doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com J. White & Son Backaction

I'd like some comments on what I'm actually seeing in these photographs.

Ad says the barrels are damascus. I'd say they were twist and reblued although the welds appear tighter than I have seen.

I haven't seen a frame like this. It seems quite unsubstantial compared to most designs. Any concerns?

It appears the hammers are bent inwards. I can't tell if it is just the angle of the picture or they are actually bent.

Click on thumbnails to enlarge.

Tamid..I can't comment on the bbls....
but the hammer spurs (?) do seem to be kinda leaning into the middle.
That would really seem to help in cocking both hammers with one sweep of the thumb,wouldn't it?
I am surprised that no maker thought to do this, ...or did they?
There doesn't seem to be a down side to the idea.I have never seen Hammers that were, but am no expert.
And yes, those Fences seem pretty thin, eh?
cheers
Franc

Are the hammers loose or tight? If they are tight and look right they are probably original. If loose, they might be replacements from another gun. I have seen this many, many times before.

Not sure Tamid why you would think re-blued. They look like twist original finish browned skelp barrels to me. Going to defer to Drew Hause of course but Damascus as a word to describe composite barrels includes twist, not necessarily with crolle' pattern.
The standing breech is dainty as you noted. I really do not have insight on the hammers other than to say the left one does appear canted in the photo.

JBLondon,

I have always thought of damascus barrels as being formed from a billet of hammer forged iron and steel while a twist was a single bar wrapped around a mandrel. I don't have on hand but do recall advertisements from manufacturers saying twist or damascus.

I thought the barrels may have been reblued or covered in some manner because in the first pic that is what it looks like. I don't see the twist pattern.

12boreman
From other pictures (not shown) the hammers seem tight but I don't have the gun on hand and not truly able to determine if they are loose.

Accepted terminology when these barrels were being made was that "Damascus Twist" was twisted in the bar before wrapping, "Plain Twist" was not.

Neither was made from a Solid Bar. Damascus could be made from a single twisted bar, but was most often of two or more joined together after twisting prior to wrapping.

The Plain twist bar consisted of layers of iron or iron & steel layered together then formed into a flat bar which was then wrapped edgewise around the mandrel.

Problem today is much of this original terminology is unknown to many & the terms are often used incorrectly, causing confusion.

Stub Twist & Stub Damascus was also often used in the early days of barrel making. These originated from using pulled horseshoe nail stubs mixed with chopped pieces of coach springs which were brought to a welding heat then hammered together. This was then rolled into a bar which was wrapped for Stub Twist, or first twisted & then wrapped for Stub Damascus.

Essentially the bottom line is if a simple spiral pattern shows it is Twist, if there is a pattern then its Damascus.

I would agree with you, the barrels in question here are Twist, not Damascus.