The Shot- Gun. 



777 



FOUR-TWIST BARREL. 



compensating bolt, and that this compensation can be made at any 

 one of these points without affecting the position of the other pieces. 



Gun-barrels. — It is needless, in a work of the general character 

 of this one, to go into a lengthy description of the details of the proc- 

 esses employed in making gun-barrels ; but a general account of the 

 operations in their manufacture may be of interest to the sportsman, 

 in serving to give clearer ideas on the differences in the texture of the 

 twist, Damascus, and laminated steel barrels which are now used. 

 The twist barrel is often called stub-twist, from the stubs of horse- 

 shoe nails out of which these barrels were first made. These stubs 

 and other "scraps" are welded together, drawn into bars, then heated, 

 and while one end is in a notch, or clamp, the other end of the rod 

 is attached to the axis of a crank and twisted. At present, these rods 

 are made of selected iron, the supply and quality of stubs having 

 fallen off. These twisted rods are now beaten into flat bars and then 

 wrapped around a mandrel, and their edges are welded together. 

 This forms the twist barrel. 



The Damascus barrel is formed by taking nearly equal propor- 

 tions of refined iron and steel bars. These are placed in piles, or 

 "fagoted," and then heated and thoroughly welded together. The 

 bar thus formed is cut into equal lengths, again "fagoted," welded 

 under a trip-hammer, drawn into narrow rods, and these are then 

 twisted. To make the best Damascus barrel, three of these twisted 

 rods are placed alongside of each other, and forged into a ribbon 

 of the dimensions of cross-section of one-half inch by seven-six- 

 teenths for the breech-end of the barrel, and one-half by three-six- 

 teenths of an inch for the muzzle-end. This ribbon is now wrapped 

 around a mandrel, and its convolutions are firmly welded together at 

 a white heat by hammering the ribbon on the mandrel while placed 

 in a semi-cylindrical groove. Another portion is added to that just 





TWO SPIRALS WKI.DPO TOOF.THLK IN Till MIDDLR 



