doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Extraordinary Damascus Find

VERY interesting thread going http://www.parkergun.org/forums/view_topic.php?id=6595&forum_id=1

Does anyone know how damascus RIBS were made? cut barrel material? the same lopin hammer welded, twisted, rolled, and squared, but only one rod? It looks to me like the rib damascus for the most part is different than the barrel pattern.

And Dave Noreen's C grade 1894 with "Etoile 3 B.P." has a non-twisted segment for the rib extension

Drew,
That is a nice find. I'm wondering if that was an experiment or if the maker knew the gun was going to be used for a lot of target/live bird shooting in one day, and if using a one-piece steel rib would the heat from shooting distort and possibly loosen the dis-similar metals?

RDD, I don't, of course, know for sure. However, it seems logical to me that the suppliers of barrels would have also supplied ribs. It seems like they would have experimented with a variety of square patterns and offered the most attractive to their customers. Is the untwisted short rib part of a barrel joining system? Or, is it just a rib? I've seen short ribs such as this frequently, but not the contrast in material. I'd guess on a gun of that quality that nothing was by chance or for cheap. I'd bet they did it that way because they thought it looked good. IMO, they would have been right, too!!

Wasn't there a thread a while back where the order book showed a notation along the lines of 'order Damasacus vent rib'? Now that is an extraordinary rib!

Usage had no impact on choice of rib material. If the rib is damascus there is a higher probability the barrels were bored and joined before being shipped.
Why a different pattern on the C grade? Because no one was going to the waste money by using a fancy billet for rib material. The billets were made at the rolling mills. The barrel makers had to purchase them. The fancier patterns were a premium and made in smaller numbers by the rolling mill. These mills did NOT exist to make gun barrels. They were producing all sorts of materials. The gun barrel business was a side line for them.





Pete

Drew:
I think the pictured "6 iron Turkish" in the other post demonstrates what occurred very well. Note that the pattern runs across the barrels as one would expect as these were hammer welded around a mandrel. Also note the pattern runs along the rib leading me to believe this rib was formed as a long strip.
The pattern however appears to be consistent between the barrels and rib.
Jim

PeteM:

Who is firearms merchant from Vienna on the top rib? I assume those are Belgian pattern welded tubes? True, small arms tube making was a small sideline as the steel producers and rolling mills were interested in huge public works and machines of war.


Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I have seen on very early guns "damascus" ribs , not raised, which looked like they were cut out of damascus barrel material. Still had the same curve etc. Also have seen fluid steel barrel guns with raised ribs of Damascus, but it was apparently finish like the blued barrel. Many Damascus barreled guns I have seen have Damascus raised ribs.

Raimey,

I do not know. All I know is that it is an Austrian muzzle loader. I had assumed the damascus was either produced in Austria, perhaps Italy as it very much like the Beretta damascus of this period I have seen. Honestly, I have not seen enough of the Austrian or Beretta damascus to be certain.

Pete

My Colombia Expo "A" has a damascus rib that doe not match the tubes, the extension is steel and I think all extensions were steel. I questioned Oscar on the rib and tubes not matching and he said it was common. If people would think business, saving money, not wasting anything and not pure and perfect Parker then bore varations, fish tail top levers on box locks and all sorts of varations will make sense. They were thrifty Yankee's!

bill