Perhaps shot-shell manufacturers should refer to their 'low' pressure ammo as ' lower' pressure, but they (and I) probably don't need to know what pressure is necessary to blow up a barrel. It's easy enough to know the range of pressures being offed, and if their's falls on the lower end of the scale, that's all that necessary to legitimately call them low pressure.
Lots of tests have been run on various steels used to make barrels by Parker Brothers. These tests, undertaken by members, and using labs and procedures considered meeting standards such as ANSI, ASTM, ASME, and NAVSEA, were published both here, and in Parker Pages articles.
Alloy steels, typically CrMo, and CrNiMo, have UTS (Ultimate Tensile Strength) above 80,000 psi, and most are in the 90-60 range (90,000 UTS, and 60,000 Yield strength) not,"Shear Strength" as stated above.
I don't think anyone has ever done extensive testing on composite barrels like that done on steel barrels. In order to do a proper test, samples would be examined both non destructively and destructively. It's pretty hard to say what is "specification" as you're dealing with at least two distinct materials, and in a form which would be difficult to segregate. These materials aren't homogeneous but from a practical standpoint, have to be treated like they are, knowing any test results are pretty random.
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