Can brass bore guides cause damage?

[BackDraft]

Here is the writers bio:
Heer Vohera
Meet Heer, a dynamic and driven writer learning tricks of her trade in the metal industry. With a background in Digital Marketing, Heer brings a unique perspective to her writing, sharing valuable insights. Apart from blogging she like reading and hiking.

Yep. “Content Creator”. They think in terms of “Quantity, not quality”. Had one of those CC go after me once about the fire service. I was explaining to some commenter that said CC info was incorrect about the “Oxygen tanks and fireproof clothing” that we wear into buildings. When I advised that the gear is fire “resistant“ and our airpaks were only just that: “air” packs, CC asked me how long I had been a CC. I told him never, as I was too busy being a FF.

 

[Appowner]

What's harder? Brass or steel?

Which brass? Which steel? Seems to me depending on specific manufacturing methods the two overlap.

However, I have another hobby where I use a lot of small tubing, sheet and wire. I can use brass or I can use steel but I prefer the brass. Why? My drill bits penetrates the brass easier than the steel.

Use what you feel comfortable with.

 

[Tenring]

From what I heard over thinking can cause damage, LOL…..

 

[zimmerstutzen]

That's just nuts.

You're taking a piece of metal and swinging it violently at a stationary piece of metal.

You're transferring that brass hammer's kinetic energy to a steel muzzle that's just sitting there.

The force you're inducing is levels of magnitude greater than the sliding force/friction between a brass ramrod/ramrod guide and a rifle's bore.

No muzzleloader accessory brass ever produced is harder than a quality steel barrel.

Run your "Brass is harder than steel" test through an actual hardness test like the Rockwell Hardness Scale and see what happens.

I was using a brass muzzle protector on a Garret Sharps reproduction at a match. I accidentally let the brass muzzle protector slide down the ram rod and strike the muzzle and it dented the mild steel crown of the rifle. The brass muzzle protector very much damaged the muzzle of the barrel in spite of all your hardness scale bull manure. I had to have the muzzle crown recut and switched to a nylon muzzle protector. I didn't have to swing violently, just the force of gravity in about 24 inches of ram rod did the damage.

The technical question is can a brass muzzle protector damage a muzzle. The technical true answer is that yes it can. and it can do it with out intention. If there is a one in one thousand chance of it happening, the true answer is that it can.

All the rest of your nonsense about hardness scales and whether the author of the article is a bone head are irrelevant to the truth. You as much as admit that a brass hammer can mar a mild steel barrel, the only additional consideration is whether a lesser accidental collision can cause a muzzle problem. I know from experience that it can.

 

[chorizo]

Information that is inconsistent with one’s beliefs produces a negative affective response, according to Norbert Schwarz, Eryn Newman and William Leach, experts in cognitive psychology.

In a sense, people see what they want to see, in order to believe what they want to believe. Everyone likes to be proven right, and changing their views is an admission that they were wrong, or at least had an incomplete understanding of an issue.

 

[XVIIc Wheelock]

In yonder years back...I played marbles as a kid using "steelies" as my hopeful weapon trying to bust my competitors plastic cats eye marble out of the circle....never worked. I still don't know how this impacts a brass rod used in a steel barrel of a flintlock????

 

[bigstick6017555]

Anything will wear steel if it is in contact and moving long enough. Take hardened fishing rod eyelets, they wear out just from the line rubbing. Again wood, steel, brass, fiberglass, plastic ram or cleaning rods will not harm your bore "if" used properly!!. If you can not use it properly and you have a problem ruining barrels, a false muzzle installed on your barrels would be the best answer.

 

[Mike in FL]

If we drift our sights with a steel punch, scarring and dinging will occur to the sight. But not so with a brass punch.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

If we drift our sights with a steel punch, scarring and dinging will occur to the sight. But not so with a brass punch.

depends on the hardness of the punch and hardness of the sight. Especially with a brass sight.

 

[Mike in FL]

depends on the hardness of the punch and hardness of the sight. Especially with a brass sight.

I was speaking generally. Most brass is softer than most sights. Most brass is softer than steel.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

The author of that "Brass vs Steel" "Report" had everything exactly ass-backward. First section was the clue for the rest - if one item weighs 8.5 grams per cubic centimeter, and the other item weighs 7.9 grams per cubic centimeter, the first item is heavier.
This trend follows throughout her "report".

 

[HSmithTX]

No one in industry uses the Mohs scale as related to metals, people that actually work with metal use rockwell and brinell scales for 99+% of the work, very very rarely you will see a vickers number. I've made my living working metals for over 28 years and never seen the mohs scale used for anything in an actual shop. But it's nice that the interwebs can make anyone an expert, so we have that going for us.

 

[arby]

Sure, with enough energy or time anything can be damaged. Obviously pure lead is softer than mild steel, yet a ball fired from a rifle will dimple mild steel. A hammer can shatter a diamond, water can cut stone. Rubber mounts wear away steel. Leather can polish a knife edge.

If used with a bit of brains, a brass muzzle protector will not damage the barrel.

 

[64Springer]

For decades I've been using the edge of a steel pan to crack my morning eggs.

But this thread is giving me pause.

Imagine the damage that could occur by repeatedly slamming that hard shell against that thin steel edge.

 

[LME]

Talk about a bassackwards understanding.

I think it was a slip of the pen and the editors didn't catch it?

 

[chorizo]

That was from someone's post quoting a wrong article

 

[Appowner]

Anything will wear steel if it is in contact and moving long enough. Take hardened fishing rod eyelets, they wear out just from the line rubbing. Again wood, steel, brass, fiberglass, plastic ram or cleaning rods will not harm your bore "if" used properly!!. If you can not use it properly and you have a problem ruining barrels, a false muzzle installed on your barrels would be the best answer.

Anything will wear anything. It's just a matter of how much anything you have to spend on it.

 

[#blackpowderbill]

I figure when I see a thread like this the OP hasn't shot much or doesn't shoot.

 

[chorizo]

The author of that "Brass vs Steel" "Report" had everything exactly ass-backward. First section was the clue for the rest - if one item weighs 8.5 grams per cubic centimeter, and the other item weighs 7.9 grams per cubic centimeter, the first item is heavier.
This trend follows throughout her "report".

You have a case of the Zacklies.....you got that Zackly right.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Only after 42 million uses. I have made and used guides from brass, Delrin, high density plastics, wood, antler and probably other stuff. Never a problem with wear or damage to rifle.