• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Coach Protection Gun

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Feltwad

45 Cal.
Joined
May 28, 2017
Messages
2,042
Reaction score
3,063
Enclosed are images of another unusual percussion gun which is not often seen it is a coach gun for protection against highwaymen etc it can be divided into three parts and placed under the seat inside the carriage or under the drivers seat ,once again they came in different bore sizes but this one is in 12 bore .The first image shows the gun full length the other three shows it detached for placing under the seat
There will be no doubt that the odd pheasant would have also been bagged these guns were also favoured by poachers because when in a detached state they could be placed in inside pockets of their velveteen long coats
Felltwad
P1010001.JPG

P1010006.JPG

P1010007.JPG

P1010008.JPG
 
I was kind of expecting a "coach gun" to have a short barrel. This is way cool! Thanks for posting.
Dale
That is correct this gun can have a short or long barrel take a look at the image there you will see a band in the middle of the barrel this is where the barrel can be split into to two parts to form a short or long barrel, hope that helps
Feltwad
P1010006.JPG
 
Dale is correct, original coach guns I've seen have been short, to work efficiently in close quarters.
This piece has features I've observed on several take-down poachers guns.
Poachers needed guns that could be concealed rapidly when approached by the local game warden.
Relic, shooter
 
Dale is correct, original coach guns I've seen have been short, to work efficiently in close quarters.
This piece has features I've observed on several take-down poachers guns.
Poachers needed guns that could be concealed rapidly when approached by the local game warden.
Relic, shooter
Most short barrel guns that were known has coach guns was the blunderbuss that was housed under the driver or coachman's seat , they were also used in jails by jailers for use in confined spaces
The guns that are often termed a poachers gun were mostly sawn off percussion and flint shotguns with cut down barrels . To the best of my knowledge there was no gun built by any gun maker to be termed a Poachers Gun .A poacher relied more on his lurcher plus his snares etc there is no way he could afford a gun he was taken a big risk to supply meat for his family and if caught would be a jail sentence or worse still transportation to one of the penal colonies The gun in the image is a coach gun which can be dismantled into small parts a stored under a seat in a coach or any other small area
Feltwad
 
You have a point about being a manufactured piece and not a quickey sawed off poacher gun.

How about a traveller's gun ?

A coach gun needs to be at the ready and stored folded away would slow down it's use. Many gentleman hunters took their own guns and this would be easier to travel with.
 
Back
Top