Veneering or plating barrels is more extensively practised in Belgium than in any other nation we are acquainted with; they do not conceal it, but they use equally good iron, though not ornamented iron: of this there is much doubt. The method of accomplishing this is by having the iron required rolled down into ribbons of a thin description; these are twisted spirally round a tube of common iron having the fibres running length-ways, or parallel with the bore. The accompanying cut will convey an idea of this method. Many will ask what inducement have the welders to take this extra trouble? Gain. The cost of Damascus is 7-1/2_d._ per pound, and the iron they use for this purpose is only 1-1/4_d._ A pair of barrels take 14 lbs. of iron; say 6 lbs. of this is Damascus plate, costing 3_s._ 9_d._; 8 lbs. is common, amounting to 10_d._ instead of 5_s._, or a saving of 4_s._ 2_d._ a pair. A splendid profit if you order one hundred. The borer charges less, the iron is softer, the filer has less, and all items clubbed amount to something. The facility with which welders can do this is wonderful; it clearly establishes their ability, and proves their claim to be considered the cleverest _blacksmiths_ on the face of the earth. It is not only the best descriptions of iron they plate with: twopenny skelp is more in use than any. It is now rare to meet with _painted_ barrels: all are _genuine twist barrels_, _warranted_; for they are mostly all plated, even down to the gun costing but fourteen shillings, wholesale price. This is a subject of serious importance; one which the gun-makers, both metropolitan and provincial, should resolutely condemn; for safety as well as goodness of shooting cannot be secured in perfection with any barrels so constructed. I have met with plated barrels in guns which cost the purchaser thirty-five guineas, and I have detected them in some of the first makers’ guns; for the _perfection_ with which the fraud is accomplished is wonderful, and few can detect it who are not strictly up to “the dodge.” The application of a portion of sulphuric acid into the tube at the breech end of the barrel, is the best way of showing the fraud; for, in most cases, it is all bored out at the thin portion of the muzzle, and the application there would, under these circumstances, be no test.