And BTW we're STILL waiting for one of our British correspondents to find the British Damascus Rosetta Stone
Only if you tell us how Pieper managed to get his name in the pattern
Very simple, he paid the rolling mill to do it! There is a general myth which goes something to the effect that each barrel maker made the pattern. That is simply not the case. The rolling mill would schedule runs of the patterns it had orders for. The barrel smith would pay the mill for the ribbons they needed. The barrel smith would then forge them into complete barrels
This accounts for the volume of damascus barrels produced by the Belgians. At the Curtius Museum (Musée Curtius) in Liege are 2 films spliced into one that are constantly running showing the complete process from rolling mill to final gun.
As for Pieper, I am confident he never stood at an anvil in his life.
Pete
