CHARCOAL IRON. 455 



wincli. It is then twisted like a rope, or, as Colonel Hawker says, 

 wrung as wet clothes are, until it has from twelve to fourteen com- 

 plete turns in the inch. Bj this severe twisting, the rod of six 

 feet is shortened to three, doubled in thickness, and made perfectly 

 round. Three of these rods are then placed together, Avith the 

 inclinations of the twists running in opposite directions. They 

 are then welded into one, and rolled down to a rod eleven-six- 

 teenths of an inch in breadth." 



CHARCOAL IRON. 



This species of iron, we believe, is the kind of metal from which 

 most of the guns imported into our country by hardwaremen are 

 manufactured. When we say most of the guns, we mean most of 

 the best guns, as there are thousands of guns made of still more 

 inferior metal than charcoal iron, expressly for the American 

 trade. These barrels are generally palmed off upon the ignorant 

 as the real stub-twist; they are, however, far inferior to the 

 genuine article. The metal is composed entirely of old iron 

 without any admixture of steel, and therefore is greatly deficient 

 in the strength or elasticity of either the stub or wire-twist. 



OTHER KINDS OF METALS. 



There are several other varieties of metals or compounds from 

 which gun-barrels are manufactured for foreign trade ; they are 

 generally far inferior even to charcoal iron, and are wanting not 

 only in strength, but also in the tenacity and ductility so neces- 

 sary for the making of an instrument which is intended to hold 

 within bounds so dangerous and powerful a composition as gun- 

 powder. Great numbers of these worthless weapons find their 

 way to this country, and hundreds of individuals are crippled with 

 them every year. A full description of all these metals will be 

 found in Greener, as also a general expose of all the deceptions 

 carried on in the gun-trade. 



