An Old Twist On Barrels:

There are many 'Twists & Turns' around the development of our modern firearm's technology.

I think that one "key" to the proper use of guns is to be aware of VARIABILITY.

I sometimes see jokers trying-out their new guns on a piece of land, loosely aiming at a tree stump or clod of dirt while burning their ammo, to happily make as much noise as fast as they can - FUN FUN FUN but completely useless to sort-out how accurate or precise or how well adjusted is the point of impact. 

- Thinking about that - reminds me of an advert NZ Police ran locally years ago for Firearms Office staff - where they stated that they sought new employees having NO experience from working with firearms, and who were NOT licensed gun owners or sporting shooters.

THAT is what my old Dad would have called "WILFUL IGNORANCE".

Anyway,  The TWIST RATE of rifling can determine accuracy down range and needs to be set at the manufacture to suite caliber, internal pressures and velocity. There are known formulas for calculating rifling twist rates that - like the police - I am totally ignorant of - but if someone would like to write a piece about it I'll happily put it out on here - Meanwhile I do know that in the olden days some gunmakers used progressive rifling or "GAIN twist" rifling where they machined their grooves into the barrels starting parallel to the bore and slowly introducing a twist or spin for the ball or bullet close to the muzzle end. Effectively this will reduce the friction resisting forward acceleration and will also reduce any tendency for the projectile to STRIP or jump it's grip on the rifle grooves.

GAIN TWIST:

There are many different forms of rifling (variables) - for starters there is lefthand twist and righthand twist - I'm not even sure which is which! - Indeed Not all gun bores are ROUND as there have been other bores such as SQUARE, - OVAL, - STAR, and even HEART shaped rifle bores ...

A Flintlock Rifle from 1765

Now I didn't plan to write that, - I was going to scribble about 'DAMASCUS' twist steel use for gun barrels - and about "screw barrel" or 'Turn-off ' barreled pistols ..

So 'Damascus' steel is sometimes called "TWIST BARREL" and is actually a blending of hard steel with tough iron - repeatedly folded and twisted together while red hot and HAMMER WELDED into one mass. Barrels made using this technique can have interesting patterning when finished by acid etching and craftsmen developed a complex range of patterns ..

Someone could write a book about the variety and beauty of these Damascus guns - but moi - I don't know enough about them .. other than that I have one such antique two barrelled percussion pistol:

WARNING: These old Damascus barreled guns MUST NOT be fired with modern Nitro Smokeless Powder - they are not as strong as modern chrome-moly ORDNANCE steel and will blow-up destructively.

Belgian Liege proofed (1850 ish) Percussion Two Barrel Turn-Off Pistol 

Marked 'FT' for Gunmaker 'Falisse & Trapmann':

- this is a "Screw Barrel" or Turn-Off"  barrel gun ..

SCREW-OFF.

These "Turn-Off" pistols were all-the go in Europe for a couple of hundred years - both made as flintlock then percussion lock .. Because they were easy to load, carry, and use.

When you turned-off the barrel - you exposed an elongated chamber that was ready waiting to be filled with pistol powder and couldn't be overcharged .. NO MEASURING - next you placed a bore sized ball into the chamber on top of the propellant & screwed the barrel back into place .. CAP IT, Cock it and "Bob's your Uncle".

Turn-Off Pistols as an every day carry - were more efficient and compact than others - as screwing down the barrel onto the ball would compress the powder charge to improve velocities - that in turn meant the barrel needn't be so long.

- Your normal muzzle-loaded black powder gun can be 'Double Charged' and blown-up if your mind is not on the job ... which would certainly be the case if the Zulus or Apache Warriors were charging at you to defend their homeland from invading colonist Slavemasters.

Note:  "Bob's Your Uncle" The origins are uncertain, but a common theory is that the expression arose after Conservative Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury ("Bob") appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887, an act of nepotism, which was apparently both surprising and unpopular. Whatever other qualifications Balfour might have had, "Bob's your uncle" was seen as the conclusive one.

There is a long record of corruption, nepotism, and venal GREED common among our top table of aristocrats, royals, religious shepherds, & democratically elected leaders .. maybe one day we will accidently discover that DIRECT DEMOCRACY as cherished by the well-armed Swiss populous for centuries, works MUCH better.

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" - Mao Zedong 1938.

Going back to this gun's barrels - from the below image, from above ..

REGULATED: The truly observant might notice that the barrels ARE NOT PARALLEL - but rather have been turned by the Liege gunmaker to impact coincidently at the projected short range defensive point when used "mano-a-mano".

- Classy eh

Now I know some of you will be getting O/D'd on "old guns" but if you're still awake - here's a link to video with some true enthusiasts trying-out their NEW gun with single Balls, Birdshot, Buck'n'ball, and double balls loads ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sq53VlyXH8

Marty K.