Damascus barrels

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Does any body in this country make Damascus barrels, and are they still made in any country. I do not believe that I have ever seen a new gun with damascus advertised, I was at a guys place Thursday that made knifes, really good ones he was using, on some of them, a damascus stainless, they looked bad to the bone, Boy a set of barrels for a shotgun would look good made of this material, sort of looked like Laminated patterns. I believe he called this type damascus "damskin"? Drew I know you know tell us a little more, Thanks Gary

[Daryl Corona]

Gary;
I think I read somewhere that Purdey is now building guns with damascus barrels on special order.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Interesting? good to see that damascus is not shunned as it once was, thanks to Sherman Bell and his testing of the damascus barrels, and fluid steel ones. gary

[Daryl Corona]

I think it boils down to the cost of manufacturing and the craftsmen to do them. There're just cost prohibitive and that's why, in my opinion, they were phased out in favor of fluid steel. But..... would'nt it be a dream come true to order one from Purdey and have it built to your specs?

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Which Bank do you want to hit? your gonna need mucho cash! Gary

[Daryl Corona]

Which Bank do you want to hit? your gonna need mucho cash! Gary

I was kinda hoping you'd float me a low interest loan. I'll have my attorney draw up the papers in the morning.:whistle:

[paul stafford jr]

hi guys....go to the Purdy sight, the so called Damascus gun is not real Damascus but compressed powdered metal. similar to the technology used to make modern connecting rods.

[Fred Verry]

Gary, with the decades of "warnings" from various ammunition makers and "experts" that can be documented out there, I cannot imagine any manufacturer in this country could risk the liability.

[Drew Hause]

Yes...one confirmed 2 Iron crolle by Steve Culver www.culverart.com
Possibly a few others in Europe.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/19228742/404074218.jpg

More infro http://docs.google.com/document/d/1jQPuv4yOXpTppdXkAiyGj6LC5bXDAYBCR1DME9lB0JM/edit

Purdey Damasteel, which I believe is no longer available

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/19228742/400285635.jpg

[Dennis V. Nix]

A popular gun writer and collector of all firearms, Ross Seyfried, has written articles in Guns and Ammo relating to Damascus revolver barrels for some pretty stout handgun loads. I don't remember off the top of my head who made the barrels but there are some makers who do them at least for a short barrel. Seyfried has also written articles for DGJ on classic shotguns.

Dennis

[Drew Hause]

Dennis: lots of smiths have harvested old Damascus barrels, or purchased Belgian tubes from Peter Dyson http://www.peterdyson.co.uk/acatalog/ORIGINAL_DAMASCUS_BARRELS.html
Again, to my knowledge no one, other than Steve Culver, has manufactured a new pattern welded barrel in this country.

[Jack Kuzepski]

I'm probably wrong, but I thought that I'd read that Greener was making some new guns with damascus barrels from some old stock of barrels that they had.

Jack Kuzepski

[Drew Hause]

W.W. Greener produced new shotguns with damascus barrels in 2007-2008
From http://www.wwgreener.com/Shotguns.htm
"Barrels - are made of the highest quality steel and bored to maintain the famous choke boring improvements, made by W W Greener in the 1870s, to optimise shooting performance, and to ensure patterns of shot guaranteed to meet customers' exact requirements whether for game, wildfowl or clay pigeon shooting. A few pairs of guns are being made with interchangeable steel and Damascus barrels."


Courtesy of Vic Venters (Dec. 2008), who wrote an article in the Sept/Oct '07 issue of Shooting Sportsman regarding the Greener guns:
"They are indeed newly made damascus barrels, built on vintage tubes that David Dryhurst -- Greener's master gunmaker -- has been collecting since the '60s and '70s. Some are old Greener stock, some are English and no doubt some are Belgian. A few of these sets came from Dyson...They are not lined. The guns are being made in 28-ga up through 12, and maybe in 10-ga. At least 25 of these damascus-barreled guns are made or are under way, and I believe more have been ordered since I last asked. At the time of my writing, none had failed English proof. The guns are proofed under standard CIP pressures per the particular gauge.

Most are on sidelocks; some are on reintroduced "G-Guns" -- Facile Princeps actions with Boss ejectorwork. Greeners are a small best maker -- but demand has been so great that I am told they have again closed their order books. They were the last British maker to manufacture their own damascus tubes, and are the first to again offer them in commercial quantities."

[Dennis V. Nix]

Drew,

We could both be half right. If you check out Bowen Classic Arms, then to Workshop, they to both Sedgley 45 Vaquero and also Damascus Barrel Single Action Army both display Damascus barrels which are not from an old shotgun barrel. On the SAA Bowen says it is a steel liner within a Damascus shell barrel. The handgun I saw from Ross Seyfried years ago had, I believe, a totally Damascus barrel but I have not been able to find the article.

Dennis

[Drew Hause]

http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/workshop.html#DamascusBarrelSAArmy
"This particular gun started life as United States Firearms Single-Action Army model in .45 Colt. The composite damascus barrel sports an overlay of English gun tube material..."

1916 patent with a similar idea; fluid steel barrel within a Damascus sleeve

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/16082038/255539988.jpg

[Rich Anderson]

I have three damascuss fixed blade knives. They hold an edge very well and will unzip a deer in no time:) Galazan offers some very nice ones as does our own Paul Harm from LaPeer. I have two of his knives and couldn't be happier with them....unless I had another one:whistle:

[Gary Weaver]

Thats some interesting information.. and yeah it appears that people are starting to understand and want Damascus again.. which is pretty cool i think..
I'm new here but the more im learning the less i am afraid of them.. and can thank the people here for there knowledge and assistance with that..

[Drew Hause]

New Purdey hammergun with vintage 3 Iron Oxford tubes, offered by Griffin & Howe in 2013.

"The Damascus barrels are proofed for 2 3/4" modern smokeless loads."

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/19228742/407674819.jpg

[wayne goerres]

I want one.

[Fred Verry]

Drew, I talked to Steve Culver today. He told me his current equipment would limit the maximum length of any Damascus barrel he could build to a maximum of about 12 inches.

I don't know if there is enough time to get a new Damascus auto and burglar built before the Spring Southern but, One of Ithaca's 1922 advertisements said " With it the average person can hit objects thrown in the air easier than with the regulation shotgun fired from the shoulder." :)

[paul stafford jr]

my son and I own a lot of Damascus guns we shoot skeet and sporting clays twice a week and nothing looks better or turns more heads than the beautiful Damascus barrels , were always on the look out for our next gun. I know of no current maker of Damascus shotgun barrels, greener will still take special orders for Damascus guns using old stock, I wish some one would have saved parkers tubes from the scrap bin, its a dam shame, they sure look a lot nicer than them ugly blue things

[charlie cleveland]

they are pretty when redone...i wish i had each barrel steel in its origanal configuration..would nt that be a site... charlie

[Rick Losey]

I don't know if there is enough time to get a new Damascus auto and burglar built before the Spring Southern but, One of Ithaca's 1922 advertisements said " With it the average person can hit objects thrown in the air easier than with the regulation shotgun fired from the shoulder." :)

besides the legality issues of the old auto and burglar Ithacas, the few folk I know that have actually fired one said it was not pleasant.


I will try to find the exact quote, but as some Indian prince once commented when asked about the the recoil of his Howdah pistol, his reply was to the affect of

when a tiger is on one's elephant's head, one does not mind the recoil

[Rick Losey]

[QUOTE=Drew Hause;111475]W.W. Greener produced new shotguns with damascus barrels in 2007-2008
From http://www.wwgreener.com/Shotguns.htm
"Barrels - are made of the highest quality steel and bored to maintain the famous choke boring improvements, made by W W Greener in the 1870s, to optimise shooting performance, and to ensure patterns of shot guaranteed to meet customers' exact requirements whether for game, wildfowl or clay pigeon shooting. A few pairs of guns are being made with interchangeable steel and Damascus barrels."


Courtesy of Vic Venters (Dec. 2008), who wrote an article in the Sept/Oct '07 issue of Shooting Sportsman regarding the Greener guns:
"They are indeed newly made damascus barrels, built on vintage tubes that David Dryhurst -- Greener's master gunmaker -- has been collecting since the '60s and '70s. Some are old Greener stock, some are English and no doubt some are Belgian. A few of these sets came from Dyson...They are not lined. The guns are being made in 28-ga up through 12, and maybe in 10-ga. At least 25 of these damascus-barreled guns are made or are under way, and I believe more have been ordered since I last asked. At the time of my writing, none had failed English proof. The guns are proofed under standard CIP pressures per the particular gauge.

Most are on sidelocks; some are on reintroduced "G-Guns" -- Facile Princeps actions with Boss ejectorwork. Greeners are a small best maker -- but demand has been so great that I am told they have again closed their order books. They were the last British maker to manufacture their own damascus tubes, and are the first to again offer them in commercial quantities."[/QUOTE -


if you can find a copy of the October 2013 "The Field" (a UK magazine - Barnes and Nobles stocks it here) there is a good article and photo spread of the new Greeners

[Richard Flanders]

For anyone who has not done so, I'd highly recommend looking at Culvers website and his galleries. He does some very nice damascus work.

[Rick Losey]

For anyone who has not done so, I'd highly recommend looking at Culvers website and his galleries. He does some very nice damascus work.

link?

[Drew Hause]

http://www.culverart.com/

Steve will be at the Las Vegas Antique Arms Show next month.

[Steve McCarty]

If someone made new damascus barrels and if one could afford to buy a gun so affixed, they would sell like hotcakes. I think there is a market for new shotguns that look like old ones. During most of my life (68) people shunned damascus/twist barrels as if they were a coiled rattlesnake. Today, if I see a good one, I'll buy it before a "liquid" steel barrel.

[Bruce Day]

xxxxx

[Dean Romig]

Beautiful examples Bruce.

[Rick Losey]

I am always amazed by the clarity of the chain in those patterns

as always- thanks for posting such interesting photos Bruce

[Rich Anderson]

WW Greener is currently producing new shotguns with damascuss barrels. All the shotguns I bought last year both foreign and domestic had damascuss barrels. I now own more damascuss guns than fluid steel ones.