How Damascus Barrels Were Forged in 1925

[Vikram]

Many of you would know that the amazing art of making Damascus gun barrels has been unfortunately lost with the advent of modern steel in manufacturing gun barrels. It is unbelievable that such a wonderful craft has been lost almost forever within such a short span of time. There are some efforts in producing Damascus gun barrels in modern times but they are not what the original barrels were.

The first video explains the process of Damascus barrel making in a way that is easily understandable to lay persons. The original video, the only existing visual documentation of the process, on which the first video is based, is also posted below. I hope you will enjoy these videos as much as I did.

[WhoCantBeNamed]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.

[herb]

Very informative, thanks Vikram for posting. I remember reading a number of articles in Double Gun Journal where a series of tests were conducted on older guns with Damascus barrels to test if they were safe to use with modern cartridges. I have owned a number of older British guns with Damascus barrels and never had any problem with period correct 2.5" cartridges.

[Er_Tapan_Jatakia]

That's quite detailed and amazing! Thanks!

[timmy]

Vikram, thanks for posting this. It is interesting to see how things were done when labor was cheap and machines were expensive, rather than the other way around. It is said that one of the dangers of Damascus barrels is that there can be corrosion underneath the visible surface, causing weak areas that may not hold up after years of the corrosion proceeding. The acid bath (to remove scale, I suppose) is perhaps a cause of that, as I learned from this of its use.

Herb, I have heard of those articles in Double Gun Journal, but never have seen them. Are these the ones by Ross Seyfried? Now he's a real interesting guy, as he has researched shooting Damascus barreled doubles, old English black powder cartridge guns (his 40% formula of IMR 4198 per full load of black powder is the rule of thumb nowadays) and he was a pistol competition world champion a number of years back. He also owned a large ranch in Colorado, USA, where he offered guided wapiti hunting, but that's since been sold.

Do you still have those magazine issues where these tests were documented?

Where are you getting your 2 1/2" loads from? Do you buy them or brew them up yourself?

Bak 40 years ago, I passed up many old Damascus barreled doubles, believing them (like everyone else at the time) to be unsafe. Another act of my youth to regret in old age.