Historic reference on barrel material, treatment and properties

[ddoyle]

Was going to put this in the primary docs section but after much reading I surmised there is too much info of interest to builders to relegate it where it might get missed.

The Materials of Engineering: Brasses, bronzes, and other alloys and their constituent metals, 2d ed

Robert Henry Thurston
Wiley, 1890 - Engineering

It is available as a free download from google books.

If you need a reason to sift thru 600 pages skip ahead and read page 534- 535 for an example of insight.

[JCKelly]

Oh ddoyle thank you for this posting. I must buy the book. Mainly for the part on copper, brass and bronze. Since copper alloys are no longer of great commercial significance for their strength, it is hard to find good engineering information on them. Also his discussions of timber, well, I did not read them but think they would be of interest.

Yes, I have been a metallurgist a bit over a half-century now.

As far as gun barrels, I should tell you that it appears to be Most Politically Incorrect here to discuss properties of the steels used in contemporary American muzzle loader barrels.

If you wish to contact me privately we might have a discussion.

[ddoyle]

JC, Glad to be of service.

LOL, Yes I have noticed there are some limits.  I will certainly avail myself of your knowledge much thanks.

If you are keen on copper alloys you must read the chapter on Bronze alloys for gun barrels. As a neophyte it was an exciting eye opener for me.

EDIT after thinking for a moment (rare occurrence) I realize what had excited me so much about the data in the book was that it appeared to be the beginning of the thought process required to begin replicating in modern materials the weights and profiles of historic arms. At the very least to try and slot in our modern materials in the lexicon of historic materials.  See how they compare etc. Woops there I go again