Damascus Barrels

[Bruce Day]

Not wanting to hijack Jerry's thread, viewers may be interested in these. The first three photos are of C's with fine Damascus, both made about 1904. The one on the left is original finish, the right one refinished by Brad Bachelder.


The last two are of an 1885 G Hammer 16, SN 45, 901 . All barrel Damascus segments are matched and it is difficult to find butt seams. See for yourself about spiral matching between adjoining barrels. The barrels are original finish.

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Bruce, those are very nice examples.

Nice work from Brad's shop too.

[John Havard]

Thanks Bruce for the great photos. Fluid steel tubes are so boring.

[Drew Hause]

Bruce's image is an excellent example of 4 Iron Turkish 'Star'. Note the prominent 'stars' alternating black (steel) and white (iron). Don't ask how they did that :crying:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/19025099/408736940.jpg

Bruce: are the flats stamped 'DD' or D4?

[Mills Morrison]

I could look at photos like that forever. Just something about good Damascus barrels.

[Steve McCarty]

Great pictures! I love the appearance of Damascus barrels and prefer them to liquid steal. Damascus barrels are much stronger than we, or at least, I, have been lead to believe.

[Richard B. Hoover]

Really beautiful Damascus.

Thanks.

[Steve McCarty]

Yesterday I delivered my ancient O grade L.C. Smith to Keith Kearcher, our local gunsmith who specializes in bringing back damascus barrels. He is going to take the action down, clean it and repair the safety, which is probably just out of alignment. He is going to freshen the checkering on the wrist and forearm to about half way to new. I don't want to make the gun look like a new gun. Nor do I want to re-do the case colors. A bit of cleaning will be fine.

He is going to open the chokes to IC and Modified. I'll shoot it at skeet using RST. He peeked down the bore and said he'd be able to hone most of the roughness out. The pits aren't too deep. I want to shoot the gun, tho so I don't want the bores opened up too much, or honed too thin.

He miked the bore and said they measured .30 at the thinnest point, which was enough meat to work with.

Cost will come to something like $650. I will end up being into the gun about $1100, which is okay with me, but about max, I think, for an O grade, gun dates to 1900. But she'll be a pretty gun and fun to break out of the case at various shoots.

So, now I have a Fox Sterlingworth, Lefever I grade, Parker GH and this Smith 0 grade. All of them are in super fine condition..not new, but very fine, classic low grade guns with great bones.

Kearcher said it'd be about 3 weeks to do the work. I'm like a kid at Christmas. As soon as the gun comes in, I'll post pics.

[Steve McCarty]

Concerning my group of early 20th Century double guns. They are all heavy, especially when compared to modern double barreled guns. I don't know how to weigh them, but when I pick one up it is heavier than other guns. The low combs don't bother me. When I mount all of the guns, they come up fine and my eye runs right down in between the barrels.

I was raised shooting a Crescent 20 gauge which I still own and shoot. But over the years I gravitated to single barreled guns, mostly Remington Model 11's and Browning Auto 5's. I still like them. I went to O/U's when I could get them cheap (Miroku guns), but after it was all said and done, I didn't like them much, but I shot them for 20 years, when it was cool to do so.

Autos? Yes, I've a few and frankly I like them more than I am supposed to. I like my strange Win Model 59. Everyone hates them but me. I have two barrels, a full and modified, but I have to wear a mask when I shoot it. The Lone 59 shooter. I am crazy about the Browning Auto 5 and own four of them. Two Brownings a 12mag and 2&3/4" shooter and a 20 and 16 Remington Model 11. I own a Browning Gold fusion that is a pretty thing, but far to light in the receiver and I don't shoot it very well. I'll use it for geese tho, if I ever get a chance to shoot some again.

I am crazy for pumps. I like them because they aren't too popular today. Those "in the know" buy autos. Not me. I have five model 12s, 3 Ithaca model 37s and two 870s, also a model 97.

But when push comes to shove, handling a classic double barreled gun has them all licked. They speak of days long gone by, when my grandfather was a kid. He was also a heck of a shot.

[jerry serie]

Can anyone following this thread comment on the quality of Damascus barrels? TPS say that there were "fine" and "finest" Damascus barrels. Are these differ types marked in anyway on the barrel flats? I have a 2 grade lifter that is marked with "DD" on the barrel flats. Does this have any indication of Damascus quality? Thanks....Jerry

[Drew Hause]

Jerry: Damascus quality is best judged based on the overall quality of the gun.

And marketing plays into the equation :rolleyes:

"Finest A-1 Quality Silver Steel Damascus Highest Proof" Lefever AA

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/18020839/306354505.jpg

Greener's "Indestructible" Laminated Steel :shock:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/18063717/377312213.jpg

To my eye, hard to beat Parker D6 however

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/19025099/353097842.jpg

Please see
http://docs.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/document/d/1YJxP1k3PzmtmrG1HEGxd8X6g0-1GL0KNY8WMIMkdKr0/edit

[Dean Romig]

In my opinion DD Damascus barrels represent Finest Damascus, however, the authors of The Parker Story did not make that representation. Yours is only the second Grade 2 Parker I've heard of that had DD Damascus barrels. The only other one I have seen an example of is a Grade 2 hammer gun with two original sets of Damascus barrels. Set number 1 is 30" and is D Damascus while set number 2 is 26" and is DD Damascus barrels. There may be, and probably are a few examples of Grade 3 Parkers with DD Damascus barrels as well as a few in Grade 4, but DD Damascus barrels are commonly seen on Grade 5 and above.

These are my opinions only and are based only on what I have personally seen and examined.

Dean

[Drew Hause]

There was a transition in the damascus pattern from the higher grade Lifters to the Top Action Hammerguns introduced in 1882. The c. mid-1870s Quality 2 through Quality 5 Lifters had, for the most part, the same 3 Iron 'Oxford' barrel, likely of British origin.
Examples are here http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/19406549

Destry once posted a pic of a BH stamped 'DD'. P. 511 of "The Parker Story", Figure 12.13, shows the barrel flats of a D-Grade (Quality 3) hammer gun SN 96343, made in 1900, with the DD stamp.

[Dean Romig]

These are pictures of the two sets of D and DD damascus barrels on Parker 23150.

The pattern on the Damascus is difficult to see but you will see the DD stamp on the flats (one D is almost off the edge of the flats) and the much finer pattern than on the D barrels in the following pictures.

Those with the ability to enlarge or magnify these pictures will be able to see the obvious difference between the tight DD pattern and the more open D pattern.




.

[Dean Romig]

One more picture of the pattern of the D barrels.

I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures due to the artificial light.

Well, that didn't work so well then did it...
About all this picture does is to show where the forend was stamped for the barrel set number.




.

[jerry serie]

These photos of my grade 2 lifter were posted back in January on the Hammer Gun site. How does the Damascus pattern compare with these barrels?

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[jerry serie]

Sorry, I tried to copy and paste photos of my posting on the Hammer Gun site and it didn't work. But, you can see my photos on page 4 on the Hammer Gun site to compare with Dean's photos. Maybe someone know how to move photos from one site to another. Jerry