Percussion pistol followed me home today...

[bpd303]

We went to the Saunders Memorial Muzzle Shoot in Berryville AR today. A good turn out and a lot of vendors and shooters. On one of the tables was a percussion pistol that caught my attention. I really couldn't ID it no markings at all. It has an 8 inch 45 caliber rifled barrel. No name on the lock or any markings on the barrel. Talking to the gentleman at the table he said his son made it years ago and since his son retired from the AR State Police recently he decided to lighten up his collection. So dad brought several items to the shoot for him.
I liked it and the $150 asking price sealed the deal. When we got home thinking it was probably a kit gun, doing some research I couldn't find anything on it. My wife who knows quite a bit about firearms doesn't think it's a kit gun. What do y'all think? Any leads on it?

 

[cynthialee]

The lock is a CVA lock, but I do not recognize the stock at all.
Obviously a home built pistol, like the seller said. Not a shabby job either. I bet it shoots well. That grip angle is actually pretty comfy and lends itself well to shooting.
Looking at the lock inletting you can see it was done by hand.
Pull the barrel and see if there are any marks on it underneath.

At first I thought it might be an altered colonial pistol, but there isn't enough wood on them to make that grip like that.

Clean up the rust spots and have fun making smoke.

 

[Grenadier1758]

l believe that @cynthialee is on the correct assessment path. The lock is the CVA "Maslin" lock that was sold as an entry level kit lock. As a percussion lock, it should work quite acceptably. As Cynthia said. "Clean up the rust spots and have fun making smoke."

 

[SOLANCO]

Sometimes the world just makes you a donation. Run with it and enjoy it.

 

[bpd303]

Thanks for the leads. With them I was able to track down the lock and barrel. The stock must have belonged to something else as the grip on the mountain pistol could not have been modified to be like this pistol. Lock has the same decorations and the barrel has a 1 in 66 twist and same sights. Also has the same hammer.

"CVA Mountain Pistol in .45, caliber. This is a kit gun that you might want to rework. The big deal here is that it has a Douglas barrel with an excellent bore and the lock works perfectly. Made some time in the 1970's or early 80's with a 9" octagonal barrel with steel underrib. Percussion Maslin style lock still has all of its color casehardening remaining"
https://www.riverjunction.com/4278

 

[bpd303]

I pulled the lock out and the marking Spain is the only one inside. The lock does not look like it has seen much use, I oiled it and it works as smooth as glass. The only spot of rust is the one on the muzzle, some 0000 steel wool and it's gone. There are no markings on the underside of the barrel.
Still researching the stock without any luck. I tried TOW, Dixie Gun Works, Dunlap Woodcrafts. and Pecatonica River for a precarved blank, no luck. My guess is he cut and carved the stock from scratch. I also ran an oiled patch down the bore, came out clean as a whistle. Tomorrow I'll dig through my stash of round balls to see if I have any that fit or if I have to cast up some.

 

[cynthialee]

My guess is the stock was carved from a tower pistol blank. I don't know there is enough wood on a finished tower pistol to make that pommel. But I bet the stock blanks are big enough.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

We went to the Saunders Memorial Muzzle Shoot in Berryville AR today. A good turn out and a lot of vendors and shooters. On one of the tables was a percussion pistol that caught my attention. I really couldn't ID it no markings at all. It has an 8 inch 45 caliber rifled barrel. No name on the lock or any markings on the barrel. Talking to the gentleman at the table he said his son made it years ago and since his son retired from the AR State Police recently he decided to lighten up his collection. So dad brought several items to the shoot for him.
I liked it and the $150 asking price sealed the deal. When we got home thinking it was probably a kit gun, doing some research I couldn't find anything on it. My wife who knows quite a bit about firearms doesn't think it's a kit gun. What do y'all think? Any leads on it?
View attachment 222981

I've had a few follow me home over the years. I hate when that happens!

 

[Bad Karma]

Definitely a CVA lock, but I wonder if the mountain pistols had round bottom rifling. If it is round bottom rifling and not some trick of lens or lighting. The ramrod end looks home made, almost like a .38 special case modified and glued to the rod.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The lock is a CVA lock, but I do not recognize the stock at all.
Obviously a home built pistol, like the seller said. Not a shabby job either.

So it's a set of parts, mostly from a CVA pistol, that have been restocked....,

The stock is a "Georgian Pistol Blank".

The sideplate, may have come from brass bar-stock BUT I think it is most likely an altered, brass letter, like a Capital D, use for houses or apartments and such. Personally I've seen the center of an S or the thick section of number 8, and also the center of a number four become the guard on a knife.

Yes it probably shoots well, and for $150, that's a good deal.

Is that a 6" barrel ? Anybody know ??

LD

 

[bpd303]

I think that's the stock for sure. If I drop the ram rod down the barrel it measures 7 3/4 inches to the breech plug, measuring from the outside muzzle to where the barrel joins the back strap its 8 inches. Never can remember how to determine barrel length but now I think it's from muzzle to breech plug inside. The ram rod is home made with a 32 cal shell case end.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Definitely a CVA lock, but I wonder if the mountain pistols had round bottom rifling. If it is round bottom rifling and not some trick of lens or lighting. The ramrod end looks home made, almost like a .38 special case modified and glued to the rod.

I have a .50 caliber Mountain Pistol that my dad put together from a kit back in the late 1970s. The rifling is square bottom.

 

[bpd303]

The rifling in this barrel is round bottom. Didn't get a chance to shoot it today had too many chores and running around to do with my wife, maybe tomorrow.

 

[hanshi]

The pistol certainly wasn't abused prior to your find. It is indeed a radius groove bore too. The bottom line is that if it shoots well it makes no difference whatsoever that it was not built by a known builder.

 

[bpd303]

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day in the Ozark's. Took me a while to find everything to shoot with but out of my three range boxes, I came up with .440 cast round balls, .015 patches lubed with Dutch Shoultz dry lube, a tin of Remington #10 caps, a flask of Goex fffG powder, adjustable powder measure, and other accoutrements.
Started with 20 gr powder and the pistol functioned fine and it is very comfortable to shoot. I fired several rounds for fouling shots & effect before aiming at the target. The first round was high and a little left, #2 a little low & to the right, #3 cut the outer edge of the 4 in square bull, had a called flyer way low. I switched to 30 gr of powder and the accuracy improved. #4 and #5 inside the bull and #6 #7 both inside the 2 inch bull touching. All shots were at 10 paces (33 feet) from the target. Not bad for these old eyes and shaky hands. I think I'll keep her.

 

[azmntman]

SWEET deal. Nice shooter. My eyes are tired (new puppy) and old and I think it looks like the barrel is drilled off center slightly? Kit gun IMHO as the inleting does not look "machined". $150.00 was excellent deal.

 

[bpd303]

I think that is just camera angle & barrel crown.

 

[TFoley]

Yup, a kit gun for sure, with just 'SPAIN' on the barrel. If it had been a finished pistol then it would have had to have been proofed, and would therefore bear the Spanish Eibar proof house marks of three piled circles.

 

[bpd303]

Spain is inside the lock, no marks on the barrel.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day in the Ozark's. Took me a while to find everything to shoot with but out of my three range boxes, I came up with .440 cast round balls, .015 patches lubed with Dutch Shoultz dry lube, a tin of Remington #10 caps, a flask of Goex fffG powder, adjustable powder measure, and other accoutrements.
Started with 20 gr powder and the pistol functioned fine and it is very comfortable to shoot. I fired several rounds for fouling shots & effect before aiming at the target. The first round was high and a little left, #2 a little low & to the right, #3 cut the outer edge of the 4 in square bull, had a called flyer way low. I switched to 30 gr of powder and the accuracy improved. #4 and #5 inside the bull and #6 #7 both inside the 2 inch bull touching. All shots were at 10 paces (33 feet) from the target. Not bad for these old eyes and shaky hands. I think I'll keep her.
View attachment 223454

View attachment 223453

That's very nice. If you put 40 grains in the load, she'd be legal for hunting deer here in Maryland with that longer than 6" barrel. You did very well with that find!

LD