PROVING BARRELS. 447 



PROVING BARRELS. 



There is no department in the manufacture of a gun in which 

 there is more deception than that of the proving-house. We do not 

 wish to be understood to say that frauds upon the public actually 

 take place under the eye and with the full cognizance of the com- 

 panies to whom this important duty is confided ; but we wish to in- 

 form our readers that large quantities of barrels are palmed off on 

 the public, and particularly on the American market, having all the 

 insignia of the London and Birmingham proof-houses, which never, 

 at any time, were across the threshold of either establishment. 



This is accomplished by forging the marks of these companies, 

 and the deception is carried on to a very great extent ; our readers, 

 therefore, will see at once how much reliance can be placed on 

 these marks when pointed out to them by the regular dealers as 

 tests of the goodness of suspicious-looking guns. 



The proving of gun-barrels was first introduced, according to 

 writers on the subject, about the twelfth century, and originated with 

 the company of gun-makers themselves. The enactments respecting 

 the department, however, after a while became null and void, from 

 a want of adequate means and a proper disposition on the part of 

 the manufacturers to enforce them. Public attention, however, 

 was again aroused to the importance of this matter early in the 

 present century, owing to the discredit that had fallen on all Eng- 

 lish hand-arms, insomuch that sportsmen were obliged to seek their 

 guns in other quarters than their own country, and considerable 

 numbers were purchased in Spain and France for their use. In 

 1815, further legislation upon this subject made it obligatory upon 

 all manufacturers to send their gun-barrels either to the London 

 or Birmingham proof-houses to be tested, under a penalty of twenty 

 pounds for every infraction of this ordinance ; and the same fine 

 was attached to the forging of the proof-marks of these companies. 

 Previous to these enactments, thousands of guns were manufactured 

 for the foreign trade which were perfectly good-for-nothing, and 

 the dealers themselves in these "sham-guns, sham-dam, park- 



