Damascus barreled shotgun - Can it be fired at all?

[James K]

Thanks for that link, FITASC. I couldn't absorb it all, but there is a lot of good information there. I doubt many owners of those old guns will go to the trouble and cost of having their guns evaluated, though.

BTW, I ran into a similar thread on another site (of which I am not a member and couldn't comment) with a post to the effect that unlike American guns, British guns were all proof tested and so never had any problems. Another poster pointed out that a proof test done in 1900 might not guarantee against a burst today. FWIW, all good quality American guns were proof tested, usually to the same standards as British guns. That did not apply to $2.00 "white powder wonders", of course, or other cheap shotguns of the pre-WWII era.

Jim

 

[FITASC]

Euro proofed barrels are done so for export as well as in country use. If a Damascus barrel is for other use than originally intended, they are reproofed and then able for modern use within the parameter of the proof.

 

[44 AMP]

In the marketing literature of the day, fine "Damascus" barrels were made by hammer welding 6 or 8 straps around the barrel mandrel. Guns made with 4 or only 2 strips were called "twist" or "stub twist", and while sound, were not considered as high quality as "true Damascus".

Twist barrels, by what ever name, MAY withstand smokeless powder loads, for some unpredictable number of rounds. They may not.

They are safe for black powder ammo that produces the same stresses they were originally made for, IF they have not deteriorated due to rust in the welds. And, to date, there is no reliable way of knowing if this has happened, short of having the barrel(s) let go. Certainly not possible to tell with the naked eye.

SO, as a precaution, it is recommended not to shoot any Damascus barrel gun, with anything.

My Grandfather had an Ithaca double he really liked. It was a twist gun. One of his neighbors also liked it, and badgered him for several years, before my Grandfather finally sold it to him.

The gun my Grandfather replaced it with was also an Ithaca, this one with "fluid steel" barrels, in 1909.

I have that gun, its in fine mechanical shape with most of the finish remaining. The gun my Grandfather sold had about 4 inches of the left barrel "unravel" in the 1940s. The neighbor wasn't injured, but that was a matter of luck. That gun went through around 40 years of farm and hunting use, from black powder through early smokeless powder before it let go.

No matter how many "thousands" of rounds many people have put through Damascus barrels, including surviving some PROOF loads, there is simply no way of being certain they will not fail in the future, possibly the very next time they are fired. Might be fine, might not. I would not choose to take the risk, and suggest no one else do so, either.

hang it on the wall and display it proudly. Have a gunsmith remove the firing pins (or the springs) if you are concerned it might ever be used by mistake.