Best to worst is probably not appropriate; "worst" wasn't used
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...EK8OtPYVA/edit
These experiments serve to show what a very large margin of strength there is in a good gun barrel, when ordinary charges are used. The (Damascus) barrels which gave way earliest...had withstood the strains of…
about four times as great as the regulation proof; while the steel barrels (Siemens-Martin and English “Superior Barrel Steel”) were tested…with charges averaging nearly five times as much as the ordinary proof-charge.
Although the steel barrels showed the greater amount of endurance, the
strength of the Damascus was so much in excess of all ordinary requirements that no fear need be felt of their giving way when the work is properly done.
Limited tensile strength testing of various pattern welded barrels show very little difference; about 55,000 psi for Crolle patterns.