No, I don't think too much progress was made as I switched the track at the juncture and all but derailed the hijacked train in pursuit of the gauge rabbit. 0.717" would calculate to 12.65 gauge which would put it well between 13 and 12 bore. I assume that the longarm is Damascus and dates in the 1866-1875 period. For "correct shooting" a "first class" set of tubes would begin as 13 bore and this was determined thru empirical data. Also, the Old English unit of an ounce(possibly direct definition-Roman influence while all of Europe but South of France and Italy considered 1/16 of pound as ounce) gave it as 1/12 of a pound and that coupled w/ empirical data could have lead to the choice of 12 bore. I would venture to guess that yours didn't require as much finishing as some. But I'm still puzzled how they made the made the lead spheres to get the plug gauges. So many advances(well about all) in gunnery occurred during the 19th century and as PeteM noted the barrel boring is very interesting.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
Last edited by ellenbr; 05/25/08 12:14 PM.
