Clark pulled Gunderson aside. “Your first shipment of one hundred revolvers, the ones you promised would be as good as any Colts the Yankees could make? Well, they exploded.”

“How many of them exploded?” Gunderson said. “We can replace a few-“

“All of them,” Clark said. “They all exploded.”

“Surely not all of them, you can’t have-“

“All of them!” Clark snapped. “We have to test and proof each one before it goes into battle! You made the cylinders and barrels out of brass, and they exploded!”

“They are made out of gunmetal, as specified in the contract,” Gunderson said. “If that metal isn’t suitable for making guns, why, then-“

“The contract is for metal guns, meaning steel! Gunmetal hasn’t been used to make barrels in a hundred years!”

“I mean really, how could you not confuse a metal called gunmetal, which is not used to make guns, with the metal used to make guns, which is gun metal but not gunmetal?” Gunderson said, lamely.

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