Drew: I must confess that I have yet to read John's book in its entirety; so for all I know at the moment his conclusion could be correct. During my own study in 2005 I lacked direct access to a complete set of pre-1900 catalogs, and called collector Cliff White, who does have all the catalogs, with a request that he review his collection for a listing of Krupp barrels. Cliff may have overlooked an early listing, but his review confirmed my findings that Krupp barrels were not cataloged until 1900; and further, were no longer listed as an option after 1905. Additionally, the three Krupp barreled examples located during my research (and one since) all had serial numbers dating those guns within the 1900-1905 time frame; but again, that sample was very small and therefore inclusive. When Brophy did his original work, he did not have accesss to all period Smith catalogs and was therefore forced to make some time frame generalizations regarding the availability of Krupp barrels; and he also noted that he had been unable to locate a single Smith Krupp barreled example for study. But with Smith guns one can "never says never" so; if you, or any forum reader has evidence of Krupp barrels being cataloged prior to 1900 please post that information here, as I would like very much to correct the record for the benefit of all collectors. Tom