WEAR AND DAMAGE OF SHOTGUN BARRELS WITH IRON AND NICKEL PELLETS OF VARIOUS HARDNESS.

A second series of tests is described in which the wear and damage to the barrels of shotguns, from which iron, nickel and lead pellets are fired, is measured. As expected both the wear of the bore and the deformation of the barrel at the choke are less when soft nickel and soft iron pellets are fired than is the case with harder pellets. Nevertheless both types of damage are still of an appreciable magnitude, indicating that these materials are not suitable for the manufacture of non-toxic pellets to replace lead. The results suggest that there is a definite relationship between the two types of damage and the relative hardnesses of the pellets and the barrel. A greater quantity of more precise data on softer shot materials will be needed to enable estimates to be made of barrel life that can be obtained with such materials.