Stainless Steel Barrels

[walter t]

Hi All,
I have an 8' length 1 1/2" stainless propellor shafting, will this be good stuff for cannon barrels? Max safe bore 1/2" or could I goup  to 11/16"  or so?
Walter

[Cat Whisperer]

It all depends.
I'd keep to the 1/2" .
It could be harder/more-brittle therefore less good a choice for a cannon barrel -
I have a 2" piece that I'm doing a 1" bore in - BUT I'm also going to have a 1/2" dia powder chamber AND will have all inside corners of the bore rounded.

[Don Krag]

For a salt water environment, I'm guessing it's type 316 stainless. If so, it's austenetic stainless with pretty good strength and toughness and shouldn't have any brittleness issues. Can be tough to machine, though. Use lots of coolant/lube. Then again...if it's a ferritic grade that was heat treated for shafting, who knows.

[GGaskill]

Are you sure it's stainless and not monel or some other material like that?

[walter t]

Hi All,
It could be monel ?? I doubt it in this neck of the woods, I am not quite sure how to check, my guess is 304 or 316 stainless, it machines pretty well, I turned a 9" barrel with a 1/2" X 3/4" powder chamber  up to a 9/16" bore out this a.m. and the finish came out nicely, will a magnet stick to monel ?
Walter t

[GGaskill]

... will a magnet stick to monel ?

No idea.  I brought it up because my brother had an inboard boat many years ago and the prop shaft was monel.


"Curie Temperature  (the temperature above which a ferromagnetic substance loses its ferromagnetism)     35°C"

So it would be magnetic at low temperatures (below 95° F) but non-magnetic above.