N/A Brass barrels

I've heard that brass offers less friction to a steel BB flying through the barrel. Is that true?

But then, BBs don't fit a barrel like pellets. BBs run comparatively loose, and I thought they tend to "hydroplane" on a cushion of air all the way down the barrel if everything is set up right (maybe someone can check me on that). If that's true, then what difference would it make if the barrel were brass, aluminum, or steel?
 
Depends on the stainless. Much of it machines beautifully with HSS.
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I forgot what grade stainless steel I was using, but it never pitted or rust.. was on a deep well sucker rod going through a stuffing box.. 20 years with no wear and running around 8 hours per day.. mirror finish.. I'd guess possibly 304? and needed turned down on each end and threaded.. HHS wouldn't touch it.. when I tried turning it down, I was not going to risk damage to my ridged 3/8 pipe threader since it was used at least one day a week.. and I got a price from the machine shop for like $50 for the rod completely machined.. just figured it was cheaper to pay that, since the stainless steel itself was $30 each.. and I would have them do a small production run.. figured it saved me time and money.
yes there's so many different grades of stainless steel!
mark
 
I have four Sheridan's, from 1955 to 1971, and ony one was abused. It's barrel was cut off by a cave man. At least it looked like cave man tools were used.
After a re-square, and re-crown, it shoots as good as any..
I can't say that their barrels are capable of precision accuracy, because of the lack of precision in the MPP platform, but they are amazingly accurate plinkers with oper sights.

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I can’t see any good reason why the mpp platform wouldn’t be as accurate as any other. I seem to recall reading chrony strings that were very consistent and I’ve seen plenty of pics of tiny groups shot by Sheridans. The poor optics mounting options are the main thing preventing me from buying one.

I used to have a Silver Streak years ago and it was a great camping gun. I’d remove the stock and it fit in the side pocket of my backpack.
 
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Titanium isn't quite as hard as steel, but it's much harder than aluminum. They make titanium knives. An aluminum knife would be worthless.

Titanium is very pricey though and it's supposed to be very hard to work with.

I think its thermal conductivity is quite low, so the heat concentrates on the machining edge. That's probably the difficulty -- easy to burn and work-harden when machining.
 
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Having a brass barrel is a good thing. Several my early Hy-scores have brass barrels usually when I obtain Hy-score made prior to 1950. These early guns did not the scrolling engraving. Some have brass some steel and no engraving.
As far as mangled bores are concerned - lead pellets are much softer than brass
 
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titanium is a strong metal, lightweight like aluminum and softer than steel, from what I have seen.. I don't think I'd want one..
Mark

Grade 4 titanium (Alloy) has a lot of the properties of steel but is lighter weight. I imagine you wouldn't want to make a barrel out of pure titanium, much like few people make barrels out of raw iron these days. But alloys seem potentially viable.
 
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what is hard about machining titanium? as I remember it was soft similar to aluminum.. but I remember it is hard to weld.
Mark

Titanium is extremely poor at transferring heat, so the heat builds up very quickly and will ruin the part or the tooling unless lots of coolant is used and proper feed rates. It is harder and tougher than some steels, but not quite as hard/tough as many stainless steels. It is in a different universe than aluminum when it comes to machining. Aluminum is among the easiest metal to machine and can even be cut with wood working tools in a pinch.

And Ti is indeed also quite difficult to weld since it becomes very reactive when heated to welding temps, and also due to the poor heat dissipation mentioned above. It often needs to be welded inside of purge gas chambers, but it can be done normally if great care is taken to shield the weld areas on both sides.
 
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