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		#17 | 
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			Join Date: Dec 2004 
				Location: California 
				
				
					Posts: 1,036
				 
				
				
				
				
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			Here is the top flat of the breech of the Aguirre pistol, showing the traditional Spanish octagonal-to-round  stages with chiseled "wedding band" transition (here detailed with inset gold foil), along with the maker's  punzón  and the silver-inlaid notation of horseshoe-iron used for the forging of the barrel.   
		
		
		
			(the use of this amazingly ductile and tough material was pioneered by the almost legendary Spanish smith Nicolás Bis about a century earlier and made Spanish barrels the envy of gunsmiths and a "must-have" among well heeled sportsmen all over Europe during the 18th-19th centuries, gaining a reputation equal to the several generations of Brescia's Cominazzo family, which by then was no longer active in the trade.)  | 
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