Smoothbore Picture Thread. Please Post!

[Rifleman1776]

Can't tell from the pic. Is that the specimen gun you brought here?

 

[rickystl]

Hi all. These are fun Threads. You get to see such a variety of cool guns. Here's one of my favorites:
English Fowler/Officers Fusil by Mike Brooks. 41" X .62 Long Hammock barrel. Just over 6-lbs. Rick.

 

[Rifleman1776]

OK, for the record. Here is my Jackie Brown fowler. 20 ga. 31" barrel. Was ordered with 36" barrel but came 31". Do wish it were 36" to give more 'hang' and a more natural swing. Oh, well.

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[rickystl]

Here's another one: Centermark Tulle. Rick.

 

[rickystl]

Here's another one: Early English Fishtail Musket by Leonard Day.

 

[rickystl]

Here is another favorite: Original Spanish Carbine, early 19th Century. New smoothbore barrel liner by Bobby Hoyt.

 

[robinghewitt]

Can't tell from the pic. Is that the specimen gun you brought here?

I wish it was one of my many specimen guns by Durs Egg, sadly it is my only specimen gun by anyone :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[Silky921]

 

[Eric Krewson]

A close friend gave me his trade gun built from a Gostomsky kit in the 70s when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A fun gun to shoot.



Shoots round ball fairly well;

 

[bpd303]

My newest, a 16 gauge flintlock double barrel made by J.T. Phillips.

 

[wattlebuster]

Cool guns guys :thumbsup: :bow: Keep em coming

 

[rickystl]

OK. Here's another: European Blunderbuss by Mike Brooks. 11 gauge Ben Coogle barrel. :hatsoff:

 

[KHickam]

 

[Stophel]

A German (lock marked inside "SV/LA" for Suhl) half stocked bird gun done in the Spanish style. I'll say around 1720? Lock looks earlier. About .50 caliber, can't weigh much more than five pounds, handles wonderfully. No, I don't shoot it!

 

[robinghewitt]

I like the risqué ramrod entry carving. Most excellent :shocked2: :grin:

 

[rickystl]

Super cool gun. I have a soft spot for Spanish guns, and that's a nice one. Thanks for posting. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[rickystl]

OK, here's another: Original Japanese Matchlock. Now a .55 smoothbore with new barrel liner from Bobby Hoyt. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[matthew.heilgmail.com]

That's a beautiful gun, Stophel (even in a thread full of beautiful guns), could you give us a full length view of it?

 

[hanshi]

This one has been posted before and can't really hold much of a candle to many of those posted here. It's a 20ga early American smoothbore, 38" barrel, with a Chambers Colonial Va lock. It has a rear sight and shoots great with prb or bare ball. It also shoots well with shot and the rear sight actually helps. This gun was built by Matt Avance and the stock has nice flame & stripes not visible in this pic.

 

[Stophel]

Here it is with the 1820s Massachusetts rifle, and a German (? Flemish?) bird gun from about 1760... or what's left of it.

The front rod pipe was missing, and I have one temporarily stuck on, but sooner or later I'll get around to making a proper one to go on. The base for it is really long, so I will assume it had a double front rod pipe. Otherwise, in wonderfully original condition. Scraper marks are evident on the stock, just a beautiful hand worked surface. The gun is well used, but not abused. The lock is definitely worn out, but it does still spark. I took the breechplug out and it's about 7/16" long, and the threads were probably about 14 TPI, I'd guess. Just a little coarser than most modern threads, but not by much. It was lightly notched for the touch hole. The touch hole is in fine shape, and though I haven't measured it, it is still under 3/32", and it is coned on the inside. The barrel is L I G H T, and lightly swamped, the breech being about 1", the muzzle about 3/4", and the middle just shy of 3/4". The barrel is completely brown except for one small spot on the bottom inside the brass nose cap, where a little clean area of bright shiny temper blue remains. It would have been a bright and colorful gun when brand new. :wink:

The 1760's gun is in a little rougher shape. When I got it, the barrel had a rib screwed onto the bottom of it, and had a bad reconversion to flint. I'll eventually get the lock back in better shape, but it's not high on my list of priorities. The barrel, of course, was originally several inches longer. There is also a trap in the butt to hold a bayonet (a minor fad in the 18th century), no, the bayonet is long gone, unfortunately. Another gun that handles beautifully. I have photos of another gun, a rifle, that is very obviously by the same maker (the stock and most of the carving is identical, the hardware is similar, but not the same pattern). The lock is marked with the maker's name ("A. Mercier a Liege", which may be the maker of the gun, or just the lock, which is a flat faced lock). The engraving on my gun is FLAWLESS. No crossed lines, no bad places, nothing. Perfect, even to my VERY discerning eye. I guess when all you do is gun engraving, all day, every day, you ought to get good at it. :wink: Both the lock and the hardware may have been made in the gunsmith's shop, or they could well have simply been purchased from elsewhere. I do not know.

more photos can be seen here: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Fatdutchman/library/Original Flintlocks/GermanFowler?sort=3&page=1
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Fatdutchman/library/Original Flintlocks/SpanishStyle?sort=3&page=1