Remington.....

[Roundsworth]

.....Rolling Block shotgun barrels. These guns were made in the latter half of the 1800s. The barrels appear to be fluid steel, which has me wondering if they are decarbonized steel, or made from a rifle barrel blank. Are there any Remington enthusiasts out there that can fill me in on these shotguns? Thank you!

[Big D]

You might try posting on the Remington Website. Not very active, but some knowledgeable folks there. http://www.remingtonsociety.com

[Paul Harm]

Far as I know they were the decarbonized barrels. Believe the rifle barrels were the same. Remington developed rifle barrels using a rolling mill - before that everyone lap welded a barrel the entire length. This was very weak compared to a Damascus barrel with short welds going around the barrel. A sales pitch was that the barrels could be bent in half without breaking. They started with a 2" diameter by 9" long round stock with a hole drilled down the center. It would then be stretched out with the mill. No welds. They sold rifle barrels world wide. When a lot of wars ended they had to do something with employees and equipment. They hired a lot of shotgun gunsmiths from stateside and overseas and in 1873 went into producing shotguns.

[Roundsworth]

John, I spent a coupla hours searching the Remington site, to no avail. Paul, thanks for the info. I eventually found an old advertisement stating the guns had decarbonized barrels. Thank you both. Cheers!

[Drew Hause]

Remington called their Bessemer steel 'decarbonized', as did Parker Bros. briefly until Remington took offense and changed the name to Plain Steel. Check out p. 503 & 504 of "The Parker Story"

1872 catalog



For your interest, tensile strength testing:
A sample of Twist and Damascus - 54,000 psi
Bessemer, Plain, or Remington Decarbonized Steel: Henry Bessemer initially claimed a tensile strength of 40 tons/89,600 psi but published numbers range from 55,000 to 70,000 psi, with an average of 63,000 psi
AISI 1018 Low Carbon (Mild) Steel: 64,000 psi
Whitworth's Fluid Compressed Steel: 66,000 - 67,200 psi
AISI 1140 Carbon Steel: 85,000 psi
AISI 4140 Chrome-Molybdenum Steel: 95,000 - 100,000 psi
Remington Ordnance Steel, introduced in 1897 for the 1894 Hammerless Double: 110,000 psi

This of course does not imply that your gun is safe to shoot.