466 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



than home productions, and refer to the unprejudiced class, that 

 judges by intrinsic merit, and not by name or location. There is 

 certainly no apparent reason why foreign builders should surpass 

 us in the production of guns. In other manufactures we at least 

 hold our own, and we have as intelligent mechanics, and as perfect 

 machinery and tools, as any nation upon the face of the earth. It 

 is true, gun-building is here a comparatively recent undertaking, 

 but Americans have the faculty of profiting by the experience of 

 others, and the guns turned out here show that this case is no 

 exception to the rule. But few gun-makers in either country 

 manufacture their own barrels, finding it cheaper and better to buy 

 them in the rough from manufacturers who devote themselves ex- 

 clusively to barrel-making, and this market is as open to American 

 as to English makers, and our best guns are put up with barrels 

 of precisely the same quality as those which appear in the finest 

 English weapons. Some of our makers have lately forged as well 

 as finished their barrels, and we are bound to say we have seen 

 American barrels which for quality of material, shape, and per- 

 fection of finish equalled any we have ever examined bearing the 

 best English names. The high reputation of any maker is very 

 properly considered a guarantee for quality in his guns, since such 

 reputation can neither be obtained nor perpetuated without it is 

 fully warranted by the goodness of his work. The reputations of 

 our best makers are national, and their guns are constantly gaining 

 favor, and holding their own against those which are imported. 

 This of itself is sufficient to show that in the opinion of a very 

 large class, American guns will bear comparison with those made 

 in England at the same price, and this is all that can be expected. 

 There is in England a class of makers who build exclusively for 

 the nobility and wealthy patrons, and who charge prices which are 

 higher than any American builders can obtain. The guns which 

 they turn out possess a beauty and elegance of finish which is 

 unequalled by cheaper ones on either side of the water. Practically 

 they are no better than cheaper ones, built at prices which pay for 

 thoroughly good work, but it is undeniable that, like other elegant 



