16ga.com ~ View topic - Requesting Wisdom Regarding Questionable Chamber Integrity

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1841 Location: Central ND

That is exactly the point.

The slight reduction in chamber pressure between a 10,000 PSI cartridge and a 7,500 PSI cartridge isn’t making anything any safer.

If the shotgun is not safe at 10,000 PSI then it isn’t safe at 7,500 PSI.

You do realize that any pitting that can compromise a shotgun that was proofed to handle modern shotshells is unsafe at any chamber pressure.

The lower pressure cartridges are designed to function in shotguns that were proofed at lower chamber pressures. They are not designed or intended for compromised shotguns.

This subject comes up quite a bit and folks really do not understand what they are getting themselves into.

Just trying to keep folks and their shotguns safe.

Joined: 22 Jan 2015 Posts: 345

Understood, and that's where the I expect the conversation to center on with the Dr.

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1841 Location: Central ND

Wahoo,

I probably came off a bit preachy on that last post. Let me explain.

When a shotgun is proofed, lets say at 18,000 PSI, that shotgun is capable of withstanding many more times that proof pressure, before it actually fails. Tom Armbrust has tried to destroy a Winchester Super X barrel, he made it to just over 50,000 psi before the barrel bulged and split. It did not have a catastrophic failure.

So if a guy was to take a shotgun that was truly compromised and isn’t capable of at least withstanding proof pressure, you have weakened that shotgun by a huge amount. Not by just a few thousand PSI, but by 20,000....30,000 even more psi.

So backing the chamber pressure down by a few thousand PSI isn’t solving or preventing any issue.

It is still a compromised firearm and not safe at any chamber pressure.

Please understand that I am not saying that your firearm is in a dangerous condition. Or that anything you are doing is wrong.

I was commenting on using some of the ‘lower pressure’ (I hate referring to ammo like that) ammunition to solve a problem, or somehow keep folks safe.

I am also not saying that the use of the ‘low pressure’ ammunition in some firearms in good repair is not the right thing to do. Nor am I saying that companies like Polywad and RST aren’t selling a good product, they certainly are.

I am only commenting on compromised shotguns and the fallacy of using ‘low pressure’ ammunition to somehow make things safe.

Joined: 22 Jan 2015 Posts: 345

No worries, I asked for advice and it’s what I have. All good. Thx.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1309 Location: Western WA