I need help from the "Experts"

[dbiggers]

This is going to be hard to do when i'am not to sure what questions to ask, so please forgive.

Here is some pictures and what little information i have on this percussion cap pistol i just bought. I really need ya'lls help on filling in the blanks and missing pieces. So here we go...

My biggest mystery is the lock that is on this pistol. It was suggested that it may be a conversion from flintlock to percussion.

I just know that i looked at the inside of it and it looks almost homemade, or it has had a lot of modifications done to it. There's file and grinder marks on the main spring (which jumped out at me when i took the lock off)... :shocked2:

The hammer is a bit loose and I tried to tighten it, but its bottomed out. When fired, the hammer strikes the top edge of the nipple, which means its not hitting flush on the nipple/cap.

The snail/drum (its hard to tell, which) looks homemade and it appears that it may have been welded onto the barrel. It looks like it may have a musket style nipple, due to the large diameter of the threaded end and the size of the hole in the snail/drum.

The barrel is a smoothe bore, with an inside diameter of 1-11/16ths". So what caliber/gauge would that make it??

Also you'll see in the picture that the inside diameter of the barrle is not even either. The top portion is thinner than the bottom portion... :shake:

Lastly, you'll notice that the tang has 2 holes and that one of them is empty and is thread bare.

Other than that, the pistol has an aged, rustic look to it, that i like a lot and the price was very reasonable. Its just going to need some work and/or some slight modifications to maybe restore it back to flintlock, which is how i would want it anyway.

There ya go, i look forward to hearing all your comments and suggestions about this pistol... :thumbsup:

Thank you,
Danny

 

[Mike Brooks]

Modern build using an old barrel. Lock was never flint, and it is home made.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Pictures didn't come out to clear on my puter, but I'd also figure it to be a modern gun made from sundry parts. In the 1950's and 1960's there were alot of original parts floating around and with a modern lock, a person could make up a "shootable?" gun. I bought and sold alot of such guns. Sometimes for the parts sometimes for the gun itself. Some folks would but an original with a busted up splintered stock and restock the old parts, making due with whatever they needed to add. I still have some ammo cans of old parts in the shop. A few original barrels etc. For $25.00 I could buy a busted up muzzleloader. The real shame of it was that some guns of historical significance were obliterated for parts, when they could have been restored in the classic sense. I did save an original Norristown area, smooth rifle from such a fate. Guy was stripping the parts and I gave him $75 bucks for it. I kept the parts together with the stock and donated it to a mueseum. They got a guy to do a real restore on it piecing wood, restoring it to flint etc. when I saw it hanging in the Museum, I couldn't believe my eyes. Never would have guessed such a beatiful gun was once a pile of splintered junk. The restorer was even able to find the engraving on the barrel under the rust and grime.

I have what is left of a trapdoor springfirld after someone cut off the reciever and installed a breech plug and drum and nipple to make it into a muzzleloader. I paid $45.00. Today the lock alone is probably worth $150.00 to 200.

I suspect you have a "parts gun" But don't discount that too much. It is still a cool piece and part of it is authentically old.

 

[dbiggers]

The barrel is a smoothe bore, with an inside diameter of 1-11/16ths". So what caliber/gauge would that make it??

Oooop's i don't know what i was thinking, but the Barrel is a 32nds mark just "UNDER" 3/4ths of an inch, inside diameter... ...can't tell ya what that mark is, because i can't remember if 32nds are in odds or evens... :redface:

So what caliber would that make it??

Thank you,
Danny

 

[fyrfyter43]

Oooop's i don't know what i was thinking, but the Barrel is a 32nds mark just "UNDER" 3/4ths of an inch, inside diameter... ...can't tell ya what that mark is, because i can't remember if 32nds are in odds or evens... :redface:

So what caliber would that make it??

Thank you,
Danny

If I understand you right, you're saying that the barrel measures 1/32" less than 3/4"? If so, that would be 23/32" diameter, which would equate to .72 caliber (0.71875").

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Numrich Arms used to offer a conversion kit for Trapdoors that was a drop-in. It consisted of a barrel with sights and breech plug and a precussion hammer. Basically, a fine breechloading rifle whose ancestry was the Civil War Springfield rifle-musket got converted back to a muzzleloading rifle-musket. Worked well though. A friend had one and shot several deer with it and used to spend hours killing tin cans at ranges the rest of us could only dream of with our patched ball rifles. The rifle could be converted back to its original configuration, so in the end no harm was done. Dan

 

[dbiggers]

Oooop's i don't know what i was thinking, but the Barrel is a 32nds mark just "UNDER" 3/4ths of an inch, inside diameter... ...can't tell ya what that mark is, because i can't remember if 32nds are in odds or evens... :redface:

So what caliber would that make it??

Thank you,
Danny

If I understand you right, you're saying that the barrel measures 1/32" less than 3/4"? If so, that would be 23/32" diameter, which would equate to .72 caliber (0.71875").

Yes, you have understood me correctly and thank you, i wasn't sure, but I thought that 32nds were measured by odd numbers also. Anyway thanks, WOW!! .72 caliber...Damn... :shocked2: Thats kinda big for a pistol ain't it??

Do they even make a patch & round ball big enough to fit this thing, or do i just use a blanket and cannon ball... :rotf: