Help. Anyone know about shotgun pressures? Old damascus barrel

July 09, 2021, 06:17 PM

OK, at the last gun show, I bought a wall hanger. Its clearly got damascus barrels and even looks kind of cool with the stripes. I tried to chamber some 2 3/4s shells but the damn extractors wouldn't retract. I was considering buying some of the shorty shells, but have no idea what kind of pressures they run at. I don't need a full box of them, but maybe a couple or 4 shells, just for fun. I'm kind of worried that maybe Ithica chambered it in 2 5/8, as some of them were. Any body here have any advice other than just hang it on the wall?

July 09, 2021, 06:40 PM

parabellum

quote:
Originally posted by rburg:
Any body here have any advice other than just hang it on the wall?

Hang it on the wall, and that's all.

July 09, 2021, 07:41 PM

jaybirdaccountant

quote:
Originally posted by rburg:
I bought a wall hanger.

I think you have your answer right there.

July 09, 2021, 07:47 PM

parabellum

I wonder if rburg is having a bit of fun with us.

July 09, 2021, 08:17 PM

sigfreund

The guidance I read at least 60 years ago about Damascus shotgun barrels was that they were not safe to fire with any ammunition, even mild black powder loads. The reason given has always been that they were none too strong to begin with, plus corrosion can occur between the original strips and not be seen, thereby making them even weaker.

But it is possible that it’s just a “Let’s see what sort of answers I get to this question.”

July 09, 2021, 08:30 PM

Texas Bob C.

There is an alternative to hanging it on the wall, make a lamp out of it. Whatever you do don't attempt to fire it. It will make an ugly pile of what used to be an interesting old shotgun.

July 09, 2021, 10:55 PM

David Lee

You could display it with dummy rounds. Ive had 3 of my own. The prettiest having external hammers. There's just nothing so cool as rolling those ornate little hammers back to full cock. I had a pretty sweet Baker Batavia 12 bore which pointed so nice. Never fired any of them. I nearly bought a pair of JP Sauer 16 gauge doubles which would have been used in the field as they were Krupp steel barrels. The heart breaker which I should have bought was a Sauer with external hammers. Never have I admired a SxS more. Last double I came close to buying was the little Ringneck by CZ. That was a 20.

July 10, 2021, 10:09 AM

lyman

general consensus in these parts is to examine the shotgun closely,

a good clean set of barrels, no sharp dents or dings, no rust, that have been taken care of can be shot,
BP loads preferred, and not magnum type , or low brass low powered loads,

keep in mind as well a lot are 2-1/2", not 2-3/4" chambers,

if the barrel is rusty or crusty,
pitting or darkness in the bore
sharp dings (as in metal moved, not just a rounded dent) then hang that thing on the wall,

July 10, 2021, 03:43 PM

MikeinNC

Instant karma Rburg, if the gun is a 12 ga I have some of those brass shells, I’ll send you two of them for display. No primers, powder or shot. Or I can make them up for dummy’s with already fired primers. Your choice.

Send me an email and include sigforum in the subject line with your address.

Now back to the question at hand. If the gun is that old it may be that you have 2 1/2” chambers…which is what the old black powder shells were speced to.

Check this out…
http://www.tbullock.com/bpsg.html

"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein

“You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020

“A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker

July 10, 2021, 05:49 PM

captain127

I would not even consider shooting a Damascus barrel gun with any ammo, even black powder makes me cringe when I used to see some cowboy shooters do it.
One alternative is you can buy modern steel conversion sleeves to shoot smaller gauge modern ammo in them, like 20’s in a 12. This isn’t cheap though

July 11, 2021, 08:22 AM

sigfreund

quote:
Originally posted by captain127:
even black powder

And black powder residues are what can get into the internal structure of Damascus barrels and cause corrosion. Continuing to use black powder in the guns just increases the likelihood of future problems.

An Internet search for “Damascus barrel blow up” will turn up a lot of discussion, including claims that the phenomenon is very rare. The question, though, is how rare does it have to be to run the risk? If there was ever a better example of the “My grandma smoked four packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day and lived to 90 without ever getting cancer” fallacy, I don’t know what it would be. Someone’s experiences with gun A tell us nothing about our possible experiences with gun Y. What’s the benefit of shooting an old gun like that other than to say we did it?

July 11, 2021, 09:40 AM

lyman

quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund:
quote:
Originally posted by captain127:
even black powder

And black powder residues are what can get into the internal structure of Damascus barrels and cause corrosion. Continuing to use black powder in the guns just increases the likelihood of future problems.

An Internet search for “Damascus barrel blow up” will turn up a lot of discussion, including claims that the phenomenon is very rare. The question, though, is how rare does it have to be to run the risk? If there was ever a better example of the “My grandma smoked four packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day and lived to 90 without ever getting cancer” fallacy, I don’t know what it would be. Someone’s experiences with gun A tell us nothing about our possible experiences with gun Y. What’s the benefit of shooting an old gun like that other than to say we did it?

my Grandmother did,, LSMFT,,, only she did die of Cancer in her 80's,,

one other thing I forgot to mention, some of the Vintager guys (the shoot comps with vintage shotguns, ) Will use Damascus barrels,

however, these guys also have the tools to measure the barrel thickness and will not shoot any shotgun , Damascus or not, it the tubes are too thin, (some gunsmiths or shops will hone out pits etc and thus reduce the thickness considerably, making them very dangerous)