Water tables

[Tommygunn]

Ok, I know that the "water table" is the flat underneath the cylinder is called the water table, but how the _____ did it become known as a "water table?" It has nothing to do with water.
Does anyone know the origin of this term? Please......

 

[J-Bar]

Thank you for asking this question. I don't know the answer and I have been spending a pleasant time cruising the internet trying to find out. All the references to "Water Table" for guns that I have found so far refer to break-action long arms, like side-by-side double barreled shotguns.

I got a nice picture from a nomenclature website:

http://www.hallowellco.com/watertable.htm

I have a hunch it may go back to cannon carriages on sailing ships, but that is pure speculation and I have not found a website for that yet.

It's like a treasure hunt. I hope someone can give us the answer.

 

[arcticap]

It appears to be an engineering term that may go back to the wooden ship building days when the placement of parts of the ship were in relation to the water line or water table of the boat.
It's a 3D slice of the boat upon which everything else is built in relationship to.
But the term may have grown and expanded in meaning.
For instance, in architecture it's a projecting ledge. That and more interesting information is mentioned in various posts of this thread.

Mythbusters- guns fired under water

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=21250&page=1


As to one definition with respect to firearms:

WATER TABLE

The flat portion of the receiver or frame on firearms that break open, extending forward from, and is approximately at right angles to, the standing-breech face. This is the surface on which the barrel flats rest when the action is closed.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Firearms_Guide_98674_7.pdf

 

[BADUNAME30]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM