steve free
40 Cal.
Can anyone give me any information on Douglas barrels? Mainly, how they were marked, and were there different grades of them?
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Douglas barrels
- Thread starter steve free
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steve1122 said:
XX was the best if so marked at the muzzle.
They were made of octagonal cold drawn bar stock, I am told it was 12L14 but no confirmation. I know there were failures.
This being the case they always had some runout at the breech which had to be put in the 6 or 12 oclock position or the sights might be way out of center to get ball impact to align with the sights.
The last barrels appeared to have been either hot rolled or annealed after being formed as these had very hard oxide scale on them. It would require testing to know if the alloy was changed.
They were very accurate but some will show "drawing lines" in the bore and/or on the exterior after some use.
8 groove 66 twist. 8 groove 48 twist. 7 groove 48 twist.
Dan
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When I bought mine in .54 directly from Douglas I was told they weren't making any more muzzle loading barrels and the one I got was from the last of their inventory.It was an xx grade eight lands and 1 in 66 twist, one inch across the flats. I have no idea of the alloy.MD
The XX grade (I have three of them) was simply a regular barrel pulled off the line and inspected for minimal run-out and straightness.
The stamping was intended to be placed on either the upper or lower flat so the ball would not go left or right.
Some metalurgists and steel fanatics did not like the steel used in Douglas barrels. But, countless thousands were sold and are still used in ml rifles. They were fine barrels.
The stamping was intended to be placed on either the upper or lower flat so the ball would not go left or right.
Some metalurgists and steel fanatics did not like the steel used in Douglas barrels. But, countless thousands were sold and are still used in ml rifles. They were fine barrels.
steve free
40 Cal.
Did they have serial numbers?
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Mine did not have a serial number on it only Douglas, .54 cal and xx as I remember . I think I still have the invoice around here somewhere.MD
steve1122 said:
Not that I recall. Will take a look and report back if I find numbers.
flintlock62 said:
The DGW catalog is not, and never has been, a 'bible' of ml'ing. Some of their charts are incorrect.
I believe that full barrel test has created many misimpressions about the effectiveness of bp and safety of barrels. Somewhere I saw a similar test with plain galvanized water pipe. Didn't blow up but that doesn't make it safe to use as a barrel.
