VF: excellent point. Unfortunately my roaring cicadas and jingle bells make auditory discrimination a challenge frown but having "rung" lots of barrels it is my opinion (worth no more than anyone else's) that pattern welded barrels "ring" more like a bell (richer, deeper tone) and fluid steel more like a chime.
And we must keep in mind Lord Walsingham was unlikely to have been using ear protection, and shot out in the field with some separation from the next shooter/peg, unlike clay target shooters.

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