100 G u 
great length and weight, being ftrong objections to them, 
efpecially fince they have begun to make their pieces 
lb very fhort and light in thefe countries. And, from 
our own experience of the Spanilh barrels, we are con¬ 
vinced, that the avidity 'with which they are fought 
after by fome perfons, and the extravagant prices that 
are given for them, proceed more from a fancied than 
from any real fuperiority they poffefs over thofe made 
in this country. The barrels of Lazaro Cominazzo, 
called, after the maker, Lazarini, were formerly cele¬ 
brated throughout the greateft part of Europe. They 
were very long, and of a fmall caliber. Cominazzo 
lived at Brefcia about a hundred and fixty years ago. 
He did not forge thefe barrels himfelf, but he finiflied 
them with great accuracy, and ornamented them in a 
very rich and elegant manner. At the time, how¬ 
ever, when thefe barrels were in high eftimation, there 
were, numerous counterfeits bearing the name and mark 
of Cominazzo ; and it requires fome acquaintance with 
the genuine barrels not to be deceived by the fpurious 
ones. The true Lazarini are now to be found only in 
the repofitories of the curious. 
The vanity of pofl'efling fomething that is Angularly 
curious, the falfe idea that whatever is expenfive muft 
neceffarily be good, and fometimes, though rarely, the 
laudable defire of improvement, have all, in their turn, 
been the caufes of variety of experiments being made 
in the manufacture of barrels. Mr. Fuller, ot St. John’s- 
llreet, Clerkenwell, whofe fuperior excellence in this 
branch deferves to be known by every fportfman, tor 
many reasons that might be pointed out, informs us, 
that he has wrought a great deal of Spanilh iron; that 
he has forged barrels from old fcythes, from wire, from 
needles, and a great many other articles fuggefted by 
the whim of his cuftomers; he has alfo made barrels 
with a lining of fteel, and formed others with a double 
fpiral of fteel and iron alternately; but that, as far as 
he can determine from thefe numerous trials, the ftub- 
jron wrought into a twilled barrel, is fuperior to every 
other. Wherever fteel was employed, he found that 
the barrel neither welded nor bored fo perfectly as when 
iron alone was tifed. 
PROOFS of BARRELS. 
Thefe differ in different countries. The Spanilh 
proof is a very fevere one; but, as it is made before 
the barrel is filed, it is not fatisfaCtory. At the royal 
•manufactories of St. Etienne and Charleville, in France, 
there were infpectors appointed to fee that no barrels are 
lent out of thefe places, whether for file king’s ufe or 
for public fale, without being proved. The firft proof 
is made with a ball exactly fitting the caliber, and an 
ounce of powder. The fecond is made with the fame- 
fized ball, and half an ounce of powder. The reafcn 
given for the fecond proof is, that the firft may have 
ftrained the barrel fo much, though the injury be not 
vilible, that it will not bearafecond trial with a fmaller 
charge ; and it is faid there really are fome of thefe 
barrels which Hand the firft proof, and yet give way in 
the fecond. 
The itfiial proof of-the Paris barrels is a double 
charge of powder and fhot; that is, two or two and a 
half drachms of powder, and two or two and a half 
ounces of (hot. The Englifh Tower proof, and that of 
the Whitechapel company, incorporated by charter for 
proving of arms, are made with a ball of the caliber, 
and a charge of powder equal in weight to this ball : 
the proof is the fame for every fize and fpecies of bar¬ 
rel, and not repeated. Some gunfmiths pique thent- 
felves upon making their barrels undergo a fecond 
roof; but, it is proper to obferve, that, if a barrel, 
ears any affigned proof, it will fuftain the fame imme¬ 
diately after, witli greater fafety than it did at firft-, as 
the metal, from being warmed by the firft fire, expands 
.more readily to the force of the fecond explofion. 
N. 
Monf. de Marolles, fpeaking of the proofs of barrels, 
fays, “A ftronger proof than ordinary might be made, 
by ramming down at top of the powder, fix or eight 
inches of dry clay, in place of a double charge of lead. 
This is fometimes employed in proving pieces of ord¬ 
nance, where, inftead of the bullet, two feet of clay is 
placed over the pow-der, by which the whole force of 
the explofion is exerted upon the'piece.” We entirely 
agree with the ingenious' author of La Chajfe au Fujil , 
in the opinion, that the proof he mentions would be 
much ftronger than that which is ufually employed ; fo - 
much ftronger, indeed, that we do not believe any bar- 
ral could withftand it unlefs the clay were put down in 
the loofeft manner poflible. The hardeft rocks are 
burft afunder by means of dry clay ftrongly rammed over 
the powder that is placed at the bottom of a cylindri¬ 
cal cavity made in them; and we certainly cannot ex- 
peCt that a force fufficient to. rend in pieces immenfe 
blocks of granite, can be refilled by the comparatively 
trifling ftrength and thicknefs of a gun-barrel. 
CAUSES of BURSTING. 
It may be fafely afferted, that a good barrel can 
fcarcely ever burft, unlefs it be charged too highly, or 
in an improper, manner. Whenever, for example, front 
the ball not being rammed home, a fpace is left bet- 
tween it and the powder, there is a great rifle of the 
barrel burfting on being difebarged. We fay a great 
rifle, becaufe, even under thefe circumftances, it fre¬ 
quently happens that the barrel .does not burft. If the 
ball flops near to the powder, a very fmall windage is 
fufficient to prevent'this accident ; and it is very rare 
that the ball touches the barrel in every part of its cir¬ 
cumference, unlefs it has been driven in by force with 
an iron ram-rod, in which cafe it moulds itfelf to the 
cavity, and blocks it up completely. Should this hap¬ 
pen, the barrel, however ftrong it is, will burft, even 
when the fpace between the ball and the powder is but 
very inconliderable ; and, the greater the fpace that in¬ 
tervenes, the more certainly will this event takes place. 
Mr. Robins, when fpeaking of this matter, fays, “A 
moderate charge of powder, when it has expanded itfelf 
through tiie vacant fpace that reaches the ball, will, by 
the velocity each part has acquired, accumulate itfelf 
behind the ball, and thereby be condenfed prodigioufly; 
whence, if the barrel be not of an extraordinary ftrength 
in that part, it muft infallibly fly to pieces. The truth 
of this has been experienced in a Tower mufket, forged 
of very tough iron ; for, charging it with twelve penny¬ 
weights of powder, and placing the ball' (loofely) fix- 
teen inches from the breech ; on the firing of it, the part 
of the barrel juft behind the bullet was fwelled out to 
double its diameter, like a blown bladder, and two large 
pieces of two inches long were buril out of it.” ■ 
The fame accident will often take place from the 
mouth of the piece being filled with dirt or fnow, as 
fometimes happens when lportfmen are leaping a ditch 
with the muzzle of the piece pointed forwards; and, if 
in fuch cafes the barrel does not burft, it is becaufe 
thefe foreign bodies ftop it up but very loofely. For 
the fame reafon a barrel will certainly burft, if fired 
when the muzzle is thruft into water but a very little 
depth below the furface; the refiftance given the paf- 
fage of the ignited powder through the mouth of the 
piece being, in this cafe, much greater than that afford¬ 
ed by the fides of the barrel'. Except in the circum¬ 
ftances mentioned, or in cafe of an overciiarge, it is very 
rare that a barrel burfts. Whenever it happens indepen¬ 
dent of thefe caufes, it muft be from a defeCt in the work, 
and that either the barrel has been imperfectly weld, 
edy or that a deep flaw has taken place in fome part of 
it; or, laftly, that; through want of care in the boring 
or filing, it is left of unequal thicknefs in its fides. The 
laft defeCt is the moft common, efpecially in low-priced 
barrels; and, as pieces more frequently burft from that 
