Taking Off 2⁄1000 of an Inch
The boring is an especially delicate task. In choke-boring your shotgun, for example, the final reamer took off only 2⁄1000 of an inch. Think of such a gossamer thread of metal! But it insures accuracy. No pains can be too great for that.
This exquisite painstaking will be seen still more in the barrel-inspection department, to which we will go now. In passing, we must not forget the grinding shop, where is, perhaps, the finest battery of grinding machines in the United States; or the polishers running at the dizzy speed of 1,500 to 1,700 revolutions per minute and making the inside of the barrel shine like glass. This high polish is important, for it resists rust and prevents leading.
That is the atmosphere of the whole place. Every action has its reason. There is not an unnecessary motion made by any one, and there is not one necessary thing omitted, whatever the cost or trouble.