_Damascus barrels_ are thus described by _Hawker_:—“I saw the process of making them, the mixture of iron and steel for which is beat out in long bars, and then, previously to being wound round the anvil, twisted by a kind of turning lathe, (similar to wringing clothes when wet), and then beat flat again. Although these are by far the dearest barrels that are made, yet the price of one in Birmingham is very trifling, viz.:— Forging £1 10 0 Boring and grinding 0 5 0 Filing and patent breech 0 11 0 Proof 0 1 6 ———————— £2 7 6 The stub barrels, which are generally used for best guns, cost about sixteen shillings each.” The Damascene barrels are now unfashionable, and never had anything to recommend them, but as being a pretty novelty. * * * * * _On boring of barrels_ there has been much diversity of opinion; and if Colonel Hawker’s theory be correct, the bore should not be perfectly cylindrical. With respect to the common sized guns, which are usually made for the sports of the field, there are two good ways of boring; the one is, to leave a cylinder for about three-fourths of the barrel, (always taking care, however, to preserve a tightness for a little friction just where the shot first moves), and let the remaining part be gradually relieved to the muzzle. For instance; suppose a barrel to be two feet eight inches long, we would say (beginning at the breech end) about six inches tight, twenty-one inches a cylinder, and the remaining five inches relieved to the muzzle. All this must be done with the most delicate possible gradation, and in so small a degree, that even some gun-makers could scarcely discover it. How natural, then, is it, that many sporting authors should be so far deceived, as to fancy the best guns are bored a true cylinder, and therefore, argue in its favour. This relief has the effect of making the gun shoot as close as it can do, compatibly with the strength and quickness required, which should, however, be increased as much as possible by the best constructed breechings. The other plan is, to make the barrel regularly tighter all the way down, so that, in firing, the shot goes progressively easier as it approaches the muzzle. All this relief must be given in a very trifling degree, because, should the barrel be too much opened in any part, it would admit of the powder escaping between the wadding and the sides of the calibre, by which the shooting of the gun would be rendered weak. For this reason, I should even object to having a hole through the wadding that covers the powder, which many do to prevent the confined air from resisting the ramrod. * * * * *