999, “Finding Out For Myself” Part II and Vol. 16, Issue 2, Summer 2005, “Finding Out For Myself” Part IX.

Both guns were subjected to sequentially higher pressure loads at about 2,000 pounds/square inch (psi) increments. The GH testing started at 11,900 psi and one chamber ruptured at 29,620 psi. The VH started with a Proof Load of 18,560 psi. Both chambers bulged at 29,620 psi and ruptured at 31,620 psi.

I personally communicated with Zircon in February 2008 and he shared this information regarding his Metallographic Examination of the GH Damascus barrel:
“The forge-welded joints were 100% bonded. There was no indication of any kind of discontinuity, seam, inclusion of welding flux, or any other sort of defect along the welds; both between the…rods, as well as in the spiral weld where the skelp (ribband) was joined together around the mandrel.”

My last communication with Zircon was in 2015 at which time he stated that he still intended to publish a metallurgic study of the other donated barrels.