444 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



BURSTING OP GUNS. COMMODORE STOCKTON'S EXPERIMENTS. 



RECOIL, ETC. 



There are innumerable causes which tend to the bursting of gun- 

 barrels, even those of the most approved workmanship; it is not 

 astonishing, therefore, that those manufactured of inferior metal 

 and put together by second-rate artists should frequently be torn 

 to pieces while under the management of reckless and ignorant 

 shooters. Although there are immense numbers of guns imported 

 into this country, both from England and Germany, that could not 

 stand the test of the proof-house, still, they are made of sufficiently 

 good metal to bear the explosion of powder to a certain extent, 

 and, if handled with caution, might perform many years of good 

 service without endangering the lives of their owners. We do not, 

 however, wish our readers to construe this concession of ours in 

 reference to these trashy guns into a favorable notice of them, as 

 we consider the use of weapons of a doubtful character, such as 

 these are, as rather too hazardous an experiment for any one of 

 our sporting friends to venture upon. 



We will now endeavor to point out some of the causes that are 

 calculated to produce bursting not only in barrels manufactured 

 of inferior metal, but even in those forged out of the most superior 

 iron and wrought with the greatest care. 



The first grand cause of bursting springs from the forge, as 

 before stated ; and every one knows full well that many manu- 

 facturers of guns use metal of very inferior description ; and when 

 the bars are being welded into barrels, the artificers themselves are 

 guilty of most culpable negligence and recklessness, little heeding 

 the limbs lost and lives sacrificed by their bad workmanship. 



If a barrel be either welded, bored, or filed badly, even if it be 

 made of good metal, it may nevertheless burst under the manage- 

 ment of the most careful sportsman. If the thickness of the bar- 

 rel is not uniform throughout its entire length, but weaker at one 

 point than at another, owing to a flaw in the metal, overfiling, or 

 rude boring, it will most probably burst, if overcharged, as the 



