SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK. 



There is no part of a gun, except the barrel, but what 

 can be made by hand by any really first-class gunsmith. 

 Gun barrels are made at regular factories by mechanics 

 called barrel-makers. A very clear idea can be had from 

 the following paper published in the Scientific American 

 May II, 1872. It is copied in full and will be found quite 

 interesting, as so little is known by the masses concerning 

 the manner, or the material used in their manufacture: 



BIRMINGHAM GUN MAKERS' AND INVENTORS' CLUB. 



At a recent meeting of the above club, according to 

 the Mechanics* Magazine, Mr. Samuel Smith, of Weaman 

 street, Birmingham, gun barrel maker, read a paper on the 

 manufacture of gun barrels, of which the following is an 

 abstract: 



The material used for gun barrels was mostly charcoal 

 iron. For plain and figured barrels, at the date of which I 

 am speaking namely, 1793 the iron used was stub, stub 

 twist, wire twist, and Damascus. Stub twist was first made 

 as plain stub, but, instead of being hammered into a 

 "skelp" or flat plate, it was drawn into a strip, coiled 

 around a mandrel, and welded in the usual way. Stub twist 

 is now made of old horseshoe nails and steel cuttings, about 

 two inches long, one-quarter inch in breadth, and the same 

 in thickness. The two are mixed up together and " balled " 

 in a furnace, and the bloom drawn out under the forge 

 hammer. It is then rolled into a strip, coiled round a man- 

 drel, and welded as before. If the balls are very large, or 

 the stubs or steel of inferior quality, the iron will not be 

 good. Plain stub barrels were made of the same iron, 

 forged into a skelp, and welded longitudinally. 



