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Firearms

"At the forge, he hammered the soft iron that he selected for the barrel, wrapping it around a rod to form the bore, and then welding it under the hammer with a flux of borax and sand to make the joint stick. Once he finished the rough work, he attacked the outside of the new barrel, first with a water- driven grindstone, then with a file, dressing it down and forming the flat faces of the much admired octagonal form. Then he was stuck. He needed help. Any good blacksmith could forge a barrel and dress its exterior. The inside of the bore was another matter. That required special equipment, which only a professional gunsmith could afford. . . . At the shop, the gunsmith examined Remington's barrel blank and agreed to ream and rifle it. The reaming came first, to smooth out the rough interior. Then each of the twisting rifle grooves was cut into the barrel with a hand-operated rifling machine. It was a long and tedious job. The reaming probably took less than two hours, but the rifling was a far more difficult task. . . . the barrel still required some work. As it stood, it was just a simple rifled tube, open at both ends. Lite would have to forge a plug for it, cut threads so that it could be screwed into the breech end of the barrel, and close it. . . . The blacksight was usually an open V forged from iron and keyed to the top of the barrel. The front sight was normally a blade made out of a soft, bright, metal, such as pewter, brass, or occasionally silver. Then, when the barrel was all finished, he browned it probably with a mixture of urine and iron oxide, to reduce glare when sighting and also to help prevent rust."

Information provided from the Remington Historical Treasury of American Guns. Peterson L. Harold. Ridge Press, Inc., Specialized Publishing Co., 1966.


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