Firearms manufactured by lesser-known companies are what give Damascus guns a bad rap. Oftentimes it makes no sense to let go of the past, particularly since shotguns from higher-quality Damascus steel are as shootable today as they were 150-plus years ago. Around the 1880s, Damascus barrels became an object of the past. Americans, eager to switch to smokeless powders that burn more slowly and maintain high pressures for higher velocities and longer-distance shots, preferred barrels that would accommodate that extra pressure.Īmerican gun manufacturers moved away from Damascus barrels and on to tubes made from fluid steel. The layering of metal combined with the twists are how names can be written into steel.īritish gunmakers manufactured Damascus steel barrels through the early 1930s. The various degrees of depth that come from the number of threads per inch determines the pattern, with some being simple chevrons or diamonds while others being more complex. When twisted, the outer layers move inward. Some are artistic and contain highly figured patterns based on how the two different-colored metals were “piled” or layered while the rods were twisted. The process that many of us know is the Crolle Damascus pattern-welded barrels. It normally took seven feet of rod to create one foot of barrel. The threads were connected, heated and hammer-welded, the mandrel was removed and a barrel was formed. Thin ribbons were wound around a mandrel, heated and hammer-welded to create barrels.Ī thin metal sleeve was wrapped around a mandrel over which the barrel ribbons were wound. Three of the rods were twisted with a right-facing thread while the other three were twisted in the opposite direction with a left-facing thread. The process was repeated until six such rods were made, and then the rods were prepared for heating and twisting. That block was then heated and drawn to form a rod. To make these barrels, iron and steel plates were stacked one on top of each other, heated and hammered to create one block of mixed metal. Jones, expanded on that process with Jones patenting a new process of turning a bevel-edged band of metal into a spiral-twist with interlocking threads. Several years later, two Englishmen, William Dupein and J. A Frenchman, Jean- Francois Clouet of Liege, was among the first Western gunmakers to experiment with Damascus barrels. Trade brought them to Europe in the mid-1790s. Perfection over the next millennium resulted in early Damascus firearm barrels being made in Eastern and Near-eastern countries. As swords and knives were sold in volume in Damascus, the unique metal carried the name. Damascus, a general term describing the combination of steel and iron, was first used for edged weapons as early as the third century. These antique firearms are considered inferior to those made with fluid-steel barrels. These days, Damascus-barreled shotguns invoke fear and avoidance from both shooters and hunters. I dropped the bird with one shot, the blunderbuss remained intact and the shotgun’s efficacy came up in no further conversations.
His head was high and his tail set at a measurable 90 degrees when a grouse rumbled out from under his nose. His jokes stopped in the aspen run when Rebel locked up on point.
He added more insults as we quickly walked around the orange and red-leafed maples in the pass-through cover.
He joked about the Old Blunderbuss while my setter, Rebel, cast through the alder hell down by the river. A pair of 12-bore heavy actions with half carved four seasons engraving by Bradley Tallett.