can anyone identify this old gun?
Discussion
Knowing how PH sleuths like a challenge...
WTF is this?
Clues:
1) It is the non-business end of a muzzle-loading gun.
2) The breech plug (that seals up the rear end of the barrel) is clearly visible.
3) The complete barrel was about two feet long (in several other bits).
4) The barrel is octagonal
5) The outside bore is about 2cm. The barrel bore is about 1cm (may have been more but rusted to this size).
It appears to have the remains of the firing mechanism rusted to it - but here is the question - is it a matchlock, wheel-lock, fire-lock, flintlock or percussion cap??? At two feet long, was it a short musket or a long pistol? Basically, WTF is it??
WTF is this?
Clues:
1) It is the non-business end of a muzzle-loading gun.
2) The breech plug (that seals up the rear end of the barrel) is clearly visible.
3) The complete barrel was about two feet long (in several other bits).
4) The barrel is octagonal
5) The outside bore is about 2cm. The barrel bore is about 1cm (may have been more but rusted to this size).
It appears to have the remains of the firing mechanism rusted to it - but here is the question - is it a matchlock, wheel-lock, fire-lock, flintlock or percussion cap??? At two feet long, was it a short musket or a long pistol? Basically, WTF is it??
1500's account said:
...because we ourselves were
somewhat weary, we were contented with a few bars and quoits of gold, as
we could well carry: burying about fifteen tons of silver, partly in
the burrows which the great land crabs had made in the earth, and partly
under old trees which were fallen thereabout, and partly in the sand and
gravel of a river, not very deep of water.
somewhat weary, we were contented with a few bars and quoits of gold, as
we could well carry: burying about fifteen tons of silver, partly in
the burrows which the great land crabs had made in the earth, and partly
under old trees which were fallen thereabout, and partly in the sand and
gravel of a river, not very deep of water.
Ayahuasca said:
Yep, but that is a percussion cap. 1800's tech. No treasure if so.
Definitely a percussion cap nipple at the breech end. The positioning suggests the 'rosette' shape on the side wasn't the hammer pivot.It could well have been a fowling piece. Many had an octagonal or hex barrel and a good few were percussion.
These were smooth bore hunting guns but the term 'shotgun' didn't emerge until circa 1776, in Kentucky.
There's one clipped to a ceiling beam in Beatrix Potter's house nr. Hawkshead.
HTH
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