Splitear Posted August 23, 2023 Posted August 23, 2023 (edited) I've been eying this gun since April, but just haven't been able to make it happen. A member of another forum who lives in VT bought it and a few other guns from an estate. We've been close a few times on a trade, but never had closed the deal. He recently decided to sell it, and I took him up on it. We drove over to Poultney yesterday and picked it up. I'm going to do a bit more research on it, but since it's such a plain gun, there's probably not going to be a lot to find out. The barrel is Brisith proofed (Birmingham), and the lock is from a known maker in Boston. It has been rethreaded for modern nipples, which is nice. A few cracks in the stock have been repaired are are stable. This was probably a gun for the "common man" from between 150-175 years ago. The barrel is 44", 20 gauge. The bore is actually in pretty nice condition, certainly shootable. The taperd ramrod has about 2 inches broken off of the bottom of it, so I'm going to need to replace it. I do have a loading rod for it, but will need to get a field rod for hunting. Overall, a neat old LONG gun that I'm excited to get out shooting. Edited August 23, 2023 by Splitear Bucksnbows, mowin, grampy and 3 others 6
mowin Posted August 23, 2023 Posted August 23, 2023 Love to know the history on it. How many times did it's owner rely on that firearm to survive.
Splitear Posted August 23, 2023 Author Posted August 23, 2023 19 minutes ago, mowin said: Love to know the history on it. How many times did it's owner rely on that firearm to survive. I've really become interested in the smoothbores for just that reason. There's a lot of interest in Hawkens, Longrifles and other ML rifles, but I don't feel like smoothbores get as much respect as they should. These guns were not only there as fowling pieces for the upper class, but more commonly as the "only gun" that most common folks had. If you only had one firearm to do everything from defend your home, feed your family (squirrels to deer), and run predators off of your livestock, the smoothbore would have been it. They are not going to win a long distance target match, but for an all around gun that was effective with both roundball and shot, for most folks, it's hard to beat a smoothbore. I'm looking at adding a doublebarrel BP gun soon. I have a couple identified, I just need to get my hands on them to see which one (if either) is what I want. mowin 1
dbHunterNY Posted August 23, 2023 Posted August 23, 2023 flint lock versus a percussion cap would seemly be waaayyyy less of a PITA from what I've seen on a show with hunters trying to use a flint lock in mildly inclement weather. cool gun. Splitear 1
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