My cannon drawings

[trigger mortise]

LOL

 

[trigger mortise]

There is an interesting article in the Black Powder Handbook regarding the deliberate destruction of a .58 cal. black powder rifle barrel measuring only 1

 

So Green Mountain, Getz and Colerain are so-called prestigious barrel makers and just being cheap?


You still haven't answered what type of steel was used in the destructive testing. :shake:

 

LOL

 

[trigger mortise]

The NEF .243 Win. Single Shot Handi-Rifle has the breach block directly arc welded to the barrel as with a lot of these single shot break action guns, in some military guns flash hiders are directly welded to the barrels, parts for the gas system are known to be arc welded to the barrel.
I agree with you, never attempt to weld anything to your rifle barrel it

 

[JIMinPHX]

What Trigger Mortise says about the NEF handi rifles is true. Every one that I’ve seen is welded.

As for chrome-moly alloys like 4130, 4140, 4340, etc. they can be tig welded with good results. They need to be annealed after welding. The leaded alloys (lead-loy) do not weld reliably by any process that I am aware of. Most medium carbon steels can be welded. The proper process varies with the alloy. I have not worked with the alloy that was listed here. Most medium carbon alloys will work harden & become brittle with use. Again, I do not know this specific alloy. The leaded alloys are the easiest to machine & get a good finish from. If you were to avoid welding & use a heavy enough wall section, this would be the easiest material to get good results from. Be aware that it is soft & may not be the longest lasting choice. The best welding steels are ones with long grain structures like common hot roll steels. Unfortunately, they are also quite soft & they do not finish well when machined. They also tend to throw really mean chips when drilled or turned. Common cold roll (1018) is a little better to machine than hot roll, but not nearly as good as lead-loy. It does not weld quite as well as hot roll, but it is close. If you really must weld & you don’t have exotic welding equipment, than this is probably a good material to choose. You can use mig, tig, stick or gas to weld it. It can not be hardened by heat or work because it does not have enough points of carbon. Again, wall thickness must be stout compared to what you would use with a higher alloy. Yield strength on either 1018 or lead-loy is probably somewhere around 60ksi, but I would need to look it up before I would swear to it.

 

[JIMinPHX]

Something else to consider would be the possibility of slipping a chrome-moly sleeve inside a cannon body that was made of a softer steel. 4130 tubing is commonly available & I believe that you can even order it pre-heat treated. With a sleeve like that in the bore, your longevity would probably be 50 or 100 times better than with a soft steel bore.

 

[John Taylor]

I have used Shelby tube for several barrels. Also used part of a front axle housing from a 4X4 truck. Mild steel is best to use because there is less chance of it comming apart. Mild steel will stretch a long way and may split but it most likely will not go off like a bomb. It can be welded easy but if you weld the trunions on there might be a tight spot in the bore. Metals like 4140, 4130, 4350 can get as hard as glass when welded and be almost as brittle. Another reason for using tube is there is no boring a long hole. If you want a thicker wall another larger tube can be fit over the outside. I have a mortar made from shelby tube with a 3/4" wall and a bore of 8.7" for bowling balls. It will put a 16 pound ball out of sight with 1/3 pound of powder. It is the second one built. the first one went to the neighbor who was using a tube with 3/8" wall that I thought was a little light but it never showed signs of to much pressure. Hern Iron works uses shelby tube for their cast iron barrels as a liner, they put the shelby in the mold and pore the iron around it. Think about the rifle barrels of old, being made of rought iron and welded full length yet they would hold BP pressures.

 

[walruskid1]

euroarms zouaves are 2 piece barrels welded just ahead of the powder chamber. you can see the seam if you look close.