It is my opinion that Adam Schiff is a lying weasel, but we can move on.
As I said on p.3, your criticism is valid. I have no controls. David Scott's "Metallography and Microstructure of Ancient and Historic Metals" is available as a PDF, as are several "Atlas of Microstructures". I rely on the assessment of the metallurgist and metallurgical engineer at METL.
And BTW to my knowledge there has only been one other (unpublished) failure analysis (which I have read) of a pattern welded barrel, which also included a Parker Vulcan Steel barrels.
A summary is 1/2 way down here, as follows:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZnptAPvQIlWG5n5UU2FmKcFpYtVmOSc4b7K7G9IBs4g/edit 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, with the technical support of Tom Armbrust, 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 (I believe a metallurgical engineer) was in 2015. He stated that it was still his intention to publish both his failure analysis and his metallurgical study of all the barrel samples in his procession.
THAT would be a nice control study, but I agree likely not of statistical significance.
