That is an amazing piece of American History right there. 
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SOLD Original Harper’s Ferry 1816 flintlock
- Thread starter pamtnman
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I agree, thank you. The collection it came out of was really a small museum in this old guy’s living room man cave. He had every kind of early American sword, dagger, bayonet, rifle, pistol, belt buckle, etc etc I used to run wanted ads in suburban Washington DC, for arrowheads, old guns, swords, taxidermy. The things people called me up about were incredible. In a good way. I bought a lot of gun collections, even had an older lady call me and say her husband had died and she had just put all of his guns out in the trash if I wanted them. Drillings, double rifles… incredible stuff sticking up out of a common metal trash can in leg-o-mutton and beautiful leather cases. She wouldn’t accept any money for them. So many other stories. So the owner of this Harper’s Ferry called me in response to one of my smaller newspaper ads. I went to his home and this was the one gun the guy had that really spoke to me then, but I couldn’t afford it. I ended up with it in trade a year later. I traded a modern rifle in fabulous condition plus an excellent hammerless Remington 1894 double barrel black powder shotgun with that striking black and white twist pattern. This gun formed the center piece of my collection until recently. Now I just want guns I can hunt with. So if my son doesn’t want it, it’s time to let some other guy hold and fondle it.That is an amazing piece of American History right there.
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Well I hope this gun finds as good a home as the one it’s leaving.
Thank you, Path. I feel the same way. If it doesn’t sell here, it’ll go up on one of the main web sites. I prefer to give the hard core black powder devotees here the first shot or bite at it.
Gave me goose bumps looking at the photos. Very impressive.That is an amazing piece of American History right there.
I tried to get these pictures brighter with no success. If someone is serious about it, I can take more
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Oh be still my heart! One beautiful piece of machinery!
It's that white sheet that throwing off the auto-exposure meter in either your camera or your phone's camera. Go outside and put it on some weathered wood if you have a porch or a deck.
Ok will do. I’m not a photography person. I wondered why these were messed up. Thank you
Because I’ve never tried to shoot it, I can’t fully answer this question. The gun appears to be in tip top shape in every way. It lacks the kinds of things that limit a gun’s shootability, like a rusted/ frozen lock or broken mainspring, or a shot-out barrel with a wide open burned out touch hole that indicates a thinned breech. The lock works, and while I have not scoped the bore (I will, come to think of it), it appears solid. And I myself would not try to shoot this gun. It’s just too perfect and rare. If the hammer or frizzen broke, I’d be beside myself with frustration. The risks to the gun from firing it, while in my possession, are too high to justify the fairly low benefit of finding out. I’m sure other people feel or think differently, or they have a lower risk aversion than I. If they buy this gun, then it becomes their possession and they are free to do whatever they want. That’s a long kind-of answer and it doesn’t directly address your question, but the only real way to know is to do something I’m unwilling to do. Possibly damaging an old gun this fine that I have lovingly cared for over 27 years is not something I’m willing to do. But if you buy it and report back that it shoots great, I won’t be surprised. It sure looks like it’s in fine shooting condition.
I appreciate & respect your feelings.
I myself have another take on flintlock and percussion weapons of our country's history.
I feel that there enough nice to pristine specimens of virtually all the common weapons like the Harper's Ferry rifled musket in museums and serious collectors collections to allow people like us to still shoot those weapons that are capable of safely being shot within the parameters of the iron/steel that they were manufactured from.
As humans, we have a terrible tendency (I myself am very guilty of this) to anthropomorphize the inanimate objects of the past that we are fond of (for whatever reasons), by "COLLECTING" them. Which is to say, gathering together as many, preferably as pristine as possible, specimens of a particular make, model, year, etc. of an item that we happen to be interested in; cleaning them, repairing them if required, polishing them, and then displaying them.
Collectors do this for their own private satisfaction, and with the increasing demand for pristine specimens of any type of antique firearm; and the always present willingness to commit forgeries; MOST COLLECTORS don't share their firearms with the public.
Along with that, is the FACT that there are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of the United States's military weapons tucked away in museums that will NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY. Simply because those museums just have too many aquistions, and FAR TOO LITTLE space to display them.
Because of this, I feel that these old weapons NEED to be shot, if they can safely be done so, in order to HONOR & RESPECT the craftsmen & tradesmen that made them, the soldiers that used them in combat, the quartermasters that took care of them until Uncle Sam decided to dispose of them, and finally not least of all our country, the United States of America.
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I take it you are saying you are buying this?!
You make sense. The problem with owning a gun like this is you don’t want to be the guy who does the “oops, that was bad” to it. Over the years/ decades I’ve had guests who manhandled rare antiques displayed in our home. A French double barrel percussion pistol was dry fired without anything protecting the nipples or hammers from one another; by my dentist at the time, no less. Japanese swords on display have been unsheathed and handled with oily bare hands by guests, and then placed back in the saya (scabbard). Only a month or two later do I discover the finger prints left in what had been a pretty nice polish. Etc on down the line. This Harper’s Ferry used to sit out for all to enjoy, but because it is so rare and in such great shape, it was hidden away in a protected gun room for a long time. I’d see it standing up in the corner when I went to take a twenty gauge dove hunting, or a combination rifle or double rifle big game hunting. Year after year, season after season this gun has done pretty much what you describe here (very well), hidden away from the well intentioned but sweaty fumble fingers of guests. So if you want to shoot it, you can, after it becomes yours to protect and clean as you describe quite well. Maybe start out with 40 grains of FG, some newspaper stuffed down as a wad, and let ‘er rip. You could ignite the flash pan with a match, instead of introducing the ancient steel cock to the ancient steel frizzen at a potentially destructive high speed.
I’ll pull this down on Sunday
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So sorry about not keeping it in the family. So sad
Thank you, Dismount. A part of me agrees with you, in that I’d like my son to share all my interests and hobbies. And I’d like him to keep things that will remind him of me when I’m gone. On the other hand, this is not a relic from our own family, and it no longer speaks to me like it did in 1992. And my boy will have plenty of other things to remember me by.
Got your message and responded. Thank you
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