The Plain Steel barrels were re-bored rifle barrels, and there are numerous warnings concerning the pressures they can withstand. The rifle barrels were left over from an unfulfilled war contract, and while they may have been sufficiently strong as rifle barrels, heat treat technology was not perfected, and the material was an very basic alloy, lacking the Si-Mn (Silicon Manganese) for refined grain structure, and also lacking any appreciable amount Cr-Ni (Chrome and Nickel). It was barely steel, by chemical composition.
|