I have a question regarding muzzles touching. I've read a few times on here that often a sign that barrels may have been cut is if the barrels aren't touching , or nearly touching at the muzzles. Granted there are some guns that were made where the muzzles did not come close to touching. My question is, if barrels were cut, how far back could they be cut and still have muzzles touching? The particular gun I'm wondering about is a muzzleloading "coach gun" from circa 1860. The barrels are 24" and the muzzles touch. However, the top filler between the barrels is missing but you can see a bit of solder where it looks like it was soldered there. And the muzzles are pretty darn level across. If this wasn't a "factory" coach gun, the barrels would likely have been 28" to 32" long. Would the muzzles still touch if cut back to 24"?
