Tag «Blacksmith»

How Colonial Gunsmiths Forged Musket and Rifle Gun Barrels

From a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled… in a shop long since silent, fashioned a rifle which changed the whole course of world history.  — Captain John G. W. Dillin, The Kentucky Rifle How, since the 15th century and right up to the American Revolution, did weapon manufacturers …

Iron Forge in Colonial America

In the early 17th century nations making claim to the Americas discovered an enormous wealth of natural resources.  Raw materials bolster a country’s economy and increase its ability to dominate in trade and in war.  Though the discovery of gold by the Spanish increased that nation’s wealth, iron ore from North America  gave Great Britain the …