_Quick-Boring Gun Barrels._—The way to bore gun barrels by hand is this: Make a steel rod with a square bit about six or eight inches long on one end, and a little less in diagonal diameter than the bore of the barrel. The whole rod should be a little longer, say a foot or so, than the barrel to be bored. Harden and temper the bit end. See that it is true and perfectly straight when ground. The grinding should be done by drawing the bit across the face of the grindstone, and this will leave the sides of the bit a little hollowing, and the edges quite sharp. Pack up one side with a thin strip of soft pine until it will just enter the breech end of the barrel. By means of a strong bit stock, or a handle affixed like an auger, turn it around, at the same time forcing it toward the muzzle, until it has cut its way through the entire length of the barrel. While the cutting is going on keep the interior of the barrel plentifully supplied with good oil. Now, as the bit will be a very little smaller than the bore of the barrel, remove it and take off the little strip of wood and place between it and the bit a strip of writing paper of the length and width of the side of the bit where the wood was placed; then insert the bit again at the breech and bore through to the muzzle. Repeat the operation again by inserting a second slip of paper, and so proceed, using plenty of oil, until the bore or calibre of the barrel is sufficiently enlarged. _Proving the Size during Boring._—A method of proving the size of the interior of the barrel and at the same time test its being perfectly of the same size throughout, is to cast an ingot of lead about an inch long in the muzzle, and with a rod forcing it through. If the work be well done the interior of the barrel will present a bright mirror-like appearance, and will need no further finishing. _Draw-Boring._—Draw-boring is done with a rod that nearly fills the bore of the gun, and at one end of this rod is fitted a tool made like a short piece of file, but with the teeth made a great deal coarser and larger. This tool may be about an inch long, and of a round form on the cutting side, to fit the curvature of the bore. This tool is put on the end of the rod and worked back and forth, also turning it around, so as to present the cutter to all sides of the bore in which it is to operate. When it will cut no more the cutter is removed from its seat, a slip of paper put under it, and it is put in place and the operation repeated, and so continued until the bore of the gun is sufficiently enlarged.