80 cal german horse flintlock

[tom cook]

I would like to know the cal of this flintlock so I can get balls for it. The inner end of the barrel is flared so I'm not sure what the inner dia is. The person I bought it from didn't know much about a similar gun at auction was a German horse pistol , pre WW2 made. .790 or 80 cal. This pistol is also made in Germany and has the same dimensions as the auction pistol. Any info would be helpful.

 

[hawkeye2]

1960s made and imported from Germany. There are a lot of them around and Hy Hunter in California who is no longer in business was one of the importers.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Yep aluminum lock plate with brass prime pan. I have two of them. Never fired. balls have to be so precise and the "coned" muzzle makes it difficult to get a proper size barrel bore dimension. AS I recall several years ago, somebody here posted an old magazine article about shooting them. Last I paid attention, they went for around 250 on gunbroker.

 

[Zonie]

I don't know about your pistols but the one shown in tom cook's post has a steel lockplate. Looks like the trigger guard is also steel.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Steel trigger guard on every one I have seen. not so sure about the lock plate in the photo. Mine are marked "Hy Hunter Buccaneer" the pistols are huge. Every one I have seen has an aluminum lock plate. I have run into about a half dozen over the years. There were two different bore sizes. One about 10 ga and one about 12 ga. Could easily have been a metric size. When they get that large, Germans refer to them in millimeters. 30 mm is actually a popular size for their large blank pistols. Common sizes are 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24 and 30mm. http://www.boeller-pfnuer.de/handböller/

 

[hawkeye2]

Mine has all brass (checked with magnet) hardware and an aluminum lock plate. The plate is very close to the color of the one in Tom's picture and could easily photograph as steel. The lock has Hy Hunter and his address as well as Bucaneer Model and made in Germany, all faintly stamped. The muzzle is deeply coned and I have never measured it but I shot a .735" ball which was the largest I had with several spit lubed patches for a snug fit. Most likely it was the 10 gauge one as it was well over 12 gauge. The charge was 100 grains of 2f, the majority of which was burned out past the muzzle which gave a lot of smoke and flame and was a great crowd pleaser. I remember discussing this pistol with William B. Edwards back in the later 70's and I said I felt they were built using original surplus parts and he replied that the parts were new for this gun. I don't know just how practical this thing is but it was always a lot of fun and the lock functions well with good sparks.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I was once given a name and a town in Germany of the guy who produced them. A friend in Germany could not find any references to the maker,

 

[Jappo]

What size flint does it use?

 

[hawkeye2]

I used the flint I had for my Pedersoli Brown Bess.