Marine Dad, these miniature Napoleons are well made guns, the barrels are made of mild steel, and the carriages are oak. Like KABAR2 said, they used to be sold here by CVA, now they're distributed by a company named Traditions, but as far as I know they are still actually manufactured in (mine was made by a co. named Jukar) Spain. Alright, let's get into something that may be of more practical use: These guns were designed to fire a .690 dia. lead ball, and I load it with around a 100 grains of FFg when firing ball, and 150 grains with a light wad when firing a salute. You probably know this, but just in case you don't, these barrel's have threaded breech plugs. The cascabel, neck, and filet are part of the plug that unscrews from the breech for cleaning, and I always do this after firing the gun, so as to avoid any corrosion which might start where the plug ends in the chamber of the tube. After I'm done cleaning the bore with hot water and soap, and it's dry and oiled, I put a little grease on the end of the plug before screwing it back onto the barrel to prevent BP residue from being worked back into the start of the threads when the gun is fired, and damp sponged.
