430 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



fibres, the close adhesion 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 lieated the whole length, and 

 the two square ends put into the heads (one of which is a fix- 

 ture) of a description of lathe, which is worked by a handle 

 similar to a winch. It is then twisted like a rope, or, as 

 Colonel Hawker says, wrung as wet clothes are, until it has 

 from twelve to fourteen complete turns in the inch. By this 

 severe twisting, the rod of six feet is shortened to three, 

 doubled in thickness, and made perfectly round. Three of 

 these rods are then placed together, with the inclinations of the 

 twists running in opposite directions. They are then welded 

 into one, and rolled down to a rod eleven-sixteenths of an inch 

 in breadth." — Greener. 



CHARCOAL IRON. 



This species of iron, we believe, is the kind of metal from 

 which most of the guns imported into our country by Hardware- 

 men are manufactured ; when we say most of the guns, we 

 mean most of the hest guns, as there are thousands of guns 

 made of still more inferior metal tlian charcoal iron^ expressly 

 for the American trade. These barrels are generally palmed off 

 upon the ignorant as the real stab-twist; they are, however, far 

 inferior to the genuine article. The metal is composed entirely 

 of old iron without any admixture of steel, and therefore is 

 greatly deficient in the strength or elasticity of either the stub 

 or wire-twist. 



OTHER KINDS OF METALS. 



There are several other varieties of metals or compounds 

 from which gun-barrels are manufactured /or /ore?V/?2 tj-ade; they 

 are generally far inferior even to charcoal iron, and are want- 

 ing not only in strength, but also in that tenacity and ductility 

 so necessary for the making of an instrument which is intended 

 to hold within bounds so dangerous and powerful a composition 

 as gunpowder. Great quantities of this miserable trash find 

 their way to this country, and hundreds of individuals are 



