How many different barrels are there?

[Kurt Sauers]

Can someone run down the different types of barrels , best to worst,their qualities and fit for today's world

Thanks

[Dean Romig]

As they pertain to Parker Bros. shotguns, from lowest grade to highest, not necessarily in perfect order, they are - Ordinance Steel, Decarbonized Steel, Twist, Plain Twist, Stub Twist, Laminated Steel (early), Damascus Steel (in several different grades and iterations), Laminated Steel (later), Bernard Steel, Vulcan Steel, Parker Steel, Parker Special Steel, Titanic Steel, Acme Steel, Whitworth Steel, Peerless Steel.

I may have missed a couple of the obscure ones... apologies.


(Edited 7:24 p.m.)





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[Kurt Sauers]

There's more than enough even if you may have missed a couple

[Mills]

Hopefully Drew Hause will chime in here. He knows more about old barrels than anyone. I will say Dean's list looks pretty complete.

[Drew Hause]

Probably more here about them new-fangled fluid steel barrels than you want to know, including tensile testing and composition analysis (the Parker barrels courtesy of Dave Suponski). Scroll down to the bottom for a summary
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...EK8OtPYVA/edit
and
https://docs.google.com/document/pub...eFell8GsAWd-KI

Maker's could call barrels whatever they wanted, with creative assistance from the Marketing Dept. and it is very likely that the same Belgian sourced tubes were used by most of the U.S. gunmakers.
The ‘LLH’ of Laurent Lochet-Habran has been found on Fox, Baker, Lefever, Crescent, Ithaca (Lewis & Flues with ‘Smokeless Powder Steel’), NID, Lefever Nitro Special, Lefever M-2 single barrel, and Westernfield Deluxe/Western Arms Long Range, L.C. Smith Royal, Armor, London, Crown and Nitro barrels and Hunter Arms Fulton and “Ranger” for Sears. Baker guns may be marked “Nitro Rolled Steel” and Folsom Crescent guns “Fluid Temper Steel”.

The "Creative Naming of the Same Stuff" prize probably goes to the Hunter Arms Fulton Tradename guns: “Royal Steel”, “Special Smokeless Steel”, “London Fluid Steel”, “Peerless Steel”, “Fluid Blued Steel”, “Projectile Steel”, “Silver Steel”, “Blue Diamond Steel”, and “Missabe Fluid Steel” on “Comstock Arms Co. Duluth” guns.

Modern Chrome Moly 4140 was developed in the 20s for automobile axles and eventually became the standard shotgun barrel steel.

Pattern Welded barrel nomenclature is even more confusing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...TWH8vv0fE/edit

[6pt-Sika]

Fluid steel damascus steel or steel twist "I" classify them in in two groups . SAFE and UNSAFE .

[Bill Murphy]

Which ones are safe and which ones are unsafe? I can't get my arms around that newfangled fluid steel yet.

[Drew Hause]

Just a reminder.
Double Gun Journal Vol. 10, Issue 4, Winter, 1999, “Finding Out For Myself” Part II and Vol. 16, Issue 2, Summer 2005, Part IX, Sherman Bell's destructive testing of Parker GH Dam3 and VH Vulcan Steel. Both guns were subjected to sequentially higher pressure loads at about 2,000 pounds/square inch (psi) increments. The GH testing started at 11,900 psi and one chamber ruptured at 29,620 psi. The VH started with a Proof Load of 18,560 psi. Both chambers bulged at 29,620 psi and ruptured at 31,620 psi.

[Kurt Sauers]

Originally Posted by Drew Hause

Just a reminder.
Double Gun Journal Vol. 10, Issue 4, Winter, 1999, “Finding Out For Myself” Part II and Vol. 16, Issue 2, Summer 2005, Part IX, Sherman Bell's destructive testing of Parker GH Dam3 and VH Vulcan Steel. Both guns were subjected to sequentially higher pressure loads at about 2,000 pounds/square inch (psi) increments. The GH testing started at 11,900 psi and one chamber ruptured at 29,620 psi. The VH started with a Proof Load of 18,560 psi. Both chambers bulged at 29,620 psi and ruptured at 31,620 psi.

So what's the pressure of your typical 1 1/4 pheasant load or steel shot waterfowl load?

[Drew Hause]

Probably less than the loads for which a 12g turn-of-the-century double was designed, and certainly less than the SAAMI max.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...UOZEFU/preview

1 1/4 oz. 3 1/2 Dr. Eq. BULK Smokeless was about 11,750 psi
1 1/4 oz. 3 1/2 Dr. Eq. DENSE Smokeless was 12,600 psi
Pressure is beyond the modern SAAMI recommendation of 11,500 psi

NONE of the turn-of-the-century barrel steels were designed for steel shot Kurt