Bad when people steal pistols (my second born done the deed)

[TANSTAAFL]

My daughter and the son-in-law were garage sailing today in Cody Wyoming, and this is what they found. Two Tower pistols for $5.00 each, one Caintuck nipple for $1.00 and a little box lock for $4.00, four ML pistols for 15 bucks. One of the Tower's was made in Japan, the other one unknown, just a S/N, the other two have no markings at all.

Now I know they were cheap when first hit the market, but this was ridiculously cheap by any standard.

 

[bioprof]

Dontcha just love it when recently divorced women have a garage sale to get rid of all their ex's stuff? :shake:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Dontcha just love it when recently divorced women have a garage sale to get rid of all their ex's stuff? :shake:

:hmm: LOL, bet that is exactly what happened.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

the bottom one - does the barrel unscrew from the frame for loading? I've seen similar that did. IIRC about .36 maybe .40 cal. fairly handy gun.

 

[DutchmanDick]

Which is why I made sure I got all my guns out of the house, and got an asset restraining order, when my ex filed for divorce. I shoulda NEVER married a blankety-blank, Obama/Clinton worshipping liberal...

 

[DutchmanDick]

My daughter and the son-in-law were garage sailing today in Cody Wyoming, and this is what they found. Two Tower pistols for $5.00 each, one Caintuck nipple for $1.00 and a little box lock for $4.00, four ML pistols for 15 bucks. One of the Tower's was made in Japan, the other one unknown, just a S/N, the other two have no markings at all.

Now I know they were cheap when first hit the market, but this was ridiculously cheap by any standard.

By the looks of it, the larger caplock pistol is either a CVA or a Traditions, and made in Spain either way. The bottom pistol is a Classic Arms "New Orleans Ace", .44 caliber, and probably a smoothbore. Kits are still available, though I've heard that the Classic Arms kits are severely lacking in quality and ease of assembly.

 

[Mulebrain]

God!

For those prices, why did she even bother putting price tags on them? :youcrazy:

Smokin deal there my friend!

 

[jethro224]

Dang! Good find!
I never get that lucky.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Such a deal. I can only say that about 20 years ago, I went to a yard sale near Meyerstown, PA. There were some trash cans out at the street witing for pickup, and a rifle butt sticking out of the trashcan. I asked if I could have it and the guy said yes. It was a Joslyn carbine, with the stock broken and splintered at the wrist. The tang was also broken off. The barrel had been reamed smooth for firing 20 ga shotgun shells.

I looked for parts to restore the gun. Looked and hunted at gunshows and civil war shops, searched through the Shotgun news etc. I finally gave up and sold the gun for parts at the Civil War gun show in Fairfax VA. Two weeks later, at Dizon's Muzzle loader Shop in PA, there was a really nice Joslyn stock for $45.00.

 

[gmww]

Wow, I need to get out more and go garage sales.

 

[Dphar]

...are severely lacking in quality ...

This describes all of them.
Frankly 15 bucks is about all they are worth since I consider them all to be wall hangers.

Dan

 

[TANSTAAFL]

the bottom one - does the barrel unscrew from the frame for loading? I've seen similar that did. IIRC about .36 maybe .40 cal. fairly handy gun.

No, not turn barrel, uses a ramrod.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

...are severely lacking in quality ...

This describes all of them.
Frankly 15 bucks is about all they are worth since I consider them all to be wall hangers.

Dan

:hmm: If you consider them to be such pieces of chit, why would you hang the on the wall for all the world to see?

 

[aap2]

Tanstaafl-Those Tower pistols are a hoot; I bought one from DGW back in 1969, yes, quality was seriously lacking but even DGW admitted that they didn't work too well but the price was cheap. I hope that I'mm not violating any forum rules, but look at the auction on Gunbroker titled: Black Powder Garrett W. Roberts Tower Pistol #559 . This is one of the same Japanese tower pistols that you have and the opening bid is $999! I consider this a little high for a decorator pistol (I actually got mine to shoot until every part broke except for the stock and barrel (actually breeched correctly, some aren't)...Maybe since this auction is for a "cased set", it's worth a lot more. I could case the one that I used to have and cast a bunch of .648 balls out of solid silver and it still wouldn't be worth that. Mr. Moderator, if I'm stepping on any toes by referencing an auction, please delete and accept my apology..this is so funny that I just had to post it.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

First of all, they started the clunker at $999.00. No one has bid on it yet. Unless there is a very wealthy nut case out there no one will. That is a kit gun made from one of the junky Japanese kits and stuck in a case full of third rate accessories. These guns have no value because they have no quality and are often dangerous. This a classic case of caveat emptor if ever there was one. The average value of one of these guns should be whatever their owners are willing to pay someone to cart them away. This may seem overly harsh, but when new, Dixie offered a service whereby they would harden the frizzens as they wouldn't spark otherwise. These were easily some of the worst pistols ever foisted on the blackpowder community and many a newbie bought one and was disillusioned by these horrors. And now some greed driven ignoramus is trying to get a thousand dollars for one. Shameful.:v

 

[aap2]

Russ-I could not agree with you more; nobody (hopefully) will bid on this junk. I had Dixie "harden the frizzen and adjust the springs" on the Tower pistol that they sold me in 1969;it sparked twice before the case on the frizzen wore thru, followed by the failure of nearly every part on this junker pistol. I just thought that someone asking nearly $1,000 for a $30 pistol was really out of line.

 

[flintlock75]

Such dislike for these guns, wow.
Ill give you $20.00 each for the Tower guns.

 

:bull: I looked up the auction -- What a crock! However, at the end of the pictures of the "beautiful" pistol, there is a photo of a dune buggy with two machine guns mounted on it. I might offer him $999 for that :rotf:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Dislike? Whatever gave you that idea? I disliked them 40+ years ago when I first saw them. After I actually handled a few of them and heard some of the horror stories about them I came to utterly despise them--a feeling not softened by the passing of the years!

 

[Zonie]

Before going to the auction site, I was going to give the benefit of doubt to the person selling it.

There are a lot of people who look at a Flintlock pistol or rifle and because of their ignorance they think the gun Must have been made back during the Revolutionary War! .
People like that will put some really stupid values on their "old" guns.

After looking at it and reading that the guns builder wrote on a attached tag that he built it in 1976 in Fort Wayne, Indiana removes any claim of ignorance the seller might have ever had.

The Lee bullet mold should also have been a clue to the modern manufacture of the gun.

That leaves no room for doubt. The seller is not ignorant, he is an idiot.
A very greedy idiot at that!