GUN-MAKING

THE term gun-making is applied to the manufacture of small arms generally—including the fowling-piece, the musket, the rifle, and the pistol. The rifle, being an arm of peculiar construction, and having properties distinct from those of other fire-arms, is treated separately. (See RIFLE.)

The parts of a gun are the barrel, the lock, the stock, and the furniture.

1. Of Barrels.—Gun-barrels being made for various purposes and for different classes of purchasers (some of whom are willing to pay the highest price for the most perfect weapon, while others desire the cheapest article), vary considerably in the quality of their material, the mode of their construction, and the amount of labour expended on them. The material is in general iron, but steel is used to some extent in the preparation of the best and highest-priced barrels for sporting guns, and also, in the form of cast-steel, for a new species of rifle-barrel that has been used in America with the greatest success, and which recently has been introduced into this country both at Birmingham and Glasgow.

In the selection of iron for barrel-making, two qualities are absolutely essential—tenacity and elasticity. The first that the barrel may not burst under the explosive action of the powder, which does not expand gradually, but strikes suddenly like a hammer; the second that the barrel may not bulge, and also that it may preserve a certain sharpness of reaction requisite for the good shooting of the piece. It is therefore of the first importance that the iron should be of the best description that can be procured. Common iron, such as is used for the heavier works of ordinary manufacture, is so large and loose in the grain, that it could not stand the shock of explosion; and the gun-barrel makers from an early period have made strenuous endeavours to improve the quality of the metal, which in their hands has been brought to a higher state of perfection than in any other art. The finest iron ever used in this or any other country has probably been produced by the gun-makers in their attempts to work the metal up to its limits of excellence. The more iron is drawn out and forged under the hammer the more its quality improves, provided it is not burnt; and this circumstance induced barrel-makers to select the materials that had already undergone the utmost amount of work by fire and anvil. Hence arose the manufacture of gun-barrels from stubs or horse-shoe nails, which were not only made from rods of the best iron, but heated and hammered into their peculiar form, and afterwards cold-hammered to render them smooth, and to give the turn to the point which brings the nail out of the hoof. The stub was therefore the article that had most hammering expended on it, and was the best material for the manufacture of gun-barrels. So great was the superiority of the iron, that since stubs have ceased to be employed—either from the scarcity of the nails, or from the fact that inferior metal was employed in their manufacture—the efforts of barrel-makers have been directed to the production of an iron that should equal the stub; it being considered the standard of excellence to which all iron employed for good barrels should be made to approach more or less nearly. The barrels of the best sporting guns are now made of a mixture of iron and steel, which passes under the name of laminated steel. These barrels are of excellent quality, and shoot better than iron barrels on account of the elasticity of the metal.

When the iron is selected, whether of ordinary or superior quality, it is clipped by a pair of shears worked by steam

into pieces the size of stubs. These are then washed to remove dirt, and cleansed in dilute acid to remove rust. They are then placed in a drum which revolves rapidly on a shaft, and the pieces are rolled and tumbled over each other till they become as bright as silver. They are now carried to the air-furnace, where they are heated almost to a state of fusion, so that they adhere together into a ball called a bloom of iron. From the furnace the ball, weighing about 40 lbs., passes to the forge-hammer, where it is drawn into a bar; and the bar then passes to the rolling-mill, where it is reduced to the requisite size for the manufacture of the barrels.

Iron barrels in Britain being made exclusively at Birmingham, we describe the process as at present practised by the Birmingham forgers. When the forge fire is first lighted it will not make what are termed best barrels. It requires to be burning and at work for several hours before it comes into working order for the fine twist barrels, and consequently the men begin by welding a number of the commonest and cheapest barrels. To each fire there are three men, the foreman and two assistants. They begin by making rolled barrels, which are the simplest in construction and most common in quality. A rolled barrel is merely a strip of iron folded up lengthwise like a boy's pea-shooter, and welded along the joint. The fore-part of the barrel, however, being required of less thickness than the breech end, these barrels are usually made of two lengths or tubes. The strips or plates of iron are heated and beat in a groove until they form a tube half closed. They are then heated again and closed with the edges overlapping. The edges are then welded on a mandril, and when a certain number of pieces are prepared the men proceed to weld together the two pieces of each barrel. The end of the breech part is opened a little on the beam of the anvil, the end of the fore-part is introduced, and the joint completed.

The fire being in proper order for the finer kinds of work, the welders proceed to forge twisted barrels, which differ from plain barrels in the circumstance that the grain of the iron, instead of running longitudinally, runs diagonally across or round the barrel, making a more perfect, stronger, and safer tube, neither so liable to burst nor to bulge. If we take a strip of paper half-an-inch broad and roll it diagonally round a ruler, we have a representation of the construction of a twisted barrel; and the joint that is welded, instead of being straight from end to end of the piece, is a spiral that makes a certain number of turns, according to the breadth of the rod of iron employed in the process. For the finest barrels the rod is nearly square, being $\backslash frac\{1\}\{8\}$ths of an inch in breadth, and $\backslash frac\{1\}\{8\}$ths in thickness. For very common barrels the rod is rather a ribbon of iron, being an inch or more in breadth. The latter will make only six turns in six inches of length, the former will make about fifteen or sixteen turns in six inches. The one makes a diagonal or open twist, the other a transverse or close twist; and in general the quality of a barrel may be ascertained by observing whether the twist be close or open, as only the best materials and the best workmanship are employed on the closest twisted guns.

The welders now take a rod four feet long and turn it into the form of a corkscrew (except that the turns lie close together), by means of two iron bars, one fixed and the other loose, the loose bar having a notch to receive the end of the rod. When inserted, the bar is turned by a handle until the whole of the rod is twisted, leaving a short end on

Gun-making. which to weld a new rod. A sufficient number of pieces being prepared, the piece intended for the breech end is heated to a welding heat for about three inches, and jumped close by striking the end on the anvil. It is then hammered in a groove to make it round. One piece being welded, another is joined on by a single stroke of the hammer. The process continues till the barrel is of the required length, when it is again heated, a mandril introduced, and the tube is hammered in a groove. When cold, it ought to be cold-hammered to condense the iron and give the close grain that produces elasticity.

A patent has recently been taken out for making twisted barrels by machinery. A strip or ribbon of iron is first taken, bevelled at the edges, and slightly concave on the under side. This strip of metal is coiled round a mandril and welded at one heat, and the process combines rapidity with economy. Best barrels, however, are still made by the hand-hammer.

The plain barrel and the twisted barrel are those most commonly in use—the former for military and export purposes, the latter for sporting purposes. But another kind of barrel is made, being a combination of both. This is called the plated barrel, and is used for heavy rifles. Twisted iron being dearer than plain iron, the plated barrel has only a thin ribbon of twist rolled round a plain tube. If well made it is quite safe, and is perhaps as good for a rifle as if the twist were through the whole thickness of the metal; but it is to some extent an imposition, at least when sold as a genuine twisted barrel.

The Damascus barrel, so attractive from its handsome appearance, is made of iron and steel. Alternate bars of iron and steel are placed on each other in numbers of six each, after which they are rolled into rods $\backslash frac\{3\}\{8\}$ths of an inch square. The rods are heated throughout their whole length, and the two ends put into the heads of a description of lathe worked by a handle. It is then twisted like a rope, or, as Colonel Hawker says, wrung as wet clothes are. Three of the rods are then placed together, and welded with the twists or figures running in opposite directions, and from these rods the barrel is welded in the same manner as a twist barrel. The Damascus barrel is beautiful in figure, and shoots well, but is greatly inferior in strength to the stub or best iron barrel. It is much used on the Continent for double rifles and for the double guns with one barrel rifled, but in Britain it has ceased to be esteemed, except for a few fancy articles.

Boring of Barrels.—When a barrel is forged and welded it is taken to the boring-bench and secured on a sort of carriage that can travel the requisite length. A boring-bit of suitable size is fixed into a revolving spindle, and the point introduced into the end of the barrel. The bit is worked by steam, water, or hand, and is pressed forward by a weight until it has passed through the tube. During this operation a stream of water plays on the barrel to keep it cool. Bits of larger size are then used till all the blacks and scales are bored out, and the tube rendered of the proper calibre. (See BORING.)

From the boring-bench it passes to the grindstone. The stones are of very large size, and revolve at a terrific rate; and the workmen have a method of allowing the barrel to turn in their hands at half the rate of the stone. By this means they produce a fine surface, and remarkable accuracy of form. Best barrels are turned after being ground; inferior barrels are struck up with a large smooth or fine cut file. They are then tapped in a temporary way, the proof-plug screwed in, and in that form they are sent to the proof-house. The London proof-house, however, requires the barrels to be fitted with their permanent breeches, and double barrels to be soldered together.

When barrels are turned they are fixed in the lathe—usually self-acting—by means of plugs or mandrils, made

perfectly true, and of various diameters, to fit different bores. These are placed on the centres of the lathe, and a carrier is fastened on the plug that projects from the breech end of the barrel. The leading screw that travels the slide-rest is then set at the angle to which the barrel is to be turned, and the tool proceeds until the whole exterior of the tube is finished.

The next process is breeching, of which there are three kinds—common-plug breeching, chamber-plug or mortar breeching, and patent breeching. The first is used for the plainest and cheapest guns. The second is a slight improvement on the first, and consists in making a small ante-chamber in the body of the plug, so that the grains composing the main body of the charge of powder may be ignited simultaneously. These breeches are neither so convenient, nor do they generate as much force as the patent breech. They are screwed to the stock instead of being hooked to the break-off, and consequently the barrel cannot be removed from the stock without considerable trouble. The patent breech, the invention of Mr Henry Nock, is one of the greatest improvements ever made in fire-arms, and is the only form of breeching suitable for fowling-pieces and other guns of a superior description. Its great advantage is its superior strength and neatness; and the circumstance that the touch-hole, whether for a flint or percussion gun, passes into the solid breech, and not through the breeching-screws. It also permits the barrel to be removed from the stock by the sliding of a single bolt, which can be withdrawn by the finger.

Double Barrels.—Double barrels are made of two single barrels, flattened a little by the file on one side, and soldered together, with a rib on the top-side, along which aim is taken, and a rib on the under-side, to which the pipes for the ramrod are attached. Some makers have had a practice of brazing the breech-ends of double guns for about five or six inches; but this practice is altogether to be condemned, as the heat required for brazing is so great that it softens the metal, and deprives it of the elasticity and density produced by hammer-hardening. The other portion of the jointing being effected by soft solder, there is also a danger that the solder does not come perfectly up to the brazed portion, and that the barrels may rust away in a place that is out of sight, and perhaps may ultimately burst in consequence of the defect. The patent breeching of a double gun is an extremely ingenious piece of work. The breech of the left barrel, after being tapped, is screwed into its place, and a cutting tool with a directing plug is introduced into the right barrel. The tool is then turned either by a lathe or brace, and removes the metal so as to form the concave breech. The other breech is then turned to the exact size, and forms the cylindrical or convex breech.

The Proof of Barrels.—Whatever care may have been taken in the forging of barrels, it is requisite that they should undergo a proof before use, as defects may exist which are imperceptible to the eye. This is done under the authority of the government—an act of parliament having been passed in 1813, and another in 1815, to insure the efficient proving of barrels, and to inflict penalties on any maker who should "rib, stock, or finish a barrel that has not been duly proved." The proof-houses are situated at London and Birmingham, and to these two establishments all barrels must be sent, with the exception of those belonging to the East India Company, which has a proof-house of its own in London. A recent and most judicious regulation requires that barrels should be proved a second time, when percussed, as serious accidents are supposed to have arisen from makers reducing the barrels by re-boring them after they had been proved and stamped. The proof consists in firing the barrels with a very heavy charge of powder, over which is a wadding of paper, then a leaden

ball to fit the bore, then another wadding of paper. If the barrels burst, bulge, or exhibit any perceptible flaw, they are at once rejected; if not, they are washed in the water, impregnated with saltpetre, in which former barrels have been washed. They then stand for a day, and cracks or fissures become apparent by the saltpetre crystallizing on

the defective weld. The Birmingham makers have an ingenious plan of filing out a crack, and hammering in a piece of wire to conceal the defect, and such barrels are sold at a lower price.

The following table exhibits the proof charges of powder for the respective calibres:—

The powder used is the best round granulated government powder.

Gun Locks.—Next in importance to the barrel of the gun is the lock, which has undergone many successive improvements, and has now arrived at a state of remarkable excellence and efficiency. It commenced as the match-lock, still used by some of the eastern nations, was improved into the wheel-lock, which generated sparks by the revolution of a notched wheel of steel, then became the snap-hance, which is the foundation of the common flint-lock, was then changed into the ordinary flint-lock, with a single hammer and pan; and finally has resulted in the percussion-lock, which ignites the charge by means of a copper cap, containing detonating powder. The percussion-lock has so completely superseded the flint that the latter may be termed antiquated; and, though still used, is no longer manufactured. It is unnecessary, therefore, to describe more than the percussion-lock. The merit of applying detonating powder as a substitute for flint in the discharge of firearms belongs to the Rev. Mr Forsyth, minister of Bellhelvie, a parish in Aberdeenshire. Fig. 1 is a representation of the

pan. It is then turned back again, and the steel punch is found in the position ready to fire the gun when the trigger is drawn. The defect of this lock was, that the magazine containing the detonating powder was apt to explode; but if the principle could be carried out with safety it would form a self-priming lock—a great desideratum both for military and sporting purposes.

Another form of lock, called the tube-lock, fired the charge by means of a tube containing detonating powder introduced into the side of the breech. Another form was the patch-lock, which gave fire by means of a patch of detonating powder on the face of the hammer. Another form, used in America, gave fire by means of a small globe of detonating powder crushed into the touch-hole, and struck by a steel point. All these forms, however, have given way to the copper cap, which appears to have the suffrages of all the best gun-makers. Other forms must at present be regarded rather as fancy articles than as belonging to ordinary gun-making.

Fig. 2 represents one of the best British locks, as received by the gun-maker from the lock-maker—the hammer

original percussion-lock. It is ingenious; and if it would work with safety and efficiency, would be even preferable to the lock used in the present day; but it is unsound, and liable to accidents. It has a magazine, a, for containing the detonating powder. This magazine revolves round a roller, b, the end of which is screwed into the breech of the barrel. A small hole is opened in the roller, through which the priming-powder passes. This hole communicates with a channel which leads to the chamber of the gun. Right above the little hole in the roller is the pan for containing the priming. The magazine is provided with a steel punch, the under end of which is right above the pan, ready to ignite the priming when struck on the upper end by the cock, d, in firing the gun. When the punch is struck down into the pan it is raised up again to its former position by a spiral spring. Every time the gun is fired the magazine is turned round, so as to drop a priming of detonating powder into

being afterwards supplied by the former in making up the gun.

Fig. 3 represents the separate pieces of the same lock, technically called the works. A, the lock-plate; B, the

Gun-making. tumbler; C, the bridle; D, the swivel; E, the main-spring; F, the sciar, on the projecting branch of which the trigger acts; G, the sciar-spring, which resists the pull of the finger, and keeps the sciar in the notch of half-bend or full-bend. Fig. 2 represents the pieces in position when the hammer is down. This is termed a bar-lock, on account of its being fitted under a projecting bar at the breech end of the barrel. The works, however, may be partially reversed so as to place the lock in the hand of the stock, in which case the lock is termed back-actioned. The back-actioned lock was popular some years since; but the general opinion of makers and sportsmen seems to have decided so completely in favour of the bar-lock, that no other is now made in the ordinary way of business.

Very common locks, such as those applied to the old muskets, were made with a hook instead of a swivel. Such locks have a dull, heavy action, and never work with the lively motion of the swivel-locks. The swivel, although apparently a mere means of connecting the main-spring with the tumbler, is a very important part of the mechanism. If well hung, it has the effect of making the heaviest pull or greatest force of the main-spring—not when the hammer is on full-bend, as might be supposed from the circumstance that the more a spring is bent the greater its force—but when the hammer is down on the nipple. This, in fact, is one of the principal tests of a well-made lock; and an experienced finger will at once detect a bad lock, from the mere circumstance that the pull increases instead of decreases as the hammer is drawn up. For military purposes it has not been customary to use the swivel-lock, except for the most recently-made rifles; but it is poor economy on the part of the government to arm a soldier with an inferior weapon, when the extra cost would not amount to more than a couple of shillings for each musket or rifle.

Some locks, especially those intended for rifles where a hair-trigger is used, have a detant—that is, a small piece of moveable steel attached to the tumbler in such a way that when the lock is on half-bend the detant lies behind the point of the sciar. When the lock is on full-bend the detant lies in front of the sciar, and projects beyond the half-bend notch, so as to carry the sciar clear of the notch even if there be no pressure on the trigger. With a detant the lock cannot be let down from full to half-bend without being let down past the notch, and drawn up again—an advantage which insures that the sciar shall be securely inserted into its proper place, and shall not hang on the edge of the notch, where it might slip and produce accidents. The detant is not generally used for sporting fowling-pieces, but it has advantages even for those guns.

Many safety-locks have been invented, in the hope of obviating the distressing accidents caused by the improper use of fire-arms, but not one has ever obtained the approbation of the mass of sportsmen or gun-makers. The true safety-lock is caution. Habitual caution in the use of arms is preferable to any mechanical device, which, while inefficient in the hands of a careless bungler, has the additional disadvantage of inducing the want of caution. All sorts of complicated devices are to be avoided in fire-arms. Those who use them must learn that the only security from accident is the most careful and constant prudence, and the habitual conviction that caution must never be relaxed. The practice of caution can be acquired by attention, and it is one of the first requisites of all who handle arms. A ship of war, for instance, is filled with the most tremendous materials of destruction, yet very few accidents occur, even in the gigantic navy of Great Britain. The reason is that one and all are taught habitual caution—systematic prudence reduced to one of the ordinary rules of life. So it should be with the sportsman; and no man ought to be trusted with arms who cannot acquire an intelligent and vigilant habit of using his weapon with careful prudence. What are termed

self-acting safeties are, in general, devices, not for obviating accidents, but for extending the reputation or traffic of the inventor. A common bolt, however, which can be moved by the finger, and which checks the lock by bolting into the back of the tumbler, is a simple and useful appliance, and might be more generally used. In crossing a fence, jumping a ditch, or passing through a hedge—the occasions on which accidents frequently occur—the bolt prevents the discharge of the gun. Sportsmen do not generally use the bolt, except to rifles. In this perhaps they err, as it may safely be affirmed that bolt-locks would have prevented many of those accidents caused by twigs catching the triggers, or by some impediment coming in contact with the hammers that have improperly been left down on the caps, when, if they are not forced up to the half-bend, the gun is fired, and perhaps a catastrophe takes place. The disadvantage of the bolt is, that if the sportsman neglects to unbolt his lock, and a bird rises, he pulls hard, and risks breaking the sciar. On the whole, however, the balance is in favour of the bolt, which is the only safety appliance that can be thoroughly recommended for general use. At the same time it is quite possible that a simple safety-lock may yet be devised; and, perhaps, this desideratum may be found in some method of locking the trigger in such a manner that the check shall be relieved at the moment of firing. There have been plans of this kind, but too complicated for general use.

The trigger, although not a constituent portion of the lock, is connected with the lock mechanism. The plain trigger is merely a piece of iron or steel hung upon a pin so as to press up the branch of the sciar and relieve the tumbler. The introduction of a slight spring called the trigger-spring was one of the refinements which have now brought the best British guns up to such an admirable state of perfection. This spring prevents the triggers from hanging loose or rattling, and it brings them forward to the finger. Much of the excellence of a fowling-piece depends on the manner in which the triggers are hung.

The hair-trigger, used for pistols and rifles, is a construction by itself, and when well made is a remarkably neat piece of mechanism. Its object is to discharge the gun with the slightest possible pressure of the finger on the trigger. It can be made to any degree of fineness, and is called a hair-trigger, because, when finely set, a single hair will discharge the piece. It is then, of course, dangerous, as a jar or shake might produce an accident. It requires the most careful manipulation, and at all times is rather a critical appendage to fire-arms. Above all, it requires to be well made, an inferior hair-trigger being positively worthless. No part of a gun requires more perfect materials and workmanship, and therefore every purchaser of a weapon fitted with a hair-trigger should make sure that it is a good one. There can be no doubt that the hair-trigger is an advantage for rifle-shooting, where extreme accuracy is required, and where the pull on the common trigger is apt to diverge the gun from the line of aim, but it is so delicate in action that it can only be used safely in experienced hands. The principle of a hair-trigger is to make a spring do the work of the finger—the spring being set beforehand, so that when we wish to fire we have only to detach the spring and it strikes up the sciar. When we fire a gun we do not take a hammer in our hand and strike the percussion-cap; we draw up the hammer of the lock to full-bend, and the main-spring exerts the required force. And so with the hair-trigger, we first set its spring, and when we wish to fire, the spring relieves the tumbler and discharges the gun. Hair-triggers are made single or double. With the former there is only one trigger to the gun, which can be used either with or without the hair. To set it, we press it forward until it locks into a catch. With the latter there are two triggers, the foremost of which is the common trigger, while the

other, nearest the hand, sets the hair. The advantage of the double construction is, that we can put the gun to the shoulder and direct the line of fire before setting the hair-trigger. The double trigger is most used on the Continent. In Britain the single is most in vogue.

Gun-Stocks.—Gun-stocks are made almost exclusively of the wood of the walnut tree, which appears to combine in a higher degree than any other wood the qualities of soundness, strength, durability, and beauty of appearance, without excessive weight, hardness, or brittleness. Other woods have been tried to a considerable extent, but the walnut holds its ground without a rival. Birds'-eye maple, rosewood, the root of ash, &c., may be occasionally used according to the fancy of a purchaser, but no wood except the walnut enters as a general material into the manufacture of gun-stocks. The English wood is considered preferable to the French or German, being closer in the grain, finer in the texture, and generally of a more handsome figure. Before Joseph Manton improved the manufacture of fowling-pieces, the stocks were made too short; and after he had designed a new pattern of sterling excellence, other makers fell into the extreme of length, and made the stocks absurdly long. The rule is for each purchaser to suit himself, without being overstretched by a long stock, or obliged to bend the head inconveniently to a short one. In Britain stocks are made plain; on the Continent they are frequently ornamented by elaborate carving sometimes of great excellence. The stocks of Lebeda of Prague are models of elegance; and as this system of ornamenting fire-arms was a national peculiarity, it is perhaps to be regretted that the French and Belgians are departing from their own style and merely imitating the English patterns. In the Great Exhibition there was a brace of pistols stocked in ivory, the carving of which alone would probably cost from £50 to £100. The Americans stock their rifles differently from the British. They use much less wood, thin off the butt, and do not now carry the stock forward under the barrel. The heel or end of the butt is also hollowed out to fit the arm, as the American rifle-shooters fire from the upper part of the arm, and not from the shoulder as is customary in Britain. A pistol-hand is a handsome, and perhaps useful addition to the gun-stock. A very experienced gun-maker informed the writer of this article that he had never seen a broken stock that had a pistol-hand. Musket stocks have not hitherto been made by machinery in Great Britain or on the continent of Europe, except in Belgium, where the experiment failed. In America they are made in the following manner:—A stock is taken in the roughly-sawn state, and placed in a machine, in which it revolves. This first machine cuts out the portions on which the banding is placed. The stock is then taken to another machine, which, by a revolving drill, cuts the groove for the barrel down to the breech, and at the breech a cutter squares the groove at a right angle. Another machine turns the hold of the stock; another drills out the portion where the lock is fitted; another cuts the placing for the trigger-guard plate. Other machines cut the placings for the rest of the furniture, and the stock is so far finished as only to require a slight rasping to complete it. The parts are thus so perfect that a lock taken out of a heap will fit any stock with sufficient accuracy for military purposes. Altogether, sixteen different machines are required for forming the stock, and the operation occupies about half-an-hour.

Gun-Furniture.—The portions of a gun other than the barrel, the lock, and the stock, are termed gun-furniture. They consist of the heel-plate, which covers the butt; the break-off, into which the breeching hooks; the trigger-plate; the trigger-guard; the hammers; the escutcheons and bolt which fasten the barrel into the stock; the cap or tip of the stock; the tops, worms, and caps of the ramrod; and the screws necessary to put the gun together. Iron

furniture of the best quality is made under the hammer, but a large proportion of the inferior furniture is stamped, not forged. The stamped or pressed articles are used for cheap guns, but they never possess the strength and solidity of the forged work. In the manufacture of gun-furniture—a scroll-guard for instance—the forgers exhibit marvellous dexterity, and turn out the article so accurately shaped that it requires little more than to be cleaned up with the file.

Pistols.—Pistols, although not generally manufactured by the same parties, are made in much the same manner as guns, with this exception, that where they are made in pairs the two barrels are forged and bored in one piece, and afterwards cut through the middle. This method saves labour, and insures that the calibres of the two barrels shall be exactly similar.

The Gun Trade.—The manufacture of guns may be divided into two great branches. The wholesale trade, which includes military arms and the commoner classes of export arms, and the retail trade, which includes the fowling-pieces and rifles of an expensive character used by sportsmen. The wholesale trade is carried on almost exclusively at Birmingham, which is now the only place in Great Britain where gun-barrels are forged. Formerly fine barrels were made in London; but the metropolitan forgers found that they could not compete with the local advantages of Birmingham, and the manufacture of barrels has centred exclusively in the latter town. Gun-furniture is also made at Birmingham; and gun-locks, especially those of the best quality, are made at Wolverhampton, where the lock-filers have acquired a high reputation for the excellence of their productions. For military muskets it has hitherto been customary for the government to contract with the Birmingham makers; but a large establishment is now in progress at Enfield, where muskets are to be made by machinery, on the plan adopted by the American government, and introduced into this country by Colonel Colt, who manufactures his revolvers by machines not previously used in Britain, and which bid fair to revolutionize the wholesale manufacture of arms. Inferior guns are finished at Birmingham, and sent out for sale. They are retailed by ironmongers and other traders, who are not gun-makers, and have no knowledge of the quality of the wares further than the price they pay, and the character of the wholesale merchant from whom they purchase. Many of these guns are of fair sound quality, and may be used for boating and rough work, but many also are blemished, being made up from articles that have been cast on account of what are termed faults. A barrel, for instance, that has a crack in it will be mended by hammering in a small piece of wire, and neither the salesman nor the purchaser is able to detect the artifice. The fine or best-gun trade, which is carried on at London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin, and the provincial towns, is of an entirely different character from what is termed the sale-shop trade. The master gun-maker is here an artist, and not merely a salesman. He receives his barrels from Birmingham, his locks from Wolverhampton, and the furniture he partly purchases from the forgers, partly makes at home. His business is to screw the gun together; but this technical term includes everything of importance, except the production of the raw material on which he works. He purchases the very best materials, as the price of these does not constitute nearly so large an item as the after-work to be expended on them. He subjects them to the closest inspection; and in proceeding to make up the gun he discovers the quality of every individual part. His position in the gun-trade is much the same as that of the British watchmaker who receives his materials from Clerkenwell, or of the Parisian watchmaker, who receives his from Geneva. The making of the watch is a different art from the making of the plates, wheels, and cases. And so with gun-making. The gun-maker is the artist who superintends the production of the finished work.

This branch of the gun manufacture has rapidly increased within the last few years. A London gun was formerly esteemed as superior to all others; and in the days of Joseph Manton, Henry Nock, Durs Egg, &c., it was no doubt superior to any piece that was made elsewhere in Britain. But the making of fine guns has extended to almost every part of the kingdom, and Birmingham now produces sporting guns of the very best quality, while Edinburgh has become celebrated for the accuracy of its rifles, and for the extreme finish of its higher class of fire-arms. An Edinburgh gun is now in every respect equal to the best guns of the metropolis.

When guns are stocked and screwed together, their barrels are browned to prevent them rusting. There are several methods of browning, and each maker has little modifications of his own. The following is the recipe for the wash with which barrels are stained:—

These are well mixed and allowed to stand a month to amalgamate. The oil or grease is carefully removed from the barrels by lime, and the mixture is laid on lightly with a rag or sponge every two hours, and scratched off with a steel scratch brush every morning until the barrels are dark enough. The acid is then quenched by pouring boiling water on the barrels. Inferior barrels are stained by a different process. Muriate of mercury is dissolved in a wine-glassful of spirits of wine, and this solution is mixed with a pint of water. Some of the mixture is then poured on a small quantity of whitening, and laid on the barrel with a sponge; as soon as dry it is brushed off, and a fresh coat laid on. This is continued till the colour is dark enough, which is generally in about two days. Hot water is then applied, and the barrels are suddenly immersed in cold water to heighten the colour. Another method, called smoke-brown—although the colour produced was a greyish black—was also employed, and is strongly recommended in Mr Greener's Treatise on the Gun; but it is apt to injure the barrels unless performed with the utmost dexterity and care. It has therefore fallen out of use, except for a few rifle barrels. The plan is to anoint the barrels with a little vitriolic acid, which is then washed off, and the iron rubbed dry. They are then passed through the flame of the forge-fire until covered with a sooty covering, then allowed to stand in a damp cellar till rust is produced—after which they are scratched with the wire brush. The process is repeated until the colour becomes permanent. This stain looks well and stands well, but is not suited for general use.

In finishing a gun, the hammers, break-off, lock-plate, and breeches are case-hardened by the ordinary mode of case-hardening iron. The heel-plate and trigger-guard are blued, and the screws, which ought always to be of steel, are tempered. The stock is stained and oiled—or varnished and polished in the same manner as a coach panel. The latter mode best resists rain and moisture, and is to be preferred where the varnish is good. Few of the ornamental arts of this country have made more progress than that of gun-engraving. Where formerly there were merely a few scrolls and some rude attempts at a sporting dog or game bird, we now find the gun-furniture ornamented with elaborate work of the most tasteful design and most careful execution. As the British taste, however, rejects fanciful ornament, the engraving is almost exclusively in lines cut with the graver, whereas the Germans employ the method called cutting out, the ground being cut away, and the figures left in relief. The latter mode produces remarkably handsome work.

The American Rifle.—The American rifle having attained to great celebrity from the unusual accuracy of its fire, we may describe one of the most recent construction. It is rather remarkable that in the Great Exhibition of 1851

there should have been no specimen of this weapon publicly exhibited. The barrel is made of cast steel thoroughly annealed, and is cut or planed outside into an octagonal shape. The barrel is 2 feet 8 inches long, and is fitted with a loading muzzle—its weight ten pounds. The patent breech is made of wrought iron, case-hardened, and is joined to the break-off by a hook, with the addition of a half-lap joint secured by a square-headed screw. This mode of fastening does away with the wood in front of the breech. The false or loading muzzle is put on by means of four steel pins about $\backslash frac\{1\}\{4\}$th inch in diameter, and $\backslash frac\{3\}\{8\}$th inch long, and the holes for these pins are drilled before the muzzle is cut off. When the muzzle is cut it is held in its place by a cramp, and the rifling is cut through both muzzle and barrel. A small globe of steel is fixed on the upper part of the muzzle to prevent the front sight being seen when the muzzle is on the barrel, so that there shall be no danger of firing it away. The bore of the barrel is scarcely $\backslash frac\{3\}\{8\}$ths of an inch, or about 90 round balls to the pound. The conical balls called pickets are 43 to the pound. The bore is then worked out with lead and emery until quite true. It is then cut with a gaining or graduated twist, starting at the breech with one turn in 6 feet, and ending at the muzzle with one turn in 3 feet 6 inches. There are six cuts or creases, and the sides of the lands are cut square to their surface. It is then freed from the breech to within $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{4\}$ inches of the muzzle, so as to reduce the friction. The lock has back-action, and a single hair-trigger. The stock is of black walnut, straight from butt to break-off, and there forms a considerable angle with the barrel. A globe-sight is fixed into the stock just behind the break-off, and a bead-sight at the muzzle. The price of such a weapon in America is from 50 to 200 dollars. With such a weapon, and a telescope sight, Capt. W. Tisdale of Utica made ten consecutive shots at 220 yards, and each shot on the average measured less than one inch from the centre of the bull's-eye—the whole string being 9$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ inches. The whole of the ten shots would have gone into a small-sized playing-card. A feat of this kind is probably unparalleled in Great Britain, and it may draw the attention of our own makers to the propriety of diminishing the calibre, and increasing the speed of the ball. The loading-muzzle used by the Americans is intended to prevent the wearing of the true muzzle; but the superiority of American rifle-shooting is rather to be attributed to the smallness of the ball, and the great velocity with which it travels. The greater the velocity the straighter is the flight—that is, the course of flight has less elevation and depression than when a heavier ball is used.

In the British service the old smooth bored musket is rapidly giving way to the new Enfield rifled musket, a weapon of tremendous power and range. This is the arm commonly spoken of as the Minié rifle, but it is no longer a Minié. Minié's principle was to introduce an iron cup into the butt of an elongated ball on the supposition that the cup being driven into the lead by the force of the powder, would expand it and make it fit the rifle-grooves, thereby procuring the advantage of loading without hammering or forcing the ball into the muzzle. The principle was excellent, and has wrought a revolution in the small arm department of the service, but the mode of carrying it out by means of the iron cup was defective. The cup was frequently driven not into but through the ball, leaving the lead in the barrel. It was then found that the iron was superfluous, and that if the lead was hollowed out or cupped, it would expand quite sufficiently. Such is the ball now in use for the military rifle, and Mr Pritchett received an award of £1,000 from government for its production.

The cost of these muskets as made by contract, has been £3, 9s. 0d. As made at Enfield the cost has been £3, 4s. 7$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$d.; but if made by machinery, and an order given for 1,000,000, Col. Colt offered to supply them at 30s. In

the opinion that this price was not too low, Col. Colt was borne out by Mr Anderson, chief engineer in the royal arsenal at Woolwich, and by the celebrated engineer Mr Nasmyth. The contract price of the musket in the United States is from 10 to 12 dollars—from 1.2 to 1.2, 10s. The price at which the Belgian rifled musket is made in the government factory is 42 francs, and a musket of the same pattern could be made in this country at 36s. or 37s.

That the rifled musket used in the British service is one of the most powerful weapons ever invented in the department of small arms, is unquestionable, but it requires improvement. As made at present it has several drawbacks. After being fired even a small number of shots, it is so difficult to load that the men using it have complained that they could not send the charge home. From the method of stocking also it has been found impossible to draw the ramrod in wet weather. The pull on the trigger is considerably too great for accurate shooting, and the method of forging the sight-supports on the barrel instead of using a slide-sight prevents the guns from being correctly regulated. These are serious disadvantages, and they require the renewed attention of the military authorities. It is well known that a good sporting rifle can be fired 100 or 150 times without cleaning. It is therefore a reproach to the military weapon that 20 or 25 shots have been found to disable it. The guns, however, are of admirable workmanship, and only require some slight improvements to render them the best small arms in any service.

The following is the account of the sum voted by the House of Commons for the supply and repair of small arms in each year from 1842-43 to 1854-55, and of the sum actually expended.

* This account is incomplete.

The following table shows the total supply of arms made in London for the Government and East India Company from 1841 to 1850. Since the latter date the government contracts have been almost entirely withdrawn from the metropolis, on account of a trifling difference in price; and the excellent body of workmen formerly assembled in London have betaken themselves to other trades or to other localities:—

Total of ten years, 584,376, or an average of 58,437 for each year.

Revolvers.—Among the arms recently introduced into this country and manufactured to a large extent is the revolver or repeating pistol. The principle is not new, as revolvers of a construction nearly similar to those now in use are to be found in the museums of old arms. To Col. Samuel Colt of the United States belongs the merit of reviving this species of weapon; and he has a patent, dated

1836, for his pistol, which is universally known as Colt's revolver. Messrs Deane, Adams, & Deane of London have also a patent for another form, which differs from Colt's in several essential particulars. Revolvers have long been made in this country, but they were made of a large mass of metal bored into the required number of barrels, the whole of the barrels being of the same length. This weapon was so clumsy as to be almost useless. The new revolver is made with one single barrel of the full length, and a revolving chamber only long enough to contain the charge, and bored into five or six compartments. This chamber is made of cast steel, and is so fitted that it can be removed by drawing a bolt. This gives the advantage of enabling a spare chamber to be used, which can be kept ready loaded, and the number of shots is thus doubled. With a 5-shot pistol and two chambers 10 shots can be fired without re-loading. In introducing the revolver in America, Col. Colt expended a very large amount of money without reaping a return until 1849-50, when the disturbed state of Florida and Texas, and afterwards the Mexican war, established the reputation of his arms. In his evidence before a select committee of the House of Commons in 1854, he mentioned the curious fact that, while he was supplying the American government with pistols at 25 dollars each, the soldiers were selling them to traders at 75 to 150 dollars, and sometimes as high as 200 dollars each. He has now a manufactory at Hartford, in America, where, in 1853, he turned out about 50,000 revolvers; and another manufactory at Vauxhall, London, where he employs between 200 and 300 workmen, and where he could produce nearly 1000 pistols per week, made almost entirely by machinery. The difference between a Colt and a Deane & Adams pistol is, that the Colt has a lever ramrod under the barrel, which is part of his patent, and that the hammer requires to be drawn up every time the pistol is fired. The Deane & Adams, on the contrary, has a lever at the side, and can be fired by merely drawing the trigger. A recent improvement of Mr Adams has produced a pistol that will fire either by drawing up the hammer or by pulling the trigger, and this pistol is considered the most perfect that has hitherto appeared. Another form, and one of great merit, has a spur under the trigger-guard, and the arm can only be fired when the spur is pulled by the middle finger, while the trigger is pulled by the fore finger. Between the merits of these weapons it is difficult to institute an impartial comparison. It may, however, be laid down as a general maxim, that every pistol that will fire by merely drawing the trigger is a dangerous weapon. The trigger may be drawn by accident, as in the case of the late lamented Dr Hector Gavin, who was shot by one of these weapons, to the regret of the service and the nation. It may perhaps be said, however, that Colt's pistol is more safe in its construction—Deane and Adams's more effective in competent hands. But all the revolvers require to be handled with caution.

Another objection to any arm that fires merely by the draw of the trigger is, that if the main-spring be strong enough to explode the percussion cap with certainty, it becomes too strong for the finger, and the shooter swerves from his aim. If, on the contrary, it is so weak as to pull easily, there is no certainty that the cap will explode except under the most favourable circumstances. In very dry weather, and with good caps, it may explode every time it is struck by the hammer; but in damp weather, or with inferior caps, the arm misses fire, and the shooter is disappointed, or it may even be that his life is endangered. There is thus a compensation of advantages in each weapon, and a selection must be made according to the purpose for which the arm is intended. Repeating rifles, on the same principle as the pistols, are manufactured and used in the United States, but they have not yet been adopted in Britain. (P. E. D.)