Poor man’s guns

[tenngun]

Where does one get a coffin nail?

By the light of a full moon when none but the night critters are awake,
Must work fast and cover the ground so that none may know you disturbed an eternal rest.

 

[bpd303]

I forge mine out of mystery steel that comes from an old cemetery fence .
Edit: they can be purchased at Casket Supply. Nails that are used to shoe horses look just like them.

 

[Hermit Tim]

By the light of a full moon when none but the night critters are awake,
Must work fast and cover the ground so that none may know you disturbed an eternal rest.

Sounds like something I need to wait for October to do...

 

[oldwood]

Coffin nail.........If you're going Period Correct , Most coffins in the 18th century , would have short iron square cut nails . The boards , if there was a sawmill around , would be cut thin enough to accommodate the length of the nails available. If no lumber was available , bark slabs would be pealed from an appropriate tree. The bark would be nailed togather with oak split nails. One step further , on the frontier far from civilization , no coffin , just a hole on the ground. In Western Md. , there is a mountain called ***** Mtn. . It is so named because a black frontiersman was traveling with a trader named Cresap and his crew of trader employees. They were headed west on the Deleware Indian Chief Nemacolin trail , (SR 40) toward Uniontown , Pa.. Cresap and his employees were ambushed on ***** Mtn.. The black frontiersman was badly wounded in the fight. At the Black fellow's request , he was left there to die at his own request in a tomb made of large rocks. No coffin , no nails , no oak splits , or anything , just a Mtn. 30 miles west of Fort Cumberland , Md. , w/his memorial on it. ........Sorry , I got off in the weeds w/that story...........oldwood

 

[Hermit Tim]

Coffin nail.........If you're going Period Correct , Most coffins in the 18th century , would have short iron square cut nails . The boards , if there was a sawmill around , would be cut thin enough to accommodate the length of the nails available. If no lumber was available , bark slabs would be pealed from an appropriate tree. The bark would be nailed togather with oak split nails. One step further , on the frontier far from civilization , no coffin , just a hole on the ground. In Western Md. , there is a mountain called ***** Mtn. . It is so named because a black frontiersman was traveling with a trader named Cresap and his crew of trader employees. They were headed west on the Deleware Indian Chief Nemacolin trail , (SR 40) toward Uniontown , Pa.. Cresap and his employees were ambushed on ***** Mtn.. The black frontiersman was badly wounded in the fight. At the Black fellow's request , he was left there to die at his own request in a tomb made of large rocks. No coffin , no nails , no oak splits , or anything , just a Mtn. 30 miles west of Fort Cumberland , Md. , w/his memorial on it. ........Sorry , I got off in the weeds w/that story...........oldwood

Good story. Thanks.

 

[oldwood]

T. Jefferson had a blacksmith shop on his Va. plantation that specialized at making all sorts of cut nails. Most every frontier blacksmith shop could make cut nails , but back in the day , perhaps the nearest blacksmith shop was 200 or more miles away. Most likely frontier era cut nails weren't cheap , either.

 

[morehops52]

Original CVA'S

 

[waksupi]

The most amazing "poor boy" , "barn gun" or whatever you wish to name it , was an original flint lock Lehigh Valley , Pa. style stock , made from a termite eaten blank . Yep , the blank was chewed by termites before the gun builder started the build. Lotsa exposed longitudinal tunnels , and all sorts of 1/16" holes. One upper r/r thimble , w/no entry pipe. Single trigger w/brass trig. guard , no butt plate , just rounded a bit at the butt. I have a passion for this rifle , and made a few similar ones...........oldwood

I used to do business with a gallery in Santa Fe, and the owner was a hobby gun builder, a very good one. He also did reproductions of mission furniture. His guns were built with him making artificial bug holes and tunnels, that you couldn't tell from the real thing. I wish I hadn't parted with the one I got from him. It's a great look, if you can pull it off.

 

[M. De Land]

A subject I often think about ....affordable , " cheap " muzzleloaders . Sorry , my affinity for the N.W. trade gun comes out in every conversation about flintlock firearms ! LOL ...I just love em for their versatility in feeding ya ... The ways of building any gun , firearm can be done the same way . Figure out what type of firearm you want , stick with that type and then over time buy each part as money becomes available ....lock stock barrel , bolts. B.P. ,trigger guard , etc. etc. The great thing about N.W. guns , sorry , is that you can make all the " furniture " instead of buying it . Ive made many serpent side plates from flat stock . The cast one is only 18 bucks but ....gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes . I want to do a thread about how to make the least expensive N.W. trade possible today ....obviously safely . I have this great original barrel that was given to.me by Ken Netting , 36" so that gun I'll have $230-240 bucks in it .... I have this awesome ORIGINAL ! Civil War rifled musket barrel that in picked up at a flea mark this spring for 10 bucks . Its been used a lot but crazy I'm.gonna make a N.W. gun out of an original barrel that probably was used in the Civil War ! Crazy ! The bore needs smoothed out a bit , just a BIT of rifling still noticeable , won't take too much ....SO ....that cool N.W. gun , .58 , will be made for approx. 250 to 300 bucks ..... See pretty neat !! Darn inexpensive !!! Also I want to go talk to one of the local machinist in the near by small town and see if he would be willing to turn a taper to my measurements on a piece of DOM steel tubing with a .625 I.D. , ie make me a barrel from scratch . I had my friend , a machinist do this for me once years ago but I want to do it again and show folks how to go about it , see if its a lot cheaper than buying a barrel from one of the current barrel makers , hopefully a LOT cheaper too ....we'll see . Will be very interesting . Document the whole build from obtaining the parts , at the cheapest prices and then the construction of the gun .... Be very interesting ....Might help some folks be able to get a useful and affordable historically accurate gun too. That'd be very cool ....

DOM (drawn over mandrel ) is not barrel certified steel and should not safely be used as such course neither is 12L14 !

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Look up Allen Martin’s Schimmel barn guns.

When correctly made, even a “poor boy” can look amazing.

I find the poor boy Southreners great guns, too.

 

[cyten]

Something a little different. Poor man’s Shishane, Miquelet from Ottoman Empire. Usually highly decorated, this one has one brass barrel band, tang cover, and strip on the butt. No butt plate, just a single nail

 

[earlwb]

I figured that a “poor man’s gun” was a military surplus item sold to the public at fire sale prices. But before then simple trade guns were likely bought by the poor too especially the more useful smoothbore guns as rifles were very expensive back then. That really took off after the Civil war when cartridge guns started becoming popular obsoleting the muzzle loaders. So they started selling off the ML guns a super low prices. Then after Both world wars military surplus guns were being sold cheap too.

Soldiers coming back from the wars starting up new families didn’t have the money for fancy new commercial guns so they bought military surplus guns instead. Plus the poor rural folks stuck with their muzzle loaders until way after WW2 too.

 

[Banjoman]

All of mine are poor man’s guns.

 

[Rob M.]

DOM (drawn over mandrel ) is not barrel certified steel and should not safely be used as such course neither is 12L14 !

DOM (drawn over mandrel ) is not barrel certified steel and should not safely be used as such course neither is 12L14 !

Oh , very interesting ! I didnt know you was a barrel maker .I'll call Ken Netting up and tell him he has been making pipe bombs for 20+ years . I sure appreciate the information bud !

 

[Rob G]

If the cap lock era is acceptable, my vote would be an under hammer of some sort. I’ve just acquired a Hopkins and Allen (Numerich Arms), and not knowing squat about them but just their engineering, I’d have to say they are about the cheapest thing to make. Two moving parts and the trigger guard for a main spring.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Where does one get a coffin nail?

Cigarette sales counter!

Larry

 

[Mike in FL]

I had a TVM SMR in walnut, .36 caliber. No embellishments at all. No side plate, toe plate, butt plate, or entry thimble. A round grease hole. Instead of a side plate, it had a single screw with a very large head. Iron mounted. I don't think they still offer it.

 

[longcruise]

Whenever poor boy discussions come up I get to wondering about the terminology. Who were all these "poor" people? People who didn't pay exorbitant taxes. People, many of whom farmed for themselves and their community. Certainly tradesmen weren't poor. Many may have been cash poor but probably did just fine in a barter economy.

So, I don't think the "poor boy" or "schimmel" guns were sought out by the poor. The actual poor probably didn't own a gun. And those who did, maybe most of those who did, probably bought an economical functional gun. That would be all that was needed and the need, the actual shooting of it was probably not frequent. Then there are the religious overtones that might have ostentatious displays looked down upon.

 

[springfield art]

Where does one get a coffin nail?

Ask at local undertaker!(joke)

 

[springfield art]

I recently "re-discovered" a Jack Garner .45 Tennessee rifle I ordered back in '76. It's delightful to hold, very slender and light. Haven't used it in years, it was hanging up for a long while, now it will be put back in action on paper targets. (I had the 42" bbl. shortened to 33" years ago, and don't regret it! )