Big mistake?

[crowkiller]

My hunting pardner is building a 62cal. smoothie. When he drilled the center underlug he drilled the bottom of the barrel.
There is .073 barrel thickness left.It is 23 1/2 inches from the breech.What do you guys think is it safe to shoot or not?
It is a Ed rayl barrel.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I don't understand. Are you saying he actually drilled a hole into the barrel? Or did he just nick the barrel with the drill bit??

If its the later, then there is enough steel there to just go ahead and shoot the gun.

If the former, then I would have a skilled welder weld up the hole, then polish the bore, and try it. I don't know if the weld will hold, because I can't know the tensile strength of the welding rod, or metal used. The closest I have come to having to deal with this problem was when my Percussion rifle was converted to flintlock. The hole in the breech end of the barrel for the DRUM that held the nipple had to be filled, with a piece of drill rod, welded in place, and then a New hole drilled and tapped to fit a TH Liner from Chambers. The weld has held now for 35 years.

 

[jerrywh]

what kind of steel is the barrel made of and or who made the barrel.

I just proof tested a mock up barrel for a shotgun. The barrel is made of 1117 steel very mild.
The bore is .555 the wall thickness at the breech is .160.
1 in from the breech the wall thickness is .140
3in. from the breech the wall thickness is .130
6" from the breech the wall thickness is .049
7" from the breech the wall thickness is .037
from that point on the wall thickness is .037

I fired it with 55 grs of ffg and a patched
535 prb
Next I fired it with 110 grs of ffg and a 535 prb
Next I fired it with 140 grs of ffg and a 535 prb.
The barrel showed no signs of failure and a micrometer test showed no expansion whatsoever.

Here is another fact for you. In a large bore gun with black powder the pressure falls off much faster than a small bore gun as the bullet moves down the bore because the cubic inches of the internal combustion area increases much faster than in a small bore.

I said all this to say. If your measurement are correct I see no danger whatsoever.
If in doubt go proof test the barrel with 200 grs of ffg or fg a couple of times and one patched rb. or 150 grs and two patched rbs

PS--- i doubt very much if you could blow it up with 300 grs and a double ball.

 

[Zonie]

If your saying he drilled the hole into the wall of the barrel and the drilled hole stopped .073 short of breaking thru into the bore there will be no problem with shooting the barrel.

I would stick by my statement even if the drilled hole was only 10 inches from the breech.

IMO, if the hole went completely thru the wall, the barrel would still be safe to shoot with the hole that far away from the breech but it would collect fouling and tear patches and vent high pressure gasses into the barrel channel which would cause great concern to anyone shooting the gun.

 

[jerrywh]

Ed Rayl uses very strong barrel steel. A lot stronger than most barrel makers today.

 

[crowkiller]

Thanks alot guys.
Zonie he did not drill into the barrel.He just caught the bottom of the barrel.
The underlugs were the T shape solder on type.He drilled through the top of the T caught the bottom of the barrel with a 5/64 bit.
Thanks again guys I will call him this morning.