484 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



for barrels, care must be taken that the edges of the steel and iron 

 shall be outermost, so that, when the barrel is finished and browned, 

 it shall have the appearance of being welded of pieces the size of 

 wires the whole length of the barrel." A little further on, our 

 author remarks : " The objection made to the wire-twist is that, 

 owing to the iron and steel being perfectly separate bodies, run- 

 ning through the whole thickness of the barrel, there is a difficulty 

 in welding them perfectly, and of course there is a danger of its 

 breaking across at any trifling imperfection. This objection is 

 certainly well grounded, as many barrels break in the proving. I 

 have myself seen a very strong barrel indeed broken across the 

 knee without the slightest difficulty, while to all appearances it was 

 perfectly sound. This is the reason why the manufacturers have 

 ceased to make them, except for the American trade." 



It is well known that every description of gun-barrel made in 

 England that is deemed of a very inferior quality in fact, too 

 dangerous to be manufactured into a gun at home is shipped to 

 our country for sale. The knowledge of this circumstance should 

 make all sportsmen rather chary in the purchase of guns from the 

 hands of those who, from ignorance or want of principle, are ready 

 to palm upon them any kind of a weapon, no matter how inferior 

 or how dangerous. 



DAMASCUS BARRELS 



" Are pretty to look at, but they possess no advantage over the 

 wire-twist barrels ; if any thing, they are inferior in strength and 

 tenacity. The twisting which the barrels go through before they 

 are welded together, for the purpose of forming into a barrel, in- 

 stead of adding strength to the body of the metal, rather loosens 

 the texture, by tearing asunder the parallel fibres, the close adhe- 

 sion of which constitutes the power and strength of the metal." 



These barrels are made as follows: "When about to be con- 

 verted into Damascus, the rod is heated the whole length, and the 

 two square ends put into the heads (one of which is a fixture) of a 

 description of lathe, which is worked by a handle similar to a 



