12L14 Steel good enough?

[Frontstuffer070]

My friend and I are planning to turn out another Gonne on the Lathe. We want to make one with a tad longer barrel and dove tail in a front and rear sight. LOL I know, it sounds silly. I'm seeing 12L14 stock online for a fairly reasonable price. Would that steel be a good choice for a Gonne with a .75 cal bore and not make the wall thickness of the barrel so thick? Trying to reduce the weight a tad. Heck I was thinking about chucking up the one I already have and turn some of the fat off of that chamber area. Thoughs?

 

[earlwb]

While I am no expert on metallurgy 12L14 is perfectly fine for a black powder handgonne. Being me I would leave it with a thicker barrel as I tend to prefer overengineering myself. I would not try making it thin like a Fowler though. The original handgonnes used cast iron of questionable quality or cast bronze of questionable quality too. Earlier ones may have been wood with iron barrel bands. Thus 12L14 is a huge improvement over what they used.

Now granted there are better steel alloy materials that would work better. But 12L14 is perfectly ok for black powder guns.

 

[BillinOregon]

It has a wonderful reputation for smooth and easy machining.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

There was a big to-do in the '80's about using 12L14 in gun barrels. Might wish to research this topic a bit on your own.

 

[Frontstuffer070]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll do a little more digging. From my brief reading, it would seem that it would be ok for the low pressures real black powder produces. And neither one of us being expert machinist the easy to machine part would be a plus.

 

[BillinOregon]

I believe Bill Moody has passed on, but he made wonderfully accurate barrels -- some with false muzzles -- out of 12L14. The controversy over this steel many years ago makes the more recent kerfuffles over DOM tubing barrels ( often on India-made guns) seem tame -- and equally meaningless.

 

[TobJohn]

If you wanted to be historically accurate, the powder chamber on a handgonne is narrower than the bore, so there could be plenty of extra material on the barrel

 

[dzia]

While I am no expert on metallurgy 12L14 is perfectly fine for a black powder handgonne. Being me I would leave it with a thicker barrel as I tend to prefer overengineering myself. I would not try making it thin like a Fowler though. The original handgonnes used cast iron of questionable quality or cast bronze of questionable quality too. Earlier ones may have been wood with iron barrel bands. Thus 12L14 is a huge improvement over what they used.

Now granted there are better steel alloy materials that would work better. But 12L14 is perfectly ok for black powder guns.

12 L 14 steel is an easy machine steel..good for screws & items that can be mage fast..if the idea is for a thinner, lighter bbl,,,why not go with a more modern alloy steel that's easy to machine ( maybe an "oil-hard"-- say a L-6 or a Starrett oil hard)

 

[Rifleman1776]

Douglas made countless thousands of barrels from it. I still have two rifles with Douglas barrels. They are highly accurate. Go for it.

 

[Rich44]

With cannons I like the idea of lots of metal in the breach.

But looking at the modern day revolvers and seeing how thin the web can be in the cylinder is amazing.

Would be interesting to do some home research on a steel by using a simple tube, drilled .50 caliber, and fused fired. After each time of firing then machine the diameter down to a smaller known size. Using a default powder charge all the time and see when after firing the barrel increases in size or burst. Understanding that safety would need to be followed as this would create a danger.

While the results would be very interesting for a modern steel I still like the idea of lots of metal.

 

[The Miner '49er]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll do a little more digging. From my brief reading, it would seem that it would be ok for the low pressures real black powder produces. And neither one of us being expert machinist the easy to machine part would be a plus.

Jesse from The Rifle Shoppe told me that he uses 12L14 for the handgonnes that he machines. I'm neither a metallurgist nor a welder but I can attest that the barrel is plenty strong enough for my 50gr loads of 3F launching the .715" ball.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

My friend and I are planning to turn out another Gonne on the Lathe. We want to make one with a tad longer barrel and dove tail in a front and rear sight. LOL I know, it sounds silly. I'm seeing 12L14 stock online for a fairly reasonable price. Would that steel be a good choice for a Gonne with a .75 cal bore and not make the wall thickness of the barrel so thick? Trying to reduce the weight a tad. Heck I was thinking about chucking up the one I already have and turn some of the fat off of that chamber area. Thoughs?

LD

 

[The Miner '49er]

My friend and I are planning to turn out another Gonne on the Lathe. We want to make one with a tad longer barrel and dove tail in a front and rear sight. LOL I know, it sounds silly. I'm seeing 12L14 stock online for a fairly reasonable price. Would that steel be a good choice for a Gonne with a .75 cal bore and not make the wall thickness of the barrel so thick? Trying to reduce the weight a tad. Heck I was thinking about chucking up the one I already have and turn some of the fat off of that chamber area. Thoughs?

C'mon Frontstuffer, don't wimp out with front and rear sights on the barrel. Why not a Lyman globe front sight with interchangeable inserts near the muzzle and an aperture rear sight about 3 1/2 feet back on the tiller??? That would be so 14th century avant garde! P.S. ever think about a red dot?

 

[Frontstuffer070]

C'mon Frontstuffer, don't wimp out with front and rear sights on the barrel. Why not a Lyman globe front sight with interchangeable inserts near the muzzle and an aperture rear sight about 3 1/2 feet back on the tiller??? That would be so 14th century avant garde! P.S. ever think about a red dot?

How about a Leupold mounted somewhere on the tiller?? I may not do a rear sight but it will have some sort of reference on the muzzle. A red dot may be cool. Maybe an EOTECH. You know merge some 13th with some 21st

 

[Frontstuffer070]

Boy I can't WAIT to see the look on the RSO's face next Saturday when I show up with the Gonne, some punk sticks, match cord, and lots of black powder. I normally shoot at my home range but I just HAVE to take the hand gonne to the club and aggravate the grumpy RSO.

 

[The Miner '49er]

Boy I can't WAIT to see the look on the RSO's face next Saturday when I show up with the Gonne, some punk sticks, match cord, and lots of black powder. I normally shoot at my home range but I just HAVE to take the hand gonne to the club and aggravate the grumpy RSO.

Frontstuffer, looks like you're going whole hogge handgonne! Good luck with the trip to the range. That RSO is going to think he's on Candid Camera (hope you are old enough to understand that reference.) Keep us informed.

 

[Frontstuffer070]

Frontstuffer, looks like you're going whole hogge handgonne! Good luck with the trip to the range. That RSO is going to think he's on Candid Camera (hope you are old enough to understand that reference.) Keep us informed.

Yeah, I remember watching Candid Camera when I was little. And YOUZ guys have absolutely created a monster I guess. I have totally forgotten my technologically advanced Kibler rifle build and have gone off the deep end I reckon. My son and I have been having a ball with that boom stick, loads of fun and not hitting a dang thing . But boy we are gonna celebrate when we actually hit the gong.

P.S. I'm sitting here right this very second trying to talk myself out of ordering the Arquebus.

​

 

[BillinOregon]

FS, then don't look up Cap and Ball's Landsknecht Arquebus Youtube, whatever you do, or you'll be a goner (in the current sense of the word).

 

[TobJohn]

Good luck finding one!

 

[Frontstuffer070]

I'm thinking about ordering this.
https://militaryheritage.com/musket31.htm
11 bang bang's burst test gives me confidence that the so called "sewer pipe" barrel will hold up. It took something ridiculous like 1200 grains of powder to burst the barrel on his Indian Musket.
If I get it and it can hit a pie plate at 25-30 yards or so. Don't think I won't be sitting in a blind this year with a match cord smoldering. I got bored taking game with modern tools with high quality optics. I have taken enough to fill a roll off dumpster in my time that way. Now I prefer getting closer to them and using old style tools.