Funny damascus pattern on LC Smith.

[Alex Johnson]

I was at my local gunshop yesterday looking at a nice condition LC Smith 12 guage on the rack. It has damascus barrels but they have a funny sort of pattern on them. They almost resemble fish scales and are not the usual fingerprint, or plain twist pattern that I'm used to seeing. Does anyone recall seeing anything like this on other LC Smith shotguns?

 

[Dave McC]

Twist patterns are myriad, one old Colt double I saw in a magazine had the Colt signature repeated in the metal all the way up the bbls. That's masterful metalworking.

There's not a twist bbl in the world I'd shoot now, while they were sufficent when new, time weakens them badly.

 

[James K]

The so-called "laminated" barrels sometimes looked like that, but I didn't think L.C. Smith used them, as they always advertised "finest English twist", and the guns I have seen had twist barrels.

Laminated was a cheaper production method in which strips of iron and steel were welded together around a mandrel. The difference was that Damascus bars were twisted, then flattened and wrapped around the mandrel, while laminated pieces were heated and welded together while only partially bent around the mandrel.

Later, L.C. Smith used solid steel barrels patterned to look like Damascus, which was still considered the mark of the best guns.

An expert can tell the difference in the type of barrel.

I agree that I would not shoot a gun with any kind of Damascus, "twist", or "laminated" barrels. The chances of injury are simply too great. Not strong at best, the effects of time and corrosion have usually weakened the barrels still more.

Jim