The process, though probably new to gun barrel manufacturing in America, was not necessarily new - Damascus firearm barrels having been manufactured elsewhere in the world for more than a century. Certain refinements to the process and manufacture of Damascus barrels can probably be attributed to Ethan Allen though.
"In 1634 a Hungarian named Caspar Hartman is attributed with adapting the Far Eastern method of making sword blades to enable the production of barrel tubes. From that point until the 1880's, gun barrels were almost always formed this way and the process became known as the Damascus method."
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"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
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