there is mo standardized testing or requirements for testing of muzzleloading barrels in the US .
the only testing that is done is done by the companies them selves to their standards . These are also most time only batch testing
a proper proof test can only be done by a proofing house of which again there is none in the USA
any such proofing of a barrel will carry said stamp from that proof house .
Such a barrel will not only be fired , it will be x-rayed , measured and fired again to insure not only the steel stays within a tolerance but experience no molecule alignment change and is capable of withstanding a given pressure yet maintaining all of the above again with no do effect to the steal itself throughout the leaght of the barrel itself .
anything less is not proofing only testing .
many barrel makers of old considered hardened barrels to not be suitable . In fact that’s one of the reasons that we find most of the most highly accurate barrels to actually be made of much softer alloys then what we use today .
I in fact and I have said this before . If we read the opinions of Old barrel makers like Hacker Martian , as documented by Hershel house , we find that Hacker specifically states that a barrel should be so soft as to be able to draw the flats with a knife blade . There fore he often found manufactured barrel to be far to hard for use .
I don’t care who you are or what degrees you have , that’s pretty darn soft
now while i wouldnt subscribe to that that line of oppenion , hacker was one of the last truly historic gun makers in this country
myself i prefer a Getz or Rice or Rayl barrel or when available and cost effective an Iron barrel of proper build .
but that’s just me
Historically speaking it pretty hard to claim the priority of modern steal when compared even to softer irons of which there is 300 years of data to provide information concerning the prowess of softer steals over harder ones . But again a person must chose what they feel is correct
There is also more to a safe rifle then just the barrel , proper fit of the breech as well as breech material and breech design is also a must .
do to liability issues this is one of the reasons many companies no longer provide breeched barrels . thus leaving the breeching to the gunsmith or builder .
myself as a gunsmith i prefure that
Personally in all my years as a muzzleloading gunsmith I never seen a barrel , Spanish or other fail do to poor quality of the barrel . Now I have seen them fail do to improper maintenance by the owner or improper loading .
Even modern steels fail even after being proofed .
IMO not only through the centuries have we became more advanced in out technolgies but it also seems we have become more and more brain dead .
as such we sue over anything and everything , chosing to point blaim at someone else .
this is why IMO people tout the prowes of modern steels . basicly so as to cover the vast amount of stupidit amoung their possable customers and thus Cover their A@# so to say
We also know the thought today that BP cannot reach high pressures is a false hood .
This was also documented in I believe the early 1800 where it was shown that given the right circumstances BP could reach pressures over 90 thousand PSI .
So can it happen yes . Is it common No .
So regardless of the material of the barrel you chose to use . One must always properly maintain their weapon . Fail to do that and I don’t care what pictures you take showing how well the molecules align and lay within the steel itself . You run the chance of a barrel failure
There are a lot of sales gimmicks out there ranging from opinions of flash hole liners to bolster designs to barrel steel .. All are opinions and like holes , everyone has one
OHHH LMAO and like everyone else , thats my Oppenion LOL
Topic: Type G English trade gun!?! (Read 1679 times)