There has long been a presumption that American makers always imported their hand-forged steel-and-iron Damascus, Twist, and Laminated barrel tubes. Wilbur F. Parker was even quoted during WWI to the effect that Parker always imported their Damascus-type barrels. My research of late has turned up evidence (some very compelling) that at least three well-known makers of the late-1860s and 1870s actually forged their own barrels: Ethan Allen ca.1868; Wesson ca.1869/70; and Parker Bros ca. 1878 et seq 1880s.
The info in general was gleaned from retrospectives in Shooting & Fishing, a pulp weekly of the 1880s thru 1906. The Ethan Allen barrels were Stub Twist, and Wesson's were Damascus with reportedly 400 pairs made. Given that Wesson stopped production in 1870 with only 229 guns made according to published reports of existing factory records, a question remains as to the other 171 barrel sets.
Rock Island Auctions sold two "Wessons" in Aug. 2005, one a true Wesson s/n 117 with all the usual markings, and another totally devoid of any marks or s/n whatsoever. It has been an article of faith that some or all of the Wesson parts were sold to other gunmakers who assembled them, which would add creedence to the Wesson-without-name scenario. Also its possible that Parker Bros bought some of the barrels and used them in early production, as I have seen several Parker back actions with two and three digit s/n's without proof marks (and have owned two: s/n 90 & 238, and as I recall s/n 129 also is without proof marks).
Parker Brothers actually advertised in various pulp weeklies in 1879 that "This company has succeeded in making their own steel barrels..." The Parker-made barrels were Laminated, and carry a special "PB" identification. A ca. 1878 G-grade hammer gun first owned by Ira Paine, one time American Wing-shot Champion, sold in James D. Julia's October 2005 auction for almost $4,000 based on the ownership provenance (otherwise it was a $1,000 wallhanger). Although not cataloged as such, this gun had Parker-made Laminated barrels.
And to put the issue of American-made Damascus barrels in the arena of FACT once and for all, John Davis, a PGCA director and Fred Kimble's biographer found letters in The American Field (November 1878) to and from Parker Brothers stating that "We import largely both Laminated and Damascus,and also manufacture a very fine Laminated--as fine, we think, as any we have ever seen imported. We have made them about eighteen months." I the same series of letters, John Blaze of Birmingham, England, a barrel forger was named, having immigrated to America to make Wesson's barrels. Whether he left Wesson for Parker's employ after Dan Wesson shut down his shotgun making in December 1870 is problematical. Other Wesson gunmakers did take jobs with Parker, most notable being Charles A. King.
What surprises me about all this is how deep I had to dig to get at what is very scant information. In the final analysis, barrel making was never the topic of much elaboration, here or in England. The senior Greener in his 1834 book, The Gun, really only scratched the surface. Going back to the 1700s the British gunning literature is almost devoid of mention of barrels, save their length and bore size. The first English language book about shooting flying is Richard Blome's Gentlemans Recreation (1686) and nothing but length mentioned here, or anywhere else till 1791 when John Acton devotes 11 pages to "Forging of Brrels," and covers "Boring and Dressing, Improvements in Manufacture, Proofs, and Casues of Bursting" in another 51 pges. But nothing that really sheds light on the process. It could be that English barrelmakers saw their "art" as a secret process best left mistified. Perhaps if it wasn't such a lost-in-history mystery the topic wouldn't be so popular on the various websites. Investigation continues. EDM
