To make a composite gun barrel, an inner barrel of a hard refractory material
is formed and a composite jacket formed over it to increase the stiffness and strength
while not adding excessive weight. The tows in the external jacket are varied in
pitch along the barrel to decrease the amplitude of vibrations of a muzzle during
firing. High thermal conductivity material is added to the resin to increase thermal
conductivity. In the preferred embodiment, the thermally conductive material is
chopped pitch-based carbon fibers and these are randomly oriented. A gas port is
added and shielded from the composite material and a metal muzzle piece protects
the composite from hot gases.
