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Blanket Guns
- Thread starter frenchfusil
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Somewhere years ago , I read a reference to Indians taking " too heavy" muskets to frontier m/l gunsmith /blacksmiths , to get their barrel's shortened to make a lighter gun. Can't remember where those "too heavy " muskets came from , battle field pick ups , or what? From what I read , the 1755 F and I , Braddock battlefield near Pgh. , Pa. , yielded many Brown Bess musket pickups , that were carried back into Ohio to the Indian villages . The Bess would make a fine "cut off barrel " indian gun. Another note from one French battlefield report was , a female captive was made to carry two Brown Bess battlefield pickups back to the Ohio Indian villages , to be given as presents , to certain honored Indian chiefs.
@Rob M. builds some cool guns!
There's plenty of historical precedent for short guns, but the names we apply to them are more recent. Below is a screenshot of a post by Matt Denison on this very forum from eleven years ago. Matt is a former proprietor of North Star West. Here, Matt explains the origin of the term, "Canoe Gun":
Samuel Hearne described native people cutting down the barrels of guns that had burst. Isaac Cowie also mentioned the practice in his book, In the Company of Adventurers:
There are lots of pictures of shortened original guns on the web. This one from Ambrose Antiques is pretty well known:
This next one was reportedly one of Frederic Remington's studio props. It is now in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center:
That conveniently located yardstick in the photo shows us the barrel is about 25" long. I'm scratching my head over this one, though... The spacing of the ramrod pipes makes it look as if it was made short like that. I'm not aware of people going to the trouble of moving and refitting ramrod pipes in cut-down guns back in the day.
Quote from post #6 in this thread:
I don't know when hacksaws were invented. I don't recall ever seeing one listed in a trader's inventory. However, Indians didn't need them. The traders did have all sorts of files for sale, and a three-cornered file was used for this purpose by filing a circumferential groove around the barrel. They would keep filing, going deeper and deeper, until it cut through. This leaves a bevel on the barrel at the muzzle, which is a tell-tale sign of the barrel being filed off and is typical of Indian guns. The cut-off piece of barrel could be re-worked into any number of useful objects... Hide fleshers, whistles, smoking pipes...
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
There's plenty of historical precedent for short guns, but the names we apply to them are more recent. Below is a screenshot of a post by Matt Denison on this very forum from eleven years ago. Matt is a former proprietor of North Star West. Here, Matt explains the origin of the term, "Canoe Gun":
Samuel Hearne described native people cutting down the barrels of guns that had burst. Isaac Cowie also mentioned the practice in his book, In the Company of Adventurers:
There are lots of pictures of shortened original guns on the web. This one from Ambrose Antiques is pretty well known:
This next one was reportedly one of Frederic Remington's studio props. It is now in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center:
That conveniently located yardstick in the photo shows us the barrel is about 25" long. I'm scratching my head over this one, though... The spacing of the ramrod pipes makes it look as if it was made short like that. I'm not aware of people going to the trouble of moving and refitting ramrod pipes in cut-down guns back in the day.
Quote from post #6 in this thread:
I don't know when hacksaws were invented. I don't recall ever seeing one listed in a trader's inventory. However, Indians didn't need them. The traders did have all sorts of files for sale, and a three-cornered file was used for this purpose by filing a circumferential groove around the barrel. They would keep filing, going deeper and deeper, until it cut through. This leaves a bevel on the barrel at the muzzle, which is a tell-tale sign of the barrel being filed off and is typical of Indian guns. The cut-off piece of barrel could be re-worked into any number of useful objects... Hide fleshers, whistles, smoking pipes...
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
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On the off chance you just wanted to make your running tatonka a wee bit more challenging there was the 'Buffalo Runner' https://web.archive.org/web/20160410075630/http://www.northstarwest.com/products/buffalo-runner-gun 
Brokennock
Cannon
And it's not even Easter.......
I know you can sell them like hot cakes at most Midwest gun shows and Rendezvous...
Rob the fort at Mackinac is interesting. But theirs only a few guns to see. Mostly Brown Bess Muskets.
Rob the fort at Mackinac is interesting. But theirs only a few guns to see. Mostly Brown Bess Muskets.
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
My canoe gun had a 48" barrel. I had no problem loading it while sitting down in a canoe.
Mike that's because you were paddling with the butt end....!! 
Nah, that long barrel isn't too bad if you stand up to load.
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
I have also loaded that same gun laying down.
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Oh , I just to be able to say " Ive been there ..." .I love that about all historical places , just want to be there . Love my history . Ive been to historical places and there is absolutely nothing there ...at all , but glad I went . If anyone wants anything NW gun related they just have to holler at me . I love building them . I'm on my last Fusil de chasse now , no more ...just gonna build NW guns and Carolina Guns ....
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Why thank ya bud , I try .....Good info there too .
I have a stock for one, but need a barrel. Smooth bores seem to be scarce right now and I don't want to waste a perfectly good barrel by cutting it off.I keep thinking I should have a blanket gun to play with. Any one on the fourm own or played around with a one?
Mkui Medal
Guerre Abenakis
P.S. I would also like to see any pictures of blanket guns people may have
Carteret Kid
45 Cal.
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The Traditions flintlock " blunderbuss" with the bell cut off might work for one of these.
Shorten the butt and shave a lot of wood off the fore grip.
Shorten the butt and shave a lot of wood off the fore grip.
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I had for a short time an India-made repro Hessian-type Germanic musket; I quickly cut the barrel down and made a "canoe gun", which sold quickly at the next swap meet! I guess I didn't have a great desire for it.
It didn't hurt that I had a nice piece of woven wool fabric affixed for a sling.
It didn't hurt that I had a nice piece of woven wool fabric affixed for a sling.- Joined
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Saw on public TV a documentary about a Fort way up in Canada, Fort Prince of Wales, that to this day has cannon from Queen Anne days. They're restoring it and doing archeology; it's so far up (near Churchill) that there's polar bear, so the place wasn't stripped by metal detectors! It was so remote that they didn't bother to take the guns for scrap metal in WW1 or 2. Has about 40 or them! It changed hands I guess during the F&I War.
