doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Twist Finish

OK, I know this is not about a fine doublegun, but I have a JABC that I want to turn into a coach gun for cowboy action shooting. The barrels appear to be steel, but are marked on the rib TWIST FINISH BELGIUM. I read that this "may be" just a faux finish applied to make guns appear to have twist or damascus barrels. Some of this finish remains under the forend. Is there a way to determine whether the barrels are actually twist or steel? Thanks in advance.

Most likly twist, fake is VERY rare, my bad memory says if you wet a spot with copper sulfate solution it will show. If I am wrong on solution I am sure a younger memory will correct me.
bill

Bill, I am not sure I am younger, but seem to remember one can use Chlorox for the same purpose you mention.

"Faux Twist" barrels are usually a sheet of 'Plain Iron' or 'Cast Steel' folded over a mandrel and the long edge hammer welded, then roll graved. NO WAY I would fire ANY load through them.

If they are as Drew suspects I will second that. I was discussing these types of barrels at the Birmingham Proof House some time back. They will test them but have never yet had one pass proof; black or nitro. Lagopus.....

William Rose of England filed patent 39174 in 1862.

Gustav Adolf Sachs of the Dakota territories filed patent 410678 in 1889.

If Sachs was aware of the Rose patent is unknown. Here is the illustration from the Sachs patent.


Both of these were to meant to "decorate" barrels, thus making them appear to be damascus. They were obviously meant to be hide longitudinally welded skelp barrels. Damascus was considered a huge step up from the longitudinally welded barrels.



The warning sign here is "Twist Finish". This was a legal term, that was meant to inform the buyer that the barrels were in fact not true twist damascus. This law came about because of the outcry on the part of larger makers of barrels.



In the second part of his article on damascus Jean Puraye documents this debate.

Pete

Found this on wikianswers.

"Twist" refers to a method of barrel manufacture. Thin wires were twisted together then wrapped around a mandrel and hammer-welded. Although these were quite satisfactory in the days of black-powder shells, they are generally not safe with modern ammunition. HOWEVER, when machine manufacturing made fluid and cast steel barrels possible, not everyone trusted this new-fangled (and cheaper) technology, so some manufacturers "painted" them with a pattern imitating the older methods. The "Finish" may mean that these are really fluid steel barrels that have been "finished" to imitate the appearance of twist construction.

The gun seems in all respects like a Cresent Arms version with steel barrels. But......