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An interesting debate, involving both internal and external ballistics! My penny's worth is that the rifling in a gun will reduce the energy available for velocity due to the need to deform into the rifling and the increased friction due to the larger surface area in contact with the...

I posted the last picture as part of a point I was making regarding Damascus barrels..! I do have muzzle loading Damascus guns, but I don't happen to have a photo of one of them on my machine at the moment... I am aware that the Ferguson is a breech loader! It is however a very significant 18th...

I will have a look.. My normal game gun is a Thomas Bland 16 bore which has a Damascus Barrel. It was made in the 1880s! The ribs were loose and I had to rebrown the gun when they came back.. (Solder and me do NOT get on!). This is it before I re browned it!

Amen to that!

The real killer of old guns, as has been pointed out, was percussion caps.. Not just the mercury fulminate, but also the potassium chlorate that was often added to improve the performance. The mercury attacks the grain boundaries in the steel and the chlorate a very strong corrosive. As pointed...

Those are interesting articles.. I would concur with your views regarding blanks. Designing blanks is a bit of black (sorry!) art. GP blank seems only to need enough wadding to keep the charge in the breech area. Nitro blanks need significantly more wadding/crimping to get the burn rate up. One...

... and just to square the circle, I am a retired Army Ammunition Technical Officer! I have also published, but not much in open fora! I have had a lifetime interest in ammunition design, manufacture and use. I am particularly interested in early firearms development, associated engineering and...

The density of gold is significantly more than any of the bronzes.. easy to tell the difference - this was what Archimedes was trying to do in the bath in the first place! I would not have thought that gunpowder of different grain sizes would separate out that much, again from the point of...

Dave, that is quite magnificent work! Well done.. As I said, if I can simply get the fit you have achieved on those guns, I will be very happy. As for the carving, engraving and inletting.. words fail me! I have not managed to produce anything close to that.. the best gun that I have restored...

Dave, Thank you very much indeed for those photos, and for clarifying the lock screw issue.. You have made an excellent job of that rifle.. if I can achieve anything as good I will be well pleased. I have had a look at Chambers web site.. did you use the 5/15" liner? If you take any more...

Thanks Dave, very helpful! Just to clarify, does the screw that goes through the lock plate behind the pan fence tap into the back of the barrel behind the breech screw or into the tang at the back of the breech plug? I have not yet inletted the barrel, and the TRS drawing shows no detail of...

I have just been to Edinburgh Castle to have a look at their Ferguson. It is clearly a ten thread sporting one by Durs Egg.. photos attached.. I like the hatch and dot chequering...! What I am still curious about is a. Is the lock screwed directly to the barrel? and b. Is the touchhole...

The other aspect of brass and steel projectiles is that they ricochet like hell.. Pure lead and lead filled ammunition deforms on impact and uses up a lot of energy. Solid brass is elastic and will bounce back off a hard target.. Solid brass bullets have been banned on Military ranges in UK...

Can I just take another view of this issue.. The number of loaded muzzle loaders that have been found in the antique trade is frightening.. there have been occasions where there have been tragic accidents, in some cases many decades after the gun was left loaded! Gunpowder, provided it has not...

Nope.. wrong again! Treacle is what is left after all the good stuff has been extracted..

Robin, I think you are the one who is producing the treacle in that your progression, whilst subjectively persuasive, lacks objective rigour.. Your chemistry book is not wrong, however it is a bit out of date, and perhaps a study of a work in archeo-metallurgy would be more relevant. Wrought...

I built myself a bullet puller from a shotgun cleaning rod. I had to add another section to the rod anyway to get to the bottom of my Long Land Bess, so I made an additional section with a slide hammer feature. There is a solid brass end stop screwed to the end of the rod and a heavy brass...

Robin, we are having this discussion because you claim that "you can't rifle a Damascus barrel" and have posted a picture of the crown of a clearly laminated barrel with Henry rifling as your evidence of this. I would not wish to impugn the reputation of either the late Peter Asquith or for that...

Ah yes, I know that article.. The whole business of making barrels was, as you say, a bit spectacular and not that healthy for the participants! I think you are at risk of making two and two equal five in your conclusions of what was happening at Marshall's ironworks. From what I understand...

That's a rather confusing reply, if you don't mind me saying so.. Rifles were made at Enfield from 1816 to 1988. Which "Enfield Rifle" were you referring to? I presume you are talking about the Pattern 1853 rifled musket? This had a barrel made from wrought iron, not steel and was not coiled...