Early English Trade Gun and Carolina Gun the Same Thing?

[buck.conner]

I think this Northwest gun may have been restocked:

View attachment 61295

The moulding around the lock and the teardrop carvings seem crude, and the wrist looks atypically thick. It also has a "shotgun butt," without the usual baluster. The forend looks sort of squarish, too. I think the stock may be beech, with that "flecky" pattern visible in the close-up image of the serpent, but I'm not convinced. I suppose it could even be birch; if the gun was in fact restocked it was likely done in Canada, and birch may have been available.

I think some of the hardware may have been modified, too. The buttplate looks as if it may have been slightly altered to make the gun easier on the shoulder, with some of the square edges appearing to be somewhat rounded, and the angle of the return at the heel seems to be more gently radiused than normal. The tang screw coming up from the bottom has an odd-looking head, so maybe its a replacement. I don't know what to make of that trigger.

The gun was identified as made by Barnett in 1805. I don't know its whereabouts. This "collage" of photos is from a blog post on the Alberta's Historic Places website: Power & Powder: Early Guns in Alberta

Notchy Bob

These guns are getting harder to find and the prices keep going up. Here's one of many we sold, a BARNETT dated 1805 that I sold in 2019 at RIA Auction House.

Buck

 

[Rob M.]

Clark Badgett .... Good stuff here

 

[Clark Badgett]

Clark Badgett .... Good stuff here

Yes. A good read.

 

[Rob M.]

I'm sure the Oneida had a NW trade gun or two on them ......

 

[rich pierce]

The book For Trade and Treaty is essential and inexpensive for anyone interested is real documented and illustrated originals. I built a copy of an original Wilson trade gun/export fowler attributed to a purchase by Sir William Johnson for gifts to Native Americans in his role as representative of the Crown to the tribes of North America. The inexpensive English walnut stock was full of worm holes. I think the stock has 13 patches.

 

[James Kibler]

Rich,

That's some nice stock shaping.