Damascus, Twisted and Laminated - same?

[Drew Hause]

Previous threads regarding Parker Laminated Steel barrels

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20330

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5520

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?p=7342

[Dean Romig]

Jay, I too used to think the Parker made Laminated Steel barrels were used predominantly on the higher grades - and I believe I posted words to that effect some years ago - but after studying the Serialization book covering the years 1877 - 1881, the years during which Parker was manufacturing and using these barrels, on guns graded “L” I discovered the vast majority of guns with Laminated barrels were Grade L2. There were only a couple Grade L1 guns and not many grade L3 and higher.





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[ArtS]

I have made the same list, but a complicating issue is that there are instances where we have found higher grade guns with Parker made laminate barrels that are marked on the rib and listed in the serialization book as Damascus guns. I believe that Parker at the time was very proud of the barrels and often used them interchangeably with normal Damascus when building guns. I think there were more barrels produced than just the guns ordered and marked Laminate.

[ArtS]

I also think it interesting that guns #286 and #287 show up in the same post.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Arthur Shaffer

I have made the same list, but a complicating issue is that there are instances where we have found higher grade guns with Parker made laminate barrels that are marked on the rib and listed in the serialization book as Damascus guns. I believe that Parker at the time was very proud of the barrels and often used them interchangeably with normal Damascus when building guns. I think there were more barrels produced than just the guns ordered and marked Laminate.

Art, on all of the guns that received Parker-made Laminated Steel barrel they were marked as such on the top rib but the legend on the top rib gave no indication that the barrel tubes were made in-house. The identification mark that indicated such was the P with the ‘broken foot’ stamped on the forward area of the right barrel flat where the steel type is normally found.

Parker Bros. knew what kind of barrel steel they were putting on any particular gun - no mistake there.
The confusion stems from the person or persons recording the features of the guns.
We often see in our research letters that these guns that received Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels that they were recorded as “Damascus” and this (to us) is wrong… but unfortunately, we can’t change history.
And Chuck includes in his letters exactly what the factory recorded in the stock books and order books.





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[BillCorn]

I thought I would share photos of the barrel markings. First, is the labeling on the rib designating it ‘Laminated Steel’. Second, on the under side are what I believe to be proof marks for Birmingham.

[Researcher]

Those tubes were proofed at the Birmingham Proof House, so not Parker Bros. made Laminated tubes, but tubes bought from a Birmingham supplier.

[BillCorn]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

Those tubes were proofed at the Birmingham Proof House, so not Parker Bros. made Laminated tubes, but tubes bought from a Birmingham supplier.

What does that mean for the strength of them?

[Drew Hause]

That would be an earlier form of English Laminated Steel than that tested in the 1891 Birmingham Proof House trial, but there is no reason to believe the strength would be less than other pattern welded tubes ie. about 55,000 psi
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...U/edit?tab=t.0

A reminder
Tensile strength is only a part of the equation for estimating bursting pressure. If the barrel is made of Twist with a 50,000 psi tensile strength, that does NOT mean that it will withstand a 10,000 psi load by a factor of 5.

Barlow's formula P=2 S t / D
P=Bursting pressure in psi.
S=Tensile strength of material in tube wall.
t=Wall thickness in inches.
D=Outside diameter in inches.

Barlow's refers to a pipe capped at both ends with a static pressure (a pressure cylinder). Shotgun barrels are not designed to be pressure vessels as one end is open and the pressure rises and falls quickly.

It took about 30,000 psi for Sherman Bell to burst a Parker Vulcan Steel and a Parker D3 barrel

[Mike of the Mountain]

With sufficient wall thickness in our pattern welded guns, we shoot standard target loads at clays and game. At The Southern I shot my grade 2 top-lever 12g Damascus gun in multiple events and used 1 oz and 1 1/8 oz shells at 1200 FPS and less. No issues. This gun has 2 5/8" chambers.

I only have one gun with "short" chambers that were made for 2 9/16" shells and that's a 16g with pattern barrels.