doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com American-made Damascus

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

I have three Parker hammerguns- two lifters and a top lever and none of them have " proof marks ". I don't remember American shotguns having proof marks. Maybe I'm wrong and not just looking in the right spot. Also looked at my two Remington hammerguns and could find no proof marks. One of my Parker lifters has a strange type of barrel. It appears that one piece of metal about an inch wide was wraped around a mandrel and forge welded. I wouldn't call it damascus twist because it's only one type of material, not iron and steel. I've never seen mention of this anywhere. Paul

Great stuff and thanks!

Some c. 1870s Parker Hammer Lifter guns are labeled "Twist", but are clearly laminated steel. The Parker "Fine Laminated" offered on Quality I and H hammer guns in the 1899 catalog, which is a grade below the "Fine Damascus" used on Quality G guns, is likely One or Two Rod "Laminated Damascus." The 1888 Colt Patent Firearms catalog also has a quality gradation from Twist to "Laminated" to Damascus and Hunter Arms used “Laminated Steel” on Quality No. 1 L.C. Smith guns 1892-1898.

1893 10g Quality O Parker with Laminated Steel brls


The Parker, Colt, and Smith 'Laminated' brls are unlikely, however, to be "Best English Laminated Steel" since they are on lower grade guns.

It certainly stands to reason that American gunmakers would have at least experimented with barrel making for shotguns. Further, it seems most likely that a well trained barrelmaker would have come to USA to try his luck. Perhaps USA found barrel making a bit too labor intensive and that imports of good quality were cheaper.

EDM, there has been some talk that this Parker Lifter gun has Parker Bros. built barrels.

I read somewhere that Remington made some Damascus barrels for their early hammer guns. Can anyone confirm this? I know that they were barrel makers early on and made rifle barrels from pig iron and/or steel.

Kind Regards,

Raimey

Bladesmith ---- years ago when Wallace Gustler was master of the gunshop in old Williamsburg, Va. , he made all his rifle bbl's by wraping a ribbon of iron around a mandrel & hand forging the ribbon together at it's seams. While this type of work was being done in colonial days, I see no reason why it couldn't have continued into the shotgun vinue to some small degree. FWIW, Ken

Ithaca ads used to state that their barrel borer, Uncle Bob Edwards, was "...the only man in the United States who ever made twist and Damascus barrels in America."

An E. Remington & Sons broadsheet from 1854 lists "Matched barrels for double guns" -- Plain Iron $4.50 -- Stubs twist, plain $8.00 -- Stubs twist, fine $10.00 -- cast steel $8.00 and solid or drilled from single bar $15.00. What we of course don't know from this broadsheet is if these tubes were made in the Mohawk Valley, or imported and sold by E. Remington & Sons.

What a marvelous job of research! Very well done! If you have names, approximate dates and perhaps a state of residence, I can dig into the census records. I am particularly interested in John Blaze. A state would help...

Claude Gaier and Greener both hint that the English came a bit late to the damascus game. I seem to remember a dating in the late 1700's, perhaps 1790?

There were certainly enough iron production going on here. I would think some of the reasons it never "took off" here as it did in Europe was simply because American gunmakers, stimulated by the experience of the American Civil War, concentrated their efforts on mass production. Which they would have valued more than hand craftsmanship.

Did RIA publish any pictures of the Wesson produced damascus? Are there any digital images of the old publications mentioned? I would love to read them.

Pete

Pete: This info is abstracted from some chapters in my new book, Parker Guns: Shooting Flying and the American Experience (Collector Books of Paducah KY, scheduled for release summer 2008). John Blaze worked for Wesson ca.1869/70 in Springfield MA. A number of Wesson's shotgun people went to work for Parker including John Stokes, a lockmaker who invented a rebounding lock used both by Wesson and later Parker Bros. As to John Blaze, I have no further info. The Parker Story, using the Meriden City Directory for 1875 shows Stokes working at Parker, but not Blaze.

As to pictures, my new book has the two RIA Wesson Damascus barrels (and guns) mentioned (s/n 117 and unmarked) plus another s/n 114 from Jim Julia, along with the Ethan Allen Stubb Twist (mine), and Ira Paine's Parker Laminated (Julia) and three Colts: Twist, Damascus and Laminated (RIA), not to mention a Parker CHE with Bernard Twist (Julia) and quite a few other examples of the barrelmaker's art. The images are all on disc with resolutions from 6,000 to 8,000 kb, and my el cheapo computer can't open the files. My publisher has the publishing program to do so, but I have to rely on the catalog pictures for reference. Sorry.

W.W.Greener once commented how the English makers favored barrels that shot the best (English Laminated), while "continental makers" (buzzwords for Belgium, France and Germany) favored barrels that looked the best (Damascus and Bernard). In the end, fashion won out and the Brits came to crave Damascus with the finest swirls, as in "My barrels and thus my gun's finer than yours"--hence Fine Gun. By the way, I just picked up Greener's 1884 second edition and it's an eye-opener how different it is from the 9th edition (1909) that has been so often reprinted--much changed over a quarter century! but the 1909 book is often quoted out of time frame.

As to the citations for letters from Parker Bros in re; making their own barrels, John Davis wrote an article about it in Parker Pages. The ad I refer to was from a December 1879 issue of Spirit of the Times; The National Sporting Library in Middleburg VA has a full run of Spirit and also Turf, Field and Farm, the 1830s et seq pulp weeklies that preceeded Parker's The American Sportsman(Oct.1871) and Forest and Stream (August 1873). Lots of info out there for the otherwise unemployed who might have the wherewithal to camp out away from home and read old stuff.

I spent the last 4 years (almost full time) writing it all down. If I sell as many as my first book, Parker Guns: The "Old Reliable" (Safari Press 1997, 2004 2nd printing), now just over 8,000 copies, my royalties will be less than McDonald's minimum wage for my trouble, and I don't get any free french fries. Refresh my recollection: is "PeteM" the Pete with a table I met in Vegas? EDM