This gun has "London Stub Twist" engraved on the top of rib.Have been researching on internet.Would these barrels be classified as Damascus or Plain Twist? I've read about them using horseshoe nail stubs and steel to make them.But still don't know for sure what they would be classified as . Thanks, Mike k.
If I understand correctly, the stubs, the part of the nail re-purposed after a cycle on a horse, were believed to posses "magical" properties due to the pounding of the horse shoe. Metallurgy says, "Not bloody likely!"
DDA
Besides the compression of the iron from pounding they were also said to have absorbed carbon from the hoof.
I was of course simply a machinist, not a metallurgist. However it would seem to me that bringing the iron to a welding heat would relieve it of any compression that it may have obtained through pounding. Also for a piece of iron or steel to absorb carbon as in carburizing it is necessary for the mat'l to be brought up to its critical temperature. It is quite obvious this temp was not reached in a horse's hoof.
They do have Birmingham proofs on them.Page 8 of Twist pattern examples and Methodology shows a picture of a real twist pattern,these barrels look exactly like that.They also match the "Laminated Best Stub Twist" example.
Is there a name on the gun
Yes, this gun was built by William Moore,a very respected gunsmith in Birmingham.I have read everything I can find on him.I cannot imagine someone with his rep. using Belgian barrels.
The 'rough forged tubes' may have been sourced from Liege.
Thomas Webley c. 1879 in John Henry Walsh's The Shotgun
"Quite three-fourths of the tubes used in Birmingham are Belgian make, and nearly all the London trade use them."
c. 1890 James Purdey II wrote that he favored Belgian damascus because "...not that when thorough sound English damascus can be obtained they are not superior, but because Belgian workmen are more careful than English, and there is thus less risk of slag and rubbish getting into the welds."
W.W. Greener, The Gun and Its Development
"The very best barrel-makers who manufacture for the London, Berlin, and Vienna markets are to be found at Chaudfontaine or Nessonvaux, both places a few miles from Liege."
Dr. Hause,thanks for all the links in your posts,have been reading them as much as time permits but have more to go.I will take some photos of these barrels and send them to you including proofs as soon as I can.You seem very knowledgeable on this subject, and I am learning as much as possible.Are any of those documents available in book form?Thanks,Mike K.
Mike: there is a list of resources here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7ss651xh8dytVXCWSrYsDnxq94KcddMxZ77pfUxXc0/previewThis is likely the best source for pattern identification, which was my original interest until things sorta got our of hand
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tXvObBOfgGpOKTh_jkttPcH1lKd--bfHY_sIjmr8uy8/edit BTW: I'm up in Phoenix and during the winter drive by Vail regularly on the way to chase birds around Sonoita and the Canelo Hills.
I would surely like to meet you and spend a day out there with you if that can ever be arranged. I camp and shoot my flint long rifles in the Tumacacori Mtn's that I build. Down by Arivaca.Thank you for the resources. Mike
