Current project by Swab - German silver blunderbuss

[Swab]

The post below was originally part of Davebozell's  "Show us your current project" thread.  The moderators have split the many projects in the original thread out into individual threads so the members can more easily ask questions and the builders can more easily answer.

German silver blunderbuss.  I turned the barrel from a piece of solid stock I cast.  I put it together for the picture.

[Mike Brooks]

German silver blunderbuss.  I turned the barrel from a piece of solid stock I cast.  I put it together for the picture.

Well isn't that interesting....Are you suggesting the barrel is cast from German silver?

[Swab]

Well isn't that interesting....Are you suggesting the barrel is cast from German silver?

Yes sir if you consider german silver to be "white bronze" or a bronze with a higher nickel content changing the color to a white.  The breech is a smaller diameter than the bore as a safety factor as well.

[bob in the woods]

Thanks for posting, Swab.  Did you proof that barrel yet ?
Interesting project.

[Swab]

Thanks for posting, Swab.  Did you proof that barrel yet ?
Interesting project.

Its been tested with blank loads which mean next to nothing.  There is no location here where I can live fire.  Our only public range is indoor and no black powder is allowed.  There is a private club but fees are $$$ and the waiting list is years long.  Being a muzzleloader and black powder blank firing is ok and as said that means almost nothing.

[jerrywh]

 There is a lot of German silver alloys. The ingredients very by percentage a lot. There were English pistols originally made from a similar alloy called Paktong. The variations of the alloy are so different That Who could say if it were safe or not? In general the pressure in that kind of bore would be very low in comparison to a regular smooth bore. Personally I would proof the heck out of it before I ever fired it. In general Nickel alloys are very ductile and are not susceptible to embitterment. That is what I have read.

[Mike Brooks]

There is a lot of German silver alloys. The ingredients very by percentage a lot. There were English pistols originally made from a similar alloy called Paktong. The variations of the alloy are so different That Who could say if it were safe or not? In general the pressure in that kind of bore would be very low in comparison to a regular smooth bore. Personally I would proof the heck out of it before I ever fired it. In general Nickel alloys are very ductile and are not susceptible to embitterment. That is what I have read.

I wasn't concerned with the safety aspect, he has every right to blow his head off if he wants to. I thought it nifty he cast the barrel and bored it.

[Swab]

I could look it up but the "German Silver" used in the barrel was clean white bronze ingots roughly 65 copper, 25 nickel, 5 tin, and the rest lead and zinc.  The blank was poured solid with a bore 1/3 the breech.  No breech plug, made along the same "guidelines" for bronze cannon. 

When one looks at how original pieces may employ brass barrels with brass threaded breech plugs (steel threaded into brass) and larger bores relative to their breech are your comments about blowing myself up really necessary?

[bob in the woods]

With a cast barrel of "german silver" , I would most definitely want to proof it  first if firing an actual charge of ball /or shot. How good is/was the pour ?  It's difficult to tell without the right equipment.  I've filed enough cast brass to have seen my share of imperfect castings. On a trigger guard, not so much of a problem, but a barrel?
If you're only firing "blanks" you're probably safe enough, but stranger things have happened.  Your barrel material would probably "tear" rather than "blow up", but you could still get hurt. Just because they did things back in the 1700's doesn't imply that they were safe. Barrels were known to fail, including brass cannon barrels.

[Swab]

With a background building much larger weaponry dealing with bronze pours in the hundreds of pounds I'm tired of trying to defend myself. 

Some of the larger pieces Ive worked on . . .

[bob in the woods]

Very impressive, but I don't get the push back and comment re " defending yourself" ??
You didn't really elaborate on your experience in casting barrels, and that said...how can suggesting a casting be proofed before use be bad advice?  There was no intent to offend .
BTW- was that a blank load being fired from that cannon ?

[Goo]

There is a lot of German silver alloys. The ingredients very by percentage a lot. There were English pistols originally made from a similar alloy called Paktong. The variations of the alloy are so different That Who could say if it were safe or not? In general the pressure in that kind of bore would be very low in comparison to a regular smooth bore. Personally I would proof the heck out of it before I ever fired it. In general Nickel alloys are very ductile and are not susceptible to embitterment. That is what I have read.

If anyone has an original paktong barrel one would only need to take it to a metals buyer who has a laser analysis gun.   the laser gun would list the metals and percentages of the alloy and it could then be recreated for reproducing barrels.

[mparker762]

BTW- was that a blank load being fired from that cannon ?

There's no blur on the tip of the barrel from the recoil, which makes it look like a blank load.