The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-08-30
GUN-MAKING.
The Process of Making Gun-BarreIs,
Both Ancient and Modern.

From the Pttsb,ug Chronicle Telegraph.
The manufacturing of gun-metal and
making it into gun-barrels may be classed
as one of the fine arts.
If thorough and reliable metal is want
ed for purposes independent of gun-barrels,
how often we hear of gun-metal being
used.
The past fifteen years has witnessed great
changes and wonderful improvements in
the manufacture of gun-metal.
At one time the English gunmakers de-
pended entirely upon the supply of scraps
of fine iron and mild steel, such as horse
shoe nails, old coach-springs, clippings of
saws, steel pin scrips, scraps, great and small
of all kinds.
The pieces were carefully sorted and
placed in cylinder revolving slowly y, which
polished and cleaned them by attrition one
against the other.
They were then cut in small pieces of
uniform size and placed in the furnace I'M
til at white heat, then gathered in a
bloom, after which, being placed under the
hammer, were welded into a rough cube of
iron.
This cube was rolled into bars cut into
lengths, and the number of lengths required
bundled together and again brought to a
white heat, then hammered into rods of
6ve-sixteenths inch square, or smaller or
larger, as demanded by the barrel-welder
for the work in hand.
At one time fine damascus barrels were
made almost entirely from old coach springs!
1t was found this would make very strong
and fine barrels, and showed great freedom
from "grays' (gray specks that disfgured
the barrels, but did not impaiH their
strength). 1t was thought the peculiar
wear the fine metal in the coach springs
had been subject to had tendency to pc
culiarly fit it for gun-barrel Retal
Be this as it may, there were certainly
fine tubes made from coach spring metal.
As the years rolled on the demand ex-
ceeded the supply, until at last gun metal
had to be made from pig metal of the very
best ores.
SO far reference/has been made only to
the metal that goes into the makeup of
fine damascus and laminated barrels.
Inferior metal scraps of all kinds are used
for making Che barrels of the cheap guns.
This metaHs graded and named "shamdam,"
'scelp" 9hd ''charcoal-iron Shamdam is
the poorest; from it the cheap twist-barrels
are made. From scelp laminated and coarse
damascus figures are manufactured, and
make very durable pair of barrels
/ Charcoal-iron is made up into medium
Nd o,,l III
barrels. This metal is composed of old
files and pieces of steel of the same sort
1t is broken up into small cubes, then put
in the furnace and worked into bloom;
the bloom is then heated and rolled into
bars ready for use.
This metal makes good and desirable
barrels. The use of the ahove-described
materials has been almost entirely super
seeded by the more modern methods of pre-
pairing gun-barrel metal right from the pig.
The best of pig-iron is obtained and
placed in the furnace and reduced to a fluid
state. This operation cleanses it from all
dross. 1t is then allowed to cool, and while
the temperature is going down it is gathered
and worked together in blooms, and it then
goes to the steam hammer, under which it
assumes the shape of square blocks 1t
then passes through various rolls, until the
diameter and length of bar required are at
tanned. The hammering has condensed
the metal and eliminated many of the i'm
purities.
The rolling has augmented its tenacity
and ductility, elongating and ramifying the
fbers. The mild steel to be used in con-
nection with the fine iron is prepared in
similar manner, and is made from the best
Swedish pig-iron, and becomes very tena-
cious and elastic under the heating, ham,
mering and rolling,
In these three operations there is con-
slant loss of metal The loss in pudding
is about 16 per cent. and rolling from II
to Ii per cent.
The bars being now ready are cut into
equal lengths and huddled together, put in
the furnace, heated and welded and elon-
gated by rolling into rods This heating,
rolling and hammering is gone through with
from five to seven times in the operation of
making first quality brands.
The quantity of mild steel to be used in
connection with the iron having been de-
termined on, say 80 per cent. of mild steel
in rods, and 40 per cent. of fine iron in
rods fve-eighths of an inch square If
fine figured damascus is wanted, four rods
of iron and four of steel are laid together,
first one of steel, then one of iron, then one
of steel, and so on until all are bundled to-
gether, making eight in ALL This bundle
is then brought to white heat, and the
successive layers of steel and iron welded
together and rolled out in rod; the rod is
again heated, brought out, placed in a ma
chine for the purpose, and twisted like
rope until it has ten to fifteen turns to the
inch, the number of turns determining the
fneness of the figure.
This severe twisting has shortened the
rod to the desired length and increased its
thickness so per cent.
Two of these solid spine rods are now
placed side by side, with the twistings run
ming in the opposite directions to each other,
reheated and welded into one, and rolled
into fiat rod of say nine-sixteenths of an
inch wide for the breech ends of the bar
rels and eleven-sixteenths of an inch wide
for the muzzle ends. The barrels are made
in two parts, and in the last operation of
Welding, called dumping" they are brought
together in the middle.
These rods of GIG and 11-16 inches are
again heated and twisted in the form of
spiral tube; this tube is heated to white
heat, and glowing under the master hand
Is by quick and deft movement dumped"
on the anvil and the open coils welded to-
gether; they are then Immediately placed
on grooved rest and hammered lightly to
round them up.
All the coils for the muzzle and brAech
nnds Of The hnrrol hnrinor hoor, 4h,,s ,rollni