Elric
Well-Known Member
Why Do Gun Barrels Burst?
American Rifleman, vol 61, no. 19, February 1, 1917 pages 378
https://books.google.com/books?id=V...AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=Gun Barrels Burst&f=false
Why Do Gun Barrels Burst?
By A. P. Lane.
Every dealer in firearms has—some time or other—had a customer come into his store bringing with him a violent temper and a swollen or burst gun barrel.
Of course, the irate gun owner swears by all that's holy that the barrel was absolutely clean and in perfect condition and that there wasn't a chance in the world for anything to have gotten into it to obstruct the passage of the bullet or shot charge.
To do justice to both the manufacturers of the gun and the shooter who is unfortunate enough to have a swelled barrel, it is only fair to say that in a great many cases neither one is at all at fault. All reputable manufacturers test their shotguns and rifles with loads which give pressures far above those produced by ordinary ammunition, and if there is anything wrong with the gun itself it is practically certain to show up in this test. The shooter may be very careful of the barrel and handle his gun so as to keep foreign matter out of the bore, but no matter how careful he is, there is always a chance for dirt or snow to get in, and the inevitable result of an obstruction in the bore is a ringed or bursted barrel.
Many sportsmen and hunters are not familiar with the mechanical effects which are produced when something gets in the bullet's way. The pressure of the powder gases themselves are not to blame, for a very careful study of barrels which have been ringed or burst has shown that the swelling or rupture is caused by the compression of the air between the bullet and the obstruction. Assuming that the obstruction is somewhere near the muzzle, there is a column of air between it and the bullet or shot charge, and when it starts up the barrel, this air is naturally compressed. In fact, the pressure rises to the danger point long before the obstruction begins to move, even if it is only a light substance, such as snow, for instance.
Defective ammunition, both in rifles and shotguns, is sometimes the cause of a swelled or ringed barrel. In the case of rifle ammunition—especially 22's—the shooter may perhaps have a squib load which will leave the bullet in the barrel, and the result of the next shot always puts gloom in the heart of the owner.
Barrels which have been ruined by obstructions are easy to tell from those in which there is a defect in the material.
If you want to avoid trouble, along these lines, be as careful as you possibly can, not to get anything into the barrel—and use good ammunition.
American Rifleman, vol 61, no. 24, pages 465-466, Nov 1917
https://books.google.com/books?id=V...MKHez0D5UQ6AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=Linder&f=false
By C. B. Linder
On page 378 of the February 1 issue of ARMS AND THE MAN, is published an article by our old friend and classmate, A.P. Lane, under the above heading.
Lane is a good kid, is a good shot and generally writes good articles for the papers, telling us would-bes how to shoot. The articles make us get busy and buy more cartridges from his boss, thus making his job good.
Now because a man is a good shot and has his picture on our targets labeled as the World's Champion, that is no reason why he can get away with an article as far from the real facts as this one. We will expect in his next article to again tell the old story that the air, under an atmospheric pressure of but fifteen pounds to the square inch, rushing back into the muzzle of a gun after it has been fired with a breech pressure of about 50,000 pounds per square inch causes the noise we hear when the gun is fired. Oh, piffle!
If Mr. Lane thinks he can get by with the remark that the air ahead of a bullet or charge of shot will be compressed to a pressure which will burst a rifle or shot-gun barrel without getting a raise out of Xman or Gloomy, he is badly mistaken.
He says “that the powder gases behind the bullet have nothing to do with it and that a careful study of burst barrels shows that the swelling or rupture is caused by the air pressure between the bullet and obstruction.”
Looking up a few tables and formulas for pressures of air, I find that it will require 13.032 pounds pressure per square inch to burst ¼ inch standard pipe and 17.624 pounds per square inch for the extra strong pipe; neither of these pipes are as strong as the lightest weight rifle barrel. Take a standard Springfield rifle barrel, for instance, the cubic air contained in the bore is only about 1.55 cubic inches. If no air escaped a pressure of 180 pounds applied to this column of air would reduce the volume to about 4 cubic inches. I am too busy a man to figure out how small would be the volume of air in front of a bullet with only a rag in the barrel to prevent the air escaping, with a pressure back of a bullet only equal to the safety factor of a ¼ -inch standard pipe. The safety factor for a 4-inch standard pipe is 2172 pounds per square inch. The volume of air in the barrel between the bullet and rag would be so small that it would be less than the bulge in a bursted barrel.
A few experiments proved to me that under 100 pounds pressure a rag wedged in a piece of pipe would be blown out before the valve had barely started to open.
I am going to contradict Mr. Lane and say that the rupture to a gun barrel caused by an obstruction in the barrel is due entirely to the pressure of gas in the propelling charge. The obstruction in the barrel, whether it be snow or a rag or a lodged bullet, only acts in that it retards the bullet in its flight through the barrel. The powder burning in the chamber increases the gas pressure in the barrel back of the bullet when the bullet is retarded by the rag or obstruction to the danger, or bursting, point.
If a bullet traveling through a rifle barrel under a pressure of 50,000 pounds to the square inch would compress the air in front of it and the barrel was so tightly plugged that none of the air could escape, and assuming that this volume of air was large enough to occupy a reasonable space after compression, it is reasonable to assume that the pressures in front and behind the bullet would become of equal pressure and the bullet would come to rest if the barrel was strong enough to hold the pressure. I will wager the barrel would not be “ringed.” If it would be “ringed” then at every discharge of a rifle the barrel would be “ringed,” due to the tremendous gas pressure in the chamber. The United States Mint uses a pressure of 350 tons on their knuckle presses to “kwalop” the image of the almighty dollar on our elusive little silver tablets.
I am willing to bet the price of a new barrel that if a rag is wedged, say eight inches from the muzzle of a rifle barrel and a bullet entered into the breech gas tight, the way some Schuetzen rifles are loaded, the air exhausted from the barrel and the muzzle sealed that on firing the rifle the barrel will burst at the point where the rag is lodged exactly as it would do under normal conditions.
I have seen many rifles, shot guns and pistols burst and ringed. Three .22-cal. S. & W. pistols have blown up around here due to a bullet being lodged in the barrel. In all three cases the barrels were ringed, but in addition to the powder ring there was a hole blown in the barrel on the under side, a little to the front of the hinge where the barrel is thinnest. This hole was back of the lodged bullet and proves that the chamber pressure was enormously increased.
Quite recently while one of the boys was shooting my pet .38 S. & W. Pope revolver, a bullet lodged in the barrel. I, not knowing it, shot the thing, with the results that the revolver is now scattered all over our range stuck in the walls of the building. The barrel was not even damaged. I dug the barrel out of the plaster, knocked the two bullets out of it, screwed it into another frame and now worship it more than ever on account of the tragedy. The pressure in the cylinder was increased to such a point when the fired bullet was stopped by the lodged bullet that the cylinder let go. In this case the chamber was much weaker than the pressure required to burst or ring the barrel.
My theory of a burst or ringed barrel is that a bullet striking an obstruction in a gun barrel is retarded in its flight, which in turn increases the gas pressure in the chamber. The increased gas pressure causes the unburned powder to burn more rapidly, which again increases the gas pressure enormously and vice versa. A ruptured barrel is due to the enormous gas pressure. The ring is due to the hot gas under the enormous pressure being suddenly retarded by the bullet meeting an obstruction. The gas whirls outward and backward exactly like a stream of water from a fire hose played against a brick wall. This whirl or mushroom-shaped column of hot gas actually cuts and melts the metal away at the point where the ring occurs. The rifling is always completely cut away, proving the theory of gas cutting. If the metal was simply pressed outwards there would still be the rifling marks in the ring.
American Rifleman, vol 61, no. 19, February 1, 1917 pages 378
https://books.google.com/books?id=V...AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=Gun Barrels Burst&f=false
Why Do Gun Barrels Burst?
By A. P. Lane.
Every dealer in firearms has—some time or other—had a customer come into his store bringing with him a violent temper and a swollen or burst gun barrel.
Of course, the irate gun owner swears by all that's holy that the barrel was absolutely clean and in perfect condition and that there wasn't a chance in the world for anything to have gotten into it to obstruct the passage of the bullet or shot charge.
To do justice to both the manufacturers of the gun and the shooter who is unfortunate enough to have a swelled barrel, it is only fair to say that in a great many cases neither one is at all at fault. All reputable manufacturers test their shotguns and rifles with loads which give pressures far above those produced by ordinary ammunition, and if there is anything wrong with the gun itself it is practically certain to show up in this test. The shooter may be very careful of the barrel and handle his gun so as to keep foreign matter out of the bore, but no matter how careful he is, there is always a chance for dirt or snow to get in, and the inevitable result of an obstruction in the bore is a ringed or bursted barrel.
Many sportsmen and hunters are not familiar with the mechanical effects which are produced when something gets in the bullet's way. The pressure of the powder gases themselves are not to blame, for a very careful study of barrels which have been ringed or burst has shown that the swelling or rupture is caused by the compression of the air between the bullet and the obstruction. Assuming that the obstruction is somewhere near the muzzle, there is a column of air between it and the bullet or shot charge, and when it starts up the barrel, this air is naturally compressed. In fact, the pressure rises to the danger point long before the obstruction begins to move, even if it is only a light substance, such as snow, for instance.
Defective ammunition, both in rifles and shotguns, is sometimes the cause of a swelled or ringed barrel. In the case of rifle ammunition—especially 22's—the shooter may perhaps have a squib load which will leave the bullet in the barrel, and the result of the next shot always puts gloom in the heart of the owner.
Barrels which have been ruined by obstructions are easy to tell from those in which there is a defect in the material.
If you want to avoid trouble, along these lines, be as careful as you possibly can, not to get anything into the barrel—and use good ammunition.
American Rifleman, vol 61, no. 24, pages 465-466, Nov 1917
https://books.google.com/books?id=V...MKHez0D5UQ6AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=Linder&f=false
By C. B. Linder
On page 378 of the February 1 issue of ARMS AND THE MAN, is published an article by our old friend and classmate, A.P. Lane, under the above heading.
Lane is a good kid, is a good shot and generally writes good articles for the papers, telling us would-bes how to shoot. The articles make us get busy and buy more cartridges from his boss, thus making his job good.
Now because a man is a good shot and has his picture on our targets labeled as the World's Champion, that is no reason why he can get away with an article as far from the real facts as this one. We will expect in his next article to again tell the old story that the air, under an atmospheric pressure of but fifteen pounds to the square inch, rushing back into the muzzle of a gun after it has been fired with a breech pressure of about 50,000 pounds per square inch causes the noise we hear when the gun is fired. Oh, piffle!
If Mr. Lane thinks he can get by with the remark that the air ahead of a bullet or charge of shot will be compressed to a pressure which will burst a rifle or shot-gun barrel without getting a raise out of Xman or Gloomy, he is badly mistaken.
He says “that the powder gases behind the bullet have nothing to do with it and that a careful study of burst barrels shows that the swelling or rupture is caused by the air pressure between the bullet and obstruction.”
Looking up a few tables and formulas for pressures of air, I find that it will require 13.032 pounds pressure per square inch to burst ¼ inch standard pipe and 17.624 pounds per square inch for the extra strong pipe; neither of these pipes are as strong as the lightest weight rifle barrel. Take a standard Springfield rifle barrel, for instance, the cubic air contained in the bore is only about 1.55 cubic inches. If no air escaped a pressure of 180 pounds applied to this column of air would reduce the volume to about 4 cubic inches. I am too busy a man to figure out how small would be the volume of air in front of a bullet with only a rag in the barrel to prevent the air escaping, with a pressure back of a bullet only equal to the safety factor of a ¼ -inch standard pipe. The safety factor for a 4-inch standard pipe is 2172 pounds per square inch. The volume of air in the barrel between the bullet and rag would be so small that it would be less than the bulge in a bursted barrel.
A few experiments proved to me that under 100 pounds pressure a rag wedged in a piece of pipe would be blown out before the valve had barely started to open.
I am going to contradict Mr. Lane and say that the rupture to a gun barrel caused by an obstruction in the barrel is due entirely to the pressure of gas in the propelling charge. The obstruction in the barrel, whether it be snow or a rag or a lodged bullet, only acts in that it retards the bullet in its flight through the barrel. The powder burning in the chamber increases the gas pressure in the barrel back of the bullet when the bullet is retarded by the rag or obstruction to the danger, or bursting, point.
If a bullet traveling through a rifle barrel under a pressure of 50,000 pounds to the square inch would compress the air in front of it and the barrel was so tightly plugged that none of the air could escape, and assuming that this volume of air was large enough to occupy a reasonable space after compression, it is reasonable to assume that the pressures in front and behind the bullet would become of equal pressure and the bullet would come to rest if the barrel was strong enough to hold the pressure. I will wager the barrel would not be “ringed.” If it would be “ringed” then at every discharge of a rifle the barrel would be “ringed,” due to the tremendous gas pressure in the chamber. The United States Mint uses a pressure of 350 tons on their knuckle presses to “kwalop” the image of the almighty dollar on our elusive little silver tablets.
I am willing to bet the price of a new barrel that if a rag is wedged, say eight inches from the muzzle of a rifle barrel and a bullet entered into the breech gas tight, the way some Schuetzen rifles are loaded, the air exhausted from the barrel and the muzzle sealed that on firing the rifle the barrel will burst at the point where the rag is lodged exactly as it would do under normal conditions.
I have seen many rifles, shot guns and pistols burst and ringed. Three .22-cal. S. & W. pistols have blown up around here due to a bullet being lodged in the barrel. In all three cases the barrels were ringed, but in addition to the powder ring there was a hole blown in the barrel on the under side, a little to the front of the hinge where the barrel is thinnest. This hole was back of the lodged bullet and proves that the chamber pressure was enormously increased.
Quite recently while one of the boys was shooting my pet .38 S. & W. Pope revolver, a bullet lodged in the barrel. I, not knowing it, shot the thing, with the results that the revolver is now scattered all over our range stuck in the walls of the building. The barrel was not even damaged. I dug the barrel out of the plaster, knocked the two bullets out of it, screwed it into another frame and now worship it more than ever on account of the tragedy. The pressure in the cylinder was increased to such a point when the fired bullet was stopped by the lodged bullet that the cylinder let go. In this case the chamber was much weaker than the pressure required to burst or ring the barrel.
My theory of a burst or ringed barrel is that a bullet striking an obstruction in a gun barrel is retarded in its flight, which in turn increases the gas pressure in the chamber. The increased gas pressure causes the unburned powder to burn more rapidly, which again increases the gas pressure enormously and vice versa. A ruptured barrel is due to the enormous gas pressure. The ring is due to the hot gas under the enormous pressure being suddenly retarded by the bullet meeting an obstruction. The gas whirls outward and backward exactly like a stream of water from a fire hose played against a brick wall. This whirl or mushroom-shaped column of hot gas actually cuts and melts the metal away at the point where the ring occurs. The rifling is always completely cut away, proving the theory of gas cutting. If the metal was simply pressed outwards there would still be the rifling marks in the ring.