old blackpowder guns

[CharlesHarris]

Mortblanc is spot-on. Another factor is that prior to the 1850s a great many guns by small makers were not of steel, but of iron, often of hammer-welded, twist construction. Many shotgun barrels prior to smokeless powder were twist lamination of iron and steel, often in complex, decorative patterns. Such barrels should be considered suspect even when used with blackpowder, unless magnetic particle inspected, using the wet method with continuous circular magnetization, or my other means such as xray or ultrasonic inspection. Unless you have access to lab test equipement, inspection effective of Damascus or twist steel barrels is not cost effective. On higher grade guns it is worthwhile to have them retubed and reproofed, but that is an expensive proposition.

But STEEL barrels of good quality and workmanship, in sound condition, with well fitted breech plug and properly tuned lock are a joy to behold. I would love to have an original Brown Bess musket or early American flintlock rifle, such as the 1803 Pattern Harper's Ferry carried across the Rocky Mountains by Lewis and Clark.

We have in the family an 1861 Springfield .58 cal. rifle-musket, which was carried by an ancestor during the War Between the States, aka The American Civil War, or the War of Northern Agression, depending upon which side your ancestor fought on. The rifle still shoots well, and if well taken care of, should continue to for at least another four to six generations or so.