I had posted this back when the BBS I use was having trouble
and it dawned on me that it didn't ever go through.  I'll
re-post as I thought it might be interesting if it hasn't
been discussed in here.....



Date: Sep. 21,02  9:31: 0
From: CRAIG SCHROEDER          
To: ALL                      
Subject: Ceramic Barrels          
X-Newsreader: wsOMR/QWK v1.20b
Lines: 42

Hello ALL,

I'm an old sporadic lurker in here....  My work keeps me in
touch with various issues of new materials and applications
dealing with surface finishing, specifically.  I was
recently made aware of zirconia ceramic being used for gun
barrels and on the chance that it's also news to others, I
thought I'd relate as it seems it could re-invent firearms
as we know them.  Here's a non-technical over-view.

The material acts as an insulator (zirconia tube wound with
carbon fibers and composite/resin wrap) even though it's
only .150" thick.  Because the energy isn't transferred as
heat to a steel barrel, the energy is used in propulsion of
the projectile.  Tests are showing an average of 24%
ballistics improvement.  The cartridges are ejected cool
from the expanding gas effect (like canned air cools the
can).  Barrels don't heat up and can be half the weight of
steel version.  It also carries the advantages of general
corrosion and erosion enhancements.  Word is that rifling
can be sharper and more severe for better control and I
would guess that harder bullet guilding would be possible
then, too.

For the consumer, the word is that a barrel making operation
is actually cheaper to gear up for than a traditional steel
operation.  This seems to indicate that it should be an
affordable alternative when mass production begins. The
military market will be especially active as it's so tailor
made for solving automatic weapons cooling issues.  Anyway,
that's the basics.  Word is that MagTec (Magnum
Technologies, Inc) is the company to be applying the
technology.

Regards,

-=Craig=-

craig nospam craigschroeder com    http://www.craigschroeder.com  

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