Barrel Steels-AISI 12L14 vrs AISI 1137

[jerrywh]

 There is a good reason to use for modern gun barrel steel in making muzzle loaders.  Let us say we were making a barrel out of an vary old Damascus rifle barrel and all we really wanted was the Damascus pattern on the outside. The original Damascus barrel could be bored out and then lined with a 4140 rifled liner. No matter how thin the outside Damascus was the 4140 liner would make it safe for a muzzle loader using black powder. I once did this for a customer who wanted a Damascus pistol barrel with a stub Damascus exterior and a rifled interior. HE died and never did use it so somewhere this barrel is still floating around someplace. There are other good uses for 4140 in muzzle loaders. It is very difficult to engrave though. So you seldom see engraving on a modern gun barrel.  Look how thin some modern shotgun barrels are at the muzzle.  But to make a whole barrel for a 54 cal muzzle loader out of 4140 is extreme overkill. Besides most tightwad muzzle loading nuts would never pay for one.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Doesn't Ed Rayl use 4140?  I know his barrels are a real bear to file, dovetail, engrave or whatever.  I was told many years ago by him directly that he was using some 4xxx type of steel, always thought it was 4140.

The iron barrels Brad was selling on occasion were made from round stock taken from an old bridge dismantle, if I recall correctly.  I believe Bob Hoyt was boring, rifling and profiling them.  Ed Rayl has also done this with customer-supplied iron rounds, afaik.  I still have a bunch of those round bars, very little corrosion at all on the exterior despite being 100+ years old now.

[Elnathan]

Ed Rayl switched over to 8620 about ten or twelve years ago, I believe, after the quality of 4140 available to him declined precipitously. IIRC, he told me that all the 4140 at that time was coming out of the Ukraine and he could tell just boring it that it wasn't any good. Some of the folks he knew that were trying to make aerospace parts out of that stuff couldn't get any of their products to meet testing standards, either, if my memory serves me correctly.

[Bob Roller]

Ed told me at the CLA show several years ago that he used 8620.This is more than adequate for
black powder barrels and I have used it for bolster style breech plugs.It is not hard to machine with common tools
and takes a nice finish as well.It can also be color case hardened if used for a breech plug for flint
or percussion.
Bob Roller

[galamb]

This is the last list I have of "who was using what" to make their barrels.

If it was a democracy everyone would be using 12L14....

Ed Rayl         8620
Green Mountain           1137
Colerain              12L14
Rice                 12L14/4140
Oregon         12L14
Don/John Getz      12L14
Longhammock      12L14/1137
FCI – Charlie Burton   12L14      (formerly owned by J. Goodien)
Jim McLemore      4150
Sleepy Hills      4150       (out of business)
Robert (Bobby) Hoyt   12L14

[jerrywh]

This is going off track but just for the record one of the top makers of sharps rifles uses 8620 for the receivers. It case hardens very well.

[Clark Badgett]

This is going off track but just for the record one of the top makers of sharps rifles uses 8620 for the receivers. It case hardens very well.

Machines nicely too. As do the 4140 and 4150 steels.

[Bob Roller]

This is the last list I have of "who was using what" to make their barrels.

If it was a democracy everyone would be using 12L14....

Ed Rayl         8620
Green Mountain           1137
Colerain              12L14
Rice                 12L14/4140
Oregon         12L14
Don/John Getz      12L14
Longhammock      12L14/1137
FCI – Charlie Burton   12L14      (formerly owned by J. Goodien)
Jim McLemore      4150
Sleepy Hills      4150       (out of business)
Robert (Bobby) Hoyt   12L14

Sleepy Hills and Jim McLemore are ONE AND THE SAME and NOT out of business.
Bob Roller

[galamb]

Welcome to Sleepy Hill Barrels!
Attention
For the foreseeable future I will be taking a break from the black powder field.
I will not be taking or filling any muzzleloader barrel orders.

Thank you for your continued interest and support. Please check back for future changes and/or announcements.

[mikeyfirelock]

Apparently there are 2 Sleepy hill barrels.   Jim McLemore  is still active and can be reached at the info with the address on South Grove Road , Hebron Indiana.   A search for Sleepy Hill Barrels on the internet will turn up his info .
( you may have to leave a message...Jim is revising some equipment at present last time I talked to him)
Mike Mullins aka mikeyfirelock

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

In answer to a question by ScottH, I attempted to sell some pistol barrels on this site in 2012.  These were hand made - really, no electrical or modern tools used, wrought iron barrels.  I was informed by a site moderator that "I was very concerned that one of our less experienced members would purchase one of the barrels and overload it and cause himself or others damage."  So, I assume that wrought iron barrels made in the 18th c. - 19th c. manner can not be sold here, only the modern materials are acceptable.

Jim