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  1. plmeek

    Help with Muzzloader Identification: Wesson and King

    Zonie, We've run into a similar discrepancy before between the "American Gun Makers" source and Frank Seller's book, American Gunsmiths. Here's a link from Find A Grave for Edwin Wesson that appears to confirm the spelling. Wikipedia, for what it's worth, also spells the name as Edwin...
  2. plmeek

    Help with Muzzloader Identification: Wesson and King

    American Gunsmiths by Frank M. Sellers has: WESSON & KING, Grafton, Massachusetts, Percussion target rifles, Edwin Wesson. No dates of operation given. Edwin Wesson was the older brother of Daniel and Franklin Wesson. Edwin Wesson was in Grafton, Mass. from 1834-1840 at which time he...
  3. plmeek

    Riveted, and brazed or welded iron/steel buttplates

    Rich, your dates are probably about as good as any. As you know, not many rifles were made with iron mounts in the 18th century, but those that were likely had forged iron butt plates. If the return on the butt plate was short it could have been bent and shaped by forging. I suspect most...
  4. plmeek

    Ideas?

    Swamped barrels were not a catalog item for GRRW. If it was swamped in the GRRW shop, it was a special order or a special project of an employee. It could also have been swamped after-market. The "hat" over "W" is not a mark of any GRRW employee that I know of, so it could be the mark of the...
  5. plmeek

    Trade Gun

    If you are asking about the serpent sideplate on the Northwest trade gun, S. James Gooding thought 1749. The earliest dated NW trade gun with the classic serpent sideplate is in the Museum of the Fur Trade collection and marked on the tail of the lock "WILSON/51" for 1751. Serpent and dragons...
  6. plmeek

    Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

    More like English fowlers. But other different kinds of fowlers were being made in the colonies, also. And there were German trade guns being imported, too. Rich Pierce has already recommended the book For Trade and Treaty by Ryan Gale which is available from Track of the Wolf for about $36...
  7. plmeek

    A group buy of black powder ?

    Buck, Things have changed (9-11) since those days. You can still do group buys such as GANGREEN and Grimord described, but an individual now can only have a maximum of 50 lbs of black powder in his/her possession. That is the Federal limit. Some states have lower limits. You have to get a...
  8. plmeek

    Strange coincidence while looking up old Civil War book

    So did your Mom buy the book from the website or your Mom's friend?
  9. plmeek

    Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

    Notchy, If you read the paper that I attached again or at least the Conclusions, you will see that they hoped it would "be the site of a Seminole attack on a transport boat, in the First (of three) Seminole Wars." It proved not to be. In other words, they found artifacts that spanned the...
  10. plmeek

    Trade Gun

    I enlarged the picture that blackhorse posted. It looks like "WILSON/1821" is stamped on the tail of the lock. The letters for Wilson are not straight and look like they were stamped with individual letter stamps. This suggests to me that they were added by the builder and not necessarily...
  11. plmeek

    Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

    If anyone is interested in reading it, here is a paper on the Flintlock Site.
  12. plmeek

    Need help identifying an old Muzzleloader

    It may be a parts rifle that was built late 19th or early 20th century. The oddest thing I see is the cap box is on backwards. The small end should point towards the lock, not the butt. The trigger guard is more in the style of a Kentucky/Pennsylvania trigger guard and not a typical Dimick...
  13. plmeek

    Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

    The Type G does predate the Northwest trade gun. As stated before, the Type G may have developed around the second decade of the 18th century. The development of the Northwest trade gun appears to begin in 1741 with the adoption of the large trigger guard bow and continued through that decade...
  14. plmeek

    Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

    It is difficult and dangerous to make generalized statements such as those above. There is no question that Indians were allied with the combatants in the F&I War and the AWI, and they would have used trade guns. There were colonists that sometimes led but often accompanied Indians on raids...
  15. plmeek

    Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

    As Rich Pierce, tenngun, Loyalist Dave, and others have pointed out, an "English trade gun" is a generic term while a "Type G" or "Carolina" trade gun are specific patterns of trade gun. T. M. Hamilton was a recognized expert in archeological gun parts in his day even though he was not educated...
  16. plmeek

    Trade Gun

    The answer to your question depends a lot on the period you are interested in. Early trade guns of the 17th and most of the 18th century appear to have bright barrels. We don't have a lot of surviving documents on fur trade companies orders. A good portion of Hudson's Bay Company records...
  17. plmeek

    What supplier sells Aqua Fortis (Nitric Acid)?

    Wydog, Your answer is ok, but this thread is over 16 years old. The OP was last on this forum in 2006, so your answer is a little late.
  18. plmeek

    Late model flintlock rifles

    You're making the right decision to send it back. I don't know this company or any of its people, but it is clear it's going down hill. This "About Us" from the company website pretty much says so. About Us He's describing the decline in the industry with people getting old and some passing...
  19. plmeek

    Green River Rifle Works Leman Trade Gun

    Simple answer, Jim, is yes. The second half of the 1970s were part of the years of "stagflation". The Arab oil embargo in 1973 triggered a steady increase in oil prices that rose from $3.00 or $3.50 per barrel in the early 70s to $41 per barrel in 1981. This and the hangover of the government...
  20. plmeek

    Green River Rifle Works Leman Trade Gun

    You're right, Buck, but that is just part of the story. Charles Hunter & Company was the outfit that Neil Fields worked for in Australia. It was owned by Mal Wade. Mal Wade/Charles Hunter & Company had been an agent of GRRW for several years before GRRW went bankrupt. Here is a price list for...
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