(Very) old 16 ga owners - what're you feeding them?

[Big Bad]

Reading up on proofing, you may have discovered that back in the day, the Birmingham proof house tested the relative strength of fluid steel vs Damascus. The top barrels were overwhelmingly Damascus. That is to say, the barrels that took the highest pressures before they blew.

And I'd be curious as to what other forums you are referencing. The two forums that I am aware of that have the most specialized interest in old shotguns and thus Damascus barrels, rather than a more general appeal, are doublegun forums and 16 ga Society. Additionally the publication Double Gun Journal has an abiding interest in old SxS shotguns. All three of these entities have reams of information on them and from their members completely at odds with the speculation you are providing here, vis a vis the safety of using properly inspected Damascus barrels with low and medium pressure loads.

In fact Double Gun Journal ran a series of articles by Sherman Bell about 10 years ago. He was trying to prove/disprove exactly what you are talking about. And so he gathered a large-ish quantity of old, decrepit barrels, both fluid steel and Damascus and fired them with proof type loads until they failed. While not under the controls of a laboratory environment, it was an example of real world circumstances (excepting the proof loads). Almost universally, the Damascus held on longer than the fluid steel barrels. And all of the barrels started in very rough shape.

If you want to make a statement along the lines of "one needs to be very careful when using old barrels, especially with modern ammunition" I am in complete agreement. But singling out Damascus from fluid steel as somehow inherently more dangerous, under similar circumstances, does not hold up except in the old wives tales of the shooting community.

It's physics, not some black art and it's certainly not the innuendo the marketing departments of the ammunition and gun companies and their shills, all with a vested interest in the sales of new guns, have been spreading since the 1920's.

As I said, use Google to view the same stuff I did, anyone can. You go your way and I'll stick to modern barrels. I certainly never hand out risky advice on these forums, seen too many bad consequences from such things.

 

[dilly]

I think many of the fears about Damascus barrels being prone to splitting come from people using modern ammo in those old Begian Junkers with "laminated steel" barrels. I was taught those guns were all unsafe and all had Damascus barrels. I learned later in life, they can be apples and oranges.

 

[catnthehatt]

The 16 gauge society has a very good load data sheet for low pressure 16 gauge loads.
My hunting buddy and i shoot many 16's safely and some are very old.
I prefer black powder and brass cases for mine, however.

Cat

 

[Longwalker]

I had a Ithaca Flues double and a Sauer pre-war drilling, both in 16 ga - 2.5" I used Kent Gamebore traditional ammo in both or loaded shells using from the 16 ga. society low pressure data. It is fun to keep those old guns shooting, and they still bring home the game. I'm down to only four 16 ga. guns now, and all are 2-3/4" chambers, so don't need the low pressure shells any more. But truth be told, the short shells/ low speed & pressure killed stuff just as well in my experience.