Dangerous Damascus
 

I recently picked up a 16ga Bernard barreled CHE.Included with the gun was a set of 20ga Vickers Atlas barrels and two letters from Remington on Parker letterhead telling a previous owner how dangerous damascus barrels were.They cited how damascus weakened over time and how it was more likely to pit and rust.Quite a turnaround from what we know today.They really tried hard to kill the use of damascus barrels.I guess out of fear of lawsuits.I have attached photos of the letters.I also have a letter from Larry DelGreco saying he no longer built barrels and he refered the owner to Atlas.I apologize for the poor quality of the photos.The letters have been folded for a long time and are fragile.An interesting piece of Parker histony.

John,
Those are nice historical letters.
Thanks,
Jeff

I wonder if the Remington correspondant, F.T. Plunkett is any relation to our own Paul Plunkett?





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Those should be carefully put onto a flat bed scanner then the lid lowered to flatten them out nicely and scanned for distribution. Some real history there. Thanks for sharing.

I was shooting with a 92 year old gent when we discussed the barrels I was shooting. He told me that back when he duck hunted, a gent that was shooting in the next blind had his Parker come completely unraveled. I tried to tell him that that was impossible. He asked if I was calling him a liar. I just walked out and let it go. Sometimes you just can't believe what people say about our older guns.

Interesting!! DuPont, that owned controlling interest in Remington Arms Co., Inc. from 1934 through the end of the century, published booklets on their shotgun powders in the late 1920s and early 1930s that stated that their new progressive burning powders produced much higher velocities with considerably lower pressures then the bulk and dense smokeless powders previously in use. Now here they are stating they are dangerous in Damascus barrels. Hmmm....

My Grandfather, Father and uncles were convinced this Damascus barrel nonsense started as a desperate industry attempt to sell new guns during The Great Depression.

John, those Bernards are especially bad and even more so the small bores. I'll take the gun off your hands for cheap. I'll do that for a friend.

It is possible that some barrels did fail.Pitted barrels or barrels that had been honed and polished out can be dangerous today.Back then no one outside of a few gunsmiths even knew what a wall thickness gauge was.Also,damascus probably got blamed when there was an obstruction of some kind in the barrel.Easier to blame the barrels instead of mud or snow or the wrong gauge shell in the gun.The main point is that gun and ammo manufacturers made a coordinated effort to stop the use of damascus barrels.

Bruce,you are a true gentleman.If I need rescue,I will call.

Boys its been a while....I have seen my buddy John's little Bernard gun....Shes a beauty....The "C" was the epitome of parker excellence......ain't that right "uncle rich" and Bruce.........Johns the best. Always something special coming out of "duck central"