INDEX.
Reading edition
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
History of the Gun 9
Discovery of Gunpowder 9
The First Fire Arms 9
Earliest Hand Guns 10
Prejudice Against Fire Arms 10
The First Rifle 11
The Arquebus 11
The Match Lock 12
Musket, Petronel 13
The Wheel Lock 13
The Pistol 14
The Snaphaunce 14
The Flint Lock 15
Important Improvements 15
Advance of the Rifle 16
The Percussion Lock 16
The Breech Loader 18
CHAPTER II.
How Guns are Made 22
Gunsmith, Gunmaker 22
Gun Barrels, Best Materials for 23
On Making Gun Barrels 24
Finishing and Proving 25
Action, Stock and Final Finish 26
On Making the Rifle 27
Plain Steel Barrel Guns 27
CHAPTER III.
Guns Now in Use 29
Gun Defined 29
The Old Flint Lock Gun 29
The Percussion Lock Gun 31
On the Muzzle Loaders 33
The Breech Loaders 34
Variety of Breech Loaders 36
CHAPTER IV.
Pistols Now in Use 37
Old Style Pistols 37
The Derringer 38
The Pepper Box 38
Old Colt’s Revolver 38
Sharp’s Four-shooter 39
The Breech Loading Cartridge Pistols 39
CHAPTER V.
On General Gunsmithing 41
The Gunsmith and his Trade 41
Fitting up a Shop 41
CHAPTER VI.
Taking Apart, Cleaning and Putting Guns Together 43
To Take the Gun Apart 43
To Clean the Gun When Apart 44
To Put the Gun Together 45
CHAPTER VII.
Tools Required for Work, Their Cost, etc. 47
The Alcohol Lamp 47
The Alcohol Lamp, Self-blowing 47
Anvil 48
Barrel Planes 48
Bevel 49
Beveling Clamp 49
Blacksmith’s Tongs 50
Blow Pipe 50
Breeching Taps 51
Calipers and Dividers 51
Chisels 51
Cutting Pliers 51
Drill Stock 51
Tile Cord 52
Tilting Square 52
Floats 52
Forge 53
Glue Pot 53
Gouges 53
Grind Stone 54
Hack Saw 54
Hammers 54
Handles 55
Hand Shears 55
Hand Vice 55
Iron Clamps 55
Mainspring Vise 56
Marking Gauge 57
Screw-cutting Tools 57
Screw Wrench 57
Soldering Copper 57
Screw-Drivers 57
Pliers 58
Wing Dividers 58
CHAPTER VIII.
Tools, etc., and How to Make Them 59
The Alcohol Lamp 59
A Self-blowing Lamp 61
Breech Wrenches 63
The Bit Stock 64
Bottoming Tools 65
Chequering Tools 66
Nipple Wrenches 67
Portable Forge 67
Vice Appendages 69
Shanks of Tools 72
CHAPTER IX.
The Work Bench 74
Material for the Work Bench 74
How to Make the Work Bench 75
Putting the Vise in Place 76
Place for Drawer 76
The Gun Brace 76
How to Deaden the Noise of Hammering 77
CHAPTER X.
On Working in Iron 79
Hand Forging 79
Welding 79
Hardening Iron by Hammering 80
Case-hardening 81
A Good Way to Case-harden 82
Material for Case-hardening 84
Another Way to Case-harden 85
Another Formula for Case-hardening 86
Still Another Formula 87
To Chill Cast Iron 87
Another Mode 87
To Soften Wrought Iron 87
Alloy for Filling Holes in Iron 87
To Harden Iron for Polishing 88
CHAPTER XI.
On Working in Steel 89
Hand Forging Steel 89
Welding Steel 89
Tempering 91
To Restore Burnt Steel 93
Annealing Steel 94
To Blue Steel 94
To Remove Blue Color From Steel 94
Tempering Knife Blades 95
The Lead Bath for Tempering 96
Test for Good Steel 97
Etching on Steel 97
CHAPTER XII.
On Working in Silver, Copper and Brass 99
To Forge Silver 99
To Polish Silver 99
Light Plate for Copper or Brass 99
To Clean Silver 100
To Work Copper 100
To Work Brass 101
To Cast Brass 101
To Brass Iron 102
To Clean Brass 102
To Solder Brass 102
CHAPTER XIII.
On Working in Wood 104
The Woods Most in Use 104
Wood for Gun Stocks 105
CHAPTER XIV.
On Gun Stocks 108
Form of Gun Stocks 108
Dimensions for Single Gun 111
Dimensions for Double Gun 111
Laying Out Gun Stocks 111
How to Stock a Gun 114
The First Operation in Stocking 114
Setting in the Barrels 115
Measure for the Stock 116
The Butt 116
Setting in the Locks 116
Setting in the Trigger Plate 117
Setting in the Triggers 117
Secure Fastenings 118
Fitting Bolt Loops 118
Hints for Finishing 119
Fitting the Break-off 119
To Let in Escutcheons 120
How to Cast Tips on Fore End of Stock 120
Chequering 122
Coloring Gun Stocks 122
To Stain a Maple Stock 123
Another Method 123
To Color a Maple Stock Brown 123
To Color a Reddish Brown 123
To Color Black 124
Rosewood Stain 124
Black Walnut Stain 124
Mahogany Stain 125
Cherry Stain 125
Oil Finish for Gun Stocks 125
Varnishing and Finishing 126
The Varnish for Gun Stocks 127
The Varnish Can 128
CHAPTER XV.
On Gun Barrels 129
Long and Short Barrels 129
Proof of Barrels 131
Proof Marks on Barrels 133
Gauge of Guns 135
Bursting of Barrels 138
To Prevent Barrels from Rusting 138
Protection from Rust 138
CHAPTER XVI.
On Work on Gun Barrels 140
Boring Gun Barrels 140
How to Make Cutters for Boring 141
Quick Boring Gun Barrels 141
Proving the Size During Boring 142
Draw Boring 142
Choke Boring 143
Choke Dressing 144
Barrels Most Suitable for Choke Boring 145
Freeing Gun Barrels 145
Another Method 146
Finishing Muzzles of Gun Barrels 147
Old Method of Straightening Barrels 148
The New Method 148
Another Method 153
Fitting Barrels Together 153
Joining Barrels Together 156
Soldering Barrels Together 157
Why Not Brase Barrels 158
Percussioning 159
Finishing Nipple Seat 161
The Vent in Percussion Guns 162
The Patent Breech 163
Form of the Chamber or Cup 164
CHAPTER XVII.
Tools for Breeching Guns 165
Breeching Reamers 165
Breeching Taps 166
Breech Pin Formers 169
CHAPTER XVIII.
Tools for Chambering Breech Loading Barrels 170
CHAPTER XIX.
On Gun Ribs 173
How to Straighten a Rib 173
How to Fit a Rib 174
How to Fit a Rib to an Octagon Barrel 174
How to Solder on a Rib 174
How to Re-solder Ribs 176
Height of Ribs 178
CHAPTER XX.
On Thimbles 180
How to Make Thimbles 180
How to Put Thimbles on Barrels 181
CHAPTER XXI.
On Rifling Guns 183
Importance of Rifling 183
U. S. Rifling Machines 184
Old Fashioned Rifling Machines 186
Gain Twist Rifling Machines 188
Re-rifling 188
CHAPTER XXII.
On Gun Locks 190
Quality of Locks 190
The Back Action Lock 191
The Bar Lock 191
Side Action Lock 192
The Wesley Bar Lock 193
The Central Lock 193
Cleaning Locks, etc. 194
How to Take Down a Lock 195
To Clean and Oil the Lock 196
How to Put up a Lock 197
CHAPTER XXIII.
On Fitting Gun Hammers 199
To Fit a Hammer on a Tumbler 199
The Drift for Squaring the Hole 200
A Tool for Fitting Hammers 202
CHAPTER XXIV.
On Nipples or Cones 205
Forms of Nipples 205
Nipples for Breech Loading Arms 206
Nipples with Flat Tops 206
The American Musket Nipple 207
Nipples Used in Sporting Guns 208
Preparing Nipples for Guns 208
Remedy for Bad Nipples 209
Pistol Nipples 209
Plugs for Nipples 209
CHAPTER XXV.
On Springs 212
Main Springs 212
Sear Springs 212
How to Forge Main Springs 213
How to Temper Main Springs 214
Cheap Springs for Revolvers 215
Coiling Wire for Springs, etc. 216
CHAPTER XXVI.
On Rods 220
How to Make Ram Rods 220
How to Make Wiping Rods 222
CHAPTER XXVII.
On Bullet Moulds 224
Joints for Bullet Moulds 224
How to Make a Ball Cherry 227
Tempering Ball Cherries 232
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Screw Making Tools 233
How to Make Screw Tools 233
How to Make Small Taps 235
CHAPTER XXIX.
Nomenclature 238
Nomenclature of the Gun Stock 238
Nomenclature of the Gun Lock 239
Nomenclature of the Hammer 240
Nomenclature of the Lock Plate 240
Nomenclature of the Tumbler 241
Nomenclature of the Bridle 241
Nomenclature of the Main Spring 241
Nomenclature of the Sear 241
Nomenclature of the Sear Spring 241
Nomenclature of the Swivel 242
Nomenclature of the Breech Pin 242
Nomenclature of the Screws 242
CHAPTER XXX.
On Browning 243
Objects of Browning 243
Preparatory Process 243
The Process of Browning 245
Browning Damascus Barrels 245
Browning Belgian Damascus Barrels 245
Browning Inferior Barrels 246
Plain Welded Barrels Made to Resemble Twist 247
Smoke Staining 247
CHAPTER XXXI.
Recipes for Browning 249
Thirteen Recipes for Plain Barrels 249
Four Recipes for Twist Barrels 252
To Blue Gun Barrels 252
Brown Tint for Iron or Steel 253
Transparent Blue for Iron or Steel 253
Varnish for Browned Barrels, Three Recipes 253
Finish for Browned Barrels 254
To Remove Old Browning 254
CHAPTER XXXII.
Miscellaneous 255
Shellac and Its Uses 255
How to Make Shellac Varnish 255
How to Conceal Bad Places in Wood 256
Another Method 256
Emery Cloth and Emery Paper 256
Uses of the Alcohol Lamp 257
How to Make Small Springs 257
How to Make Small Drills 258
Advantages of the Alcohol Lamp 258
The Soldering Copper 258
How to Heat the Copper 258
How to Tin the Copper 259
To Prevent Gun Barrels from Glimmering 259
Repairing Shot Chargers 260
Broken Plunger Nipples 261
How to Remove Rusted Screws, Nipples, etc. 261
Patent Breech, Bursted 263
Broken Tumblers 264
Describing Lines on Bright Surfaces 264
CHAPTER XXXIII.
On Powder and Shot 267
Comparative Sizes of Shot 270
Soft Shot Pellets to Ounce 269
Chilled Shot Pellets to Ounce 270
Comparative Sizes of Balls 272
Colt’s Pistol Sizes 272
Comparative Sizes of Gunpowder 273
To Select Buck Shot 267
Weighing Bullets, Powder, etc. 267
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Miscellaneous Recipes 274
Soft Soldering 274
Good Soft Solder 274
Soldering Fluid 275
Brazing 275
To Brase Lugs on Barrels 275
Hard Soldering 275
Hard Solders, Three Formulas 276
Alloy for Adhering to Iron or Steel 276
Gun Oil 276
Gunsmiths’ Glue 277
CHAPTER XXXV.
On Judging the Quality of Guns 278
The Muzzle Loading Shot Gun 279
The Muzzle Loading Rifle 279
The Breech Loading Shot Gun 283
The Breech Loading Rifle 289
CHAPTER XXXVI.
On Using the Rifle 292
The Old Kentucky Rifle 292
General Directions 294
Off-Hand Shooting 296
Rest Shooting 299
CHAPTER XXXVII.
On Using the Shot Gun 302
Born Shooters 302
How to Shoot 304
Brewster on the Use of Two Eyes 306
Dougall’s Reasoning 307
Gloan on Taking Aim 310
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
On Using the Pistol 313
Natural Talent 313
Taking Aim 314
Cane Aiming 315
The Best Pistols to Use 316
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Vocabulary of Mechanical Terms Used by Gun Makers 318
CHAPTER XL.
Vocabulary of Chemicals and Substances Used in Varnishes, etc. 334
CHAPTER XLI.
Calibres of Guns, Rifling, Twist of Rifling, etc. 342
European Guns 342
American Guns 343
Pistols 344
CHAPTER XLII.
Directions for Taking Apart and Assembling Guns, Rifles and Pistols 346
Rifles 346
The Ballard Rifle 346
The Burgess System 346
Burnside’s Rifle 347
The Evans Rifle 348
Hotchkiss Repeater 349
Howard’s “Thunderbolt” 350
The Kennedy Magazine Rifle 350
Martin Repeating Rifle 351
The Maynard Rifle 351
Peabody Martini Rifle 353
The Phœnix 354
The Remington System 355
Remington Magazine Gun (Keene’s Patent) 357
Remington No. 3 (Hepburn’s Patent) 358
Sharp’s Rifle 358
United States Muzzle-Loading Rifle and Musket 360
Springfield Breech-Loading Rifle 361
Whitney Breech-Loading Gun 362
Whitney New System Breech-Loading Gun 364
Winchester Magazine Gun 365
Billings’ Breech-Loading Shot Gun 366
Fox Breech Loading Shot Gun 367
Lefever Hammerless Gun 368
Parker Double-Barreled Breech-Loading Shot Gun 369
Remington Double-Barreled Breech-Loading Shot Gun 369
Roper Four-Shooting Shot Gun and Rifle 370