What a gift that more books are getting digitzed; just found this one this am

The American Sportsman: Containing Hints to Sportsman, Notes on Shooting… Elisha Jarrett Lewis M.D. 1857 or Lewis’s American Sportsman
http://books.google.com/books?id=uXz6hcI5nWUC&dq=damascus+barrels

http://books.google.com/books?id=uXz6hcI...6TAvY#PPA450,M1
"The labor bestowed upon the manufacture of (Stub Twist) barrels was exceeded alone by that of the operatives of Damascus arms; and to such an extent was the hammering of the lusty smith carried, that it was not unusual for a mass of stubs, weighing from forty to fifty pounds, to be reduced by repeated beatings to a rod sufficient only to make a single barrel. By this long and arduous process the utmost ductility, tenacity, and purity were acquired, which rendered these (barrels) superior for safety and shooting-powers…"

I suspect this might be a bit of 'journalistic hyperbole' ,and he mostly quotes Greener's descriptions of the production process.


Last edited by revdocdrew; 12/10/07 11:25 AM.
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