Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 3rd December 2006, 07:27 AM

There are a couple points on which I tend to differ.

"...generally, round barrels are damascus, octagonal ones were not."

In my experience as a collector, octagonal barrels of twist damascus steel are not uncommon in the Muslim world. They were in fact widely made in the the Ottoman Empire as well as Persia. Three Sind guns of superlative quality (two flint, one with a percussion lock roughly similar to Fernando's and Ward's examples), are in the Nasser D. Khalili collection of Islamic art and are published in THE ART OF WAR, by David Alexander (Oxford/Nour Foundation, 1992), cat. nos. 136-38. All of these guns have slender octagonal barrels with swamped muzzles and are of beautiful damascus steel.

"...don't believe that these rifle barrels were mandrel-formed"

The use of a mandrel in forging Indian twist barrels is clearly mentioned in the detailed description of barrel manufacture on page 61 of Wilbrahim Egerton's AN ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OF INDIAN ARMS... Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1981 (facsimile repr of original London edn of 1880).

Lastly, I would like to add a comment to Double D's useful explanation of the manufacture of octagonal barrels. Although mastery of draw-filing technique has been a part of the gunsmith's repertoire of skills for centuries, artisans have learned long ago that preliminary shaping of the flats by forging saves considerable time and effort on the filing-bench. This is analogous to the cutlery trade as well : a knife- and swordmaker specializing in pattern welded blades once explained to me that he does as much of the basic contour and bevel shaping as possible by hammer, this also being amply illustrated on p 83 of Kapp/Yoshihara THE CRAFT OF THE JAPANESE SWORD.

Be that as it may, and returning to the world of guns, I would like to share a very interesting reference from Fernando's homeland, a rare Portuguese gunmaker's manual entitled ESPINGARDA PERFEYTA, e REGRAS PARA A SUA OPERACAO, com CIRCUNSTANCIAS NECESSARIAS PARA O SEU ARTIFICIO, e DOUTRINAS PARA O MELHOR ACERTO (The Perfect Gun, and rules for its use, together with necessary instructions for its construction and precepts for good shooting), written by Cesar Fiosconi and Jordao Guserio in 1718 (facsimile edn, trans by Rainer Daehnhardt, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications Ltd., 1974). The authors devote an entire chapter (XIX) to the art of forging and finishing barrels by hammer without need for filing.

I have never encountered one of these Portuguese masterwork barrels whose surfaces were precisely shaped without need for any stock-removal whatsoever. However, I have seen a few rudely-made jezails from Afghanistan or Central Asia whose octagonal barrels clearly showed the imprint of the hammer throughout their surfaces, particularly on the side and bottom flats.

3rd December 2006, 07:27 AM	#24
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	disagreement on barrels There are a couple points on which I tend to differ. "...generally, round barrels are damascus, octagonal ones were not." In my experience as a collector, octagonal barrels of twist damascus steel are not uncommon in the Muslim world. They were in fact widely made in the the Ottoman Empire as well as Persia. Three Sind guns of superlative quality (two flint, one with a percussion lock roughly similar to Fernando's and Ward's examples), are in the Nasser D. Khalili collection of Islamic art and are published in THE ART OF WAR, by David Alexander (Oxford/Nour Foundation, 1992), cat. nos. 136-38. All of these guns have slender octagonal barrels with swamped muzzles and are of beautiful damascus steel. "...don't believe that these rifle barrels were mandrel-formed" The use of a mandrel in forging Indian twist barrels is clearly mentioned in the detailed description of barrel manufacture on page 61 of Wilbrahim Egerton's AN ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK OF INDIAN ARMS... Bangkok: White Orchid Press, 1981 (facsimile repr of original London edn of 1880). Lastly, I would like to add a comment to Double D's useful explanation of the manufacture of octagonal barrels. Although mastery of draw-filing technique has been a part of the gunsmith's repertoire of skills for centuries, artisans have learned long ago that preliminary shaping of the flats by forging saves considerable time and effort on the filing-bench. This is analogous to the cutlery trade as well : a knife- and swordmaker specializing in pattern welded blades once explained to me that he does as much of the basic contour and bevel shaping as possible by hammer, this also being amply illustrated on p 83 of Kapp/Yoshihara THE CRAFT OF THE JAPANESE SWORD. Be that as it may, and returning to the world of guns, I would like to share a very interesting reference from Fernando's homeland, a rare Portuguese gunmaker's manual entitled ESPINGARDA PERFEYTA, e REGRAS PARA A SUA OPERACAO, com CIRCUNSTANCIAS NECESSARIAS PARA O SEU ARTIFICIO, e DOUTRINAS PARA O MELHOR ACERTO (The Perfect Gun, and rules for its use, together with necessary instructions for its construction and precepts for good shooting), written by Cesar Fiosconi and Jordao Guserio in 1718 (facsimile edn, trans by Rainer Daehnhardt, London: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications Ltd., 1974). The authors devote an entire chapter (XIX) to the art of forging and finishing barrels by hammer without need for filing. I have never encountered one of these Portuguese masterwork barrels whose surfaces were precisely shaped without need for any stock-removal whatsoever. However, I have seen a few rudely-made jezails from Afghanistan or Central Asia whose octagonal barrels clearly showed the imprint of the hammer throughout their surfaces, particularly on the side and bottom flats.