John, as I said, barrel steels fall within certain ranges of components and variations are slight. It may be the process , it may be the alloys that make the difference, I don't know.
As Dave mentioned, several attempts have been made to identify the differences. Remembering undergraduate metallurgy days, I think it is possible if a testing lab is available. However, there is a certain frustration in these efforts because several people have volunteered over the years to run tests, samples have been gathered and provided, and nothing has come of it.
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