From Iron to Steel

[Horace]

Does anyone know when guns began to be made of steel?

 

[n8dawg6]

late 19th century. as far as military weapons go, it was a post-muzzleloader piece of technology. civil war muskets were sometimes marked "steel" on the barrel, but it wasnt steel as we think of it today. it was stronger iron, if anything. there's a great link which describes the manufacturing process for enfield rifles during the 1850's/60's, i'll have to see if i can find it

 

[TANSTAAFL]

When I was a kid back in the early 1950's, I had an original .36 halfstock caplock, the only indentifying mark on it was the "cast steel" stamping on top barrel flat.

 

"Cast Steel" barrels (the barrels weren't cast into shape that was the method of making the steel) begin showing up in America in the late 1820's.....other parts such as springs, etc which had to be made of steel go back tot he beginnings of firearms

 

[Rick Davis]

late 19th century. as far as military weapons go, it was a post-muzzleloader piece of technology. civil war muskets were sometimes marked "steel" on the barrel, but it wasnt steel as we think of it today. it was stronger iron, if anything. ...

This is how I understand it as well. The Bessemer Process is what transformed steel into an accidental occurrence to a regular, controllable alloy that really worked well.

 

[Shelby Skinner]

The Bessemer process is what transformed the world from iron to steel. It wasn't invented until the 1850s and didn't come into full scale industrial application until the 1870s. The Bessemer process made alloyed steel possible in large quantities and produced consistent quality which is essential to making gun barrels. By the early 1900s the basic chemical compositions and physical properties of alloyed steel were well known and the affects that different alloys and contents had on the steel making process and the strength of the steel.
Military arms were not made in the US using proper Bessemer steel until the mid to late 1880s.