doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Damascus Pitting

DrBob,

Get out your CD of back issues of the LACA newsletters and read Buck Hamlin's articles in the February, May, and September 1999 issues. What he did with a heavily pitted set of Damascus L.C. Smith barrels that already had the right tube blown from an obstruction is pretty amazing. I think, after reading this, that you will be able to shoot those RST loads without flinching after your barrels are determined to have adequate wall thickness.

Probably the best thing we all can do to save our digits and eyeballs is to visually check for stuck wads or other bore obstructions every time we reload. This is a lot easier for us than those who shoot pumps and semi-autos. Check and double-check if you fall in mud or snow. Even storage can cause problems. Several years ago, I grabbed my "garage gun", a cheap Stevens break open single shot, and quickly loaded and ran outside to dispatch a garden raiding groundhog. Fortunately, Mr. Groundhog had already suspected something and retired to his hole. I took the gun back into the garage and decided to check for rust in the bore since it hadn't been cleaned in a while. Mud dauber wasps had built a nest about half way down the bore that was about 6 inches long and as hard as a brick. I think that may have been more problematic than a few pits in the bore.

JDW's post X2

It pays to watch for Mud Dawbers...



Only a dentist knows for sure...

There are a lot us shooting or have shot damascus and twist guns with moderate pitting and worse. How many of them have you read about on here blowing up? Pitted bores are not nice to look at, they bother most people much more than any threat they pose. I believe when Sherman Bell tried to see if any wallhangers would blow up he took 15 random junkers, some severely pitted and put Remington proof loads in them, near 19000 psi if I remember correctly, none blew up. If you like the gun and the wall thickness is deemed good, shoot and enjoy it. If you have wall thickness to spare get them cleaned up if you want.

I just checked and found that the March 1999 issue of the LACA newsletter also had an article from Buck Hamlin on the progressive attempts at blowing up a heavily pitted L. C. Smith Damascus barrel.

As with the Sherman Bells tests, one or two barrels that survive excessive loads does not prove that they all would pass. As nhcrowshooter points out, we are not getting any reports here of people blowing up their Damacscus doubles. Does this mean they are holding out because of embarrassment, or that they have blown off their fingers and cannot type?

Probably the greatest threat, and one we do commonly see and read about is having guns go off face, or having 100 year old wood getting damaged from loads that produce higher pressures than they were designed to handle even when brand new.

Hey Parrot! I had the same thing happen with a Russky back door gun...Baikal...12 bore & 6.5 Swede..Ran out to shoot a coyote in the pasture, fired the rifle bbl, when I went to reload, checked the 12 barrel..Mud Dobbers... YIKEs, might have blowed my head off, then you wouldnt have to argue with me anymore....

Please correct me if I am wrong, but should the accepted minimum wall thicknesses you state have one fewer zero to the right of the decimal, i.e.:


b/c 0.009 - nine-thousandths - is a couple or three hair-thicknesses and looking at the chamber-ends of my barrels show they are more than that.

Regardless, this thread http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/17546456 remains required viewing.

I appreciate the input. I don't have a thickness gauge. We were planning to bring the gun to the NE SxS in June. Jon Hosford is usually there. I may pick up a gauge and get him to show me how to use it, as I am not particulaly mechanically adept. I should probably have one anyways.
From what I have read, pitting is not, in itself, a cause of barrels bursting. On further thought, honing it out to make it uniformly no thicker than the deepest pit would only serve to weaken the entire barrels.

Now you've got it, Bob. Why further weaken the entire tube!

Hey L.D., I'll bet we could both find a way to argue even if we both blew our heads off.