No, 79,861, S. H. ROPER. Detachable Muzzle for Shot Guns Patented July 14, 1868
http://www.google.com/patents?id=C7kAAAA...roxburry#PPR2,MIt is well known that some shot-guns will scatter the shot much more than others of the same calibre. I have discovered, by repeated experiments, that the scatter of the gun depends mainly upon the shape of the extreme end of the' barrel or the muzzle, and that the same gun may be made fo scatter or shoot close, by expanding or contracting the muzzle.
It is well known to sportsmen that, in some kinds of shooting, it is desirable to have the gun scatter its shot more widely than in other kinds.
The object of my invention is to produce a gun which may be easily and readily converted into a close-shooting or scattering-piece, as circumstances may require; and it consists in providing an. attachable and detachable muzzle, to vary the scatter of the shot, by attaching it to or detaching it from the end of the barrel.
In the accompanying drawing, A represents the muzzle-end of the barrel of a shot-gun, and B the detachable muzzle, which is connected with the main barrel at a; by a screw-joint. Said detachable muzzle is slightly contracted at its forward end, and, when attached to the gun, will have the effect of causing it to throw the shot more compactly than when it is removed.
It is manifest that this improvement may be applied to old guns as well as to new, it being only necessary to cut a male screw on the end of the barrel to fit the female screw of the detachable muzzle.
I do not broadly claim a tapering muzzle-piece for-guns, for the purpose of concentrating the shot in its
flight from the gun.
What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is—
A contracted ring or ferrule, substantially as described, attachable to and detachable from the muzzle of a shot-gun by mean's of a screw-joint, for the.purpose of diminishing or increasing the scatter of the shot, substantially as shown and described.

Pete