Barrel thickness and pressures

[J.B. Books]

I found this on ShotgunWorld, if this is correct and it sounds logical, "thin" barrel(s) if it is 6 inches beyond the chamber are probably more of a dent hazard than safety hazard.

Following is the best explanation of pressure and velocity versus
length in a shotgun barrel that has ever been posted here.

Almost all shotgun powder burns within the first 2 inches
of the chamber. A typical fast burning powder will burn
in the first 3/4 inch of the chamber. This is where
maximum chamber pressure is attained. A typical fast
burning powder like Red Dot might give a chamber pressure
with a certain load of about 10,000 psi at that point.
This is why a chamber is very thick on a shotgun barrel
back at the chamber and gradually becomes thinner as
it gets further from the chamber.

After that first 3/4 inch, the pressure and tempurature
starts reducing. When the shot has travelled twice as far,
then the already burned powder which is now gas has
twice as much space available and the pressure therefore
drops to 1/2 what it was at 3/4 inch travel.

So when the shot has traveled 1 1/2 inches the pressure
drops to 5,000 psi if it was at 10,000 when the shot
had traveled 3/4 inch and was at max chamber pressure.

Likewise when the shot travels twice as far again, to
3 inches the pressure drops to half again. So when the
shot has traveled 3 inches the pressure is about 2500 psi.

This can be carried out on down the barrel and the
pressure keep reducing by half as the shot travel
doubles onward down the barrel. Here is a table giving
shot travel vs pressure.

inchesressure

3/4 : 10,000
1 1/2 : 5,000
3 : 2,500
6 : 1,250
12 : 675
24 : 338

So as you can see as the shot travels further down the
barrel the pressure reduces. Since the pressure is
very high early on, the shot accelerates rapidly early
on. With 10,000 psi back initially it is accelerating
very fast. Once it gets out to 24 inches though the
pressure is only 338 psi, so the shot is accelerating
very little after that point.

[David Noble]

very interesting. who was the author? Was there any mention of the variations from this example when using the slower burning powders?

[Dean Romig]

Makes sense to me.

[Mills]

Very interesting. Makes a lot of sense. Hopefully, some of our experts on here will chime in and verify this.

[Eldon Goddard]

My experience tells me that the relationship with pressure and time in a highly dynamic event like combustion is almost never linear. I would need to study it further but that is just a first impression. This could just be a linear approximation, which there is nothing wrong with.

[J.B. Books]

Here are two pressure charts from ‘Powder Pressures at Different Parts of the Gun Barrel’ in the book ‘Sporting Guns and Gunpowder’, published by ‘The Field’ in London in 1897. Pressure drop looks pretty linear to me and seems to verify the post I found in SW.

[BRDHNTR]

would this explain why quality damascus barrels can seem to handle the pressure of low power smokless loads?

[Dean Romig]

After about 6 inches from the breech the graph line seems to support the law of physics that states "an object in motion tends to stay in motion." but the high pressure in the first 2 inches is obviously the result of getting that "object" moving from a dead standstill.

[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

Quality Damascus such as used for Parker and other major concerns of the period are stronger than most think. Sherman Bell demonstrated his in this works for the Double Gun Journal.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by allen newell

would this explain why quality damascus barrels can seem to handle the pressure of low power smokless loads?

Strike "can seem to" and you have it correct