What say you, original or not?

[Loja man]

Good morning all,
My brother-in-law is Army airborne. He was just stationed in Poland. Received this picture from him this morning. Looks be a neat little blunderbuss!! Are we looking at a gun that was originally put together from miscellaneous parts? The barrel band looks like something added later that came off of a Civil War Springfield or Enfield.

 

[Loyer]

Cheap modern made tourist gun. The lock might be real but assembled yesterday.

 

[tenngun]

By early in the nineteenth century ‘antique’ guns were being assembled mostly in Spain and Italy for mostly English and Scott’s collectors.
There were plain wheellocks used in the military. Hard work a day guns. At times these were taken and fancied up.
Turks were next on the line, and they too turned old plain janes into fine ladies.
And to meet demand new old guns were built from scratch or using old parts mixed with new.
It’s hard to date such a gun as yours.
Failure to meet a style doesn’t mean it wasn’t old built. One of a kind assembled parts did have a market.
While it may be nothing but tourist product it could be a real used gun or a repaired and restocked gun.
I would lean to tourist trap, but even then made with real old parts.

 

[Loyer]

Put it on the wall for display but what ever you do, never ever attempt to shoot it. (Or at least bump up your life insurance policy before hand).

 

[Sam squanch]

If it’s cheap, buy it for just the lock! It looks like the real deal!

 

[TDM]

Agree with @Sam squanch, if the price is right the lock would be nice to have.

 

[Eterry]

For comparison. Here I am holding an original verified English Blunderbuss at The Rifle Shoppe. I believe it was an 8 bore.

It was surprisingly heavy.

 

[Loja man]

As far as I know, he did not buy it. Not even sure if he would be interested in buying. He knew my interests and was sharing the picture with me. To me it looked very rough. Somewhat cobbled together but you do see such things in old guns. I was curious what others thought. He mentioned there being no visible markings but sometimes there are not .
I agree that the lock looks the most legit. That said I’m not in a place to start collecting loose components for a build.
I should have asked him how much they wanted for it to just satisfy my curiosity!

 

[Loja man]

I just heard back from him. They were asking 236 American dollars.

 

[user 48679]

I've never seen a blunderbuss with a half stock or a barrel flared like that.

 

[Eterry]

To me, it looks more like the end of a musical instrument, horn of some kind.
It screams Khyber Pass to me.

 

[Stantheman86]

It looks like it has a Mosin-Nagant M91 barrel band or possibly an Enfield rifle-musket band it's hard to tell

I wouldn't even mess with that , unless like was said you could get it for 100 bucks for the lock and that barrel band

 

[Conquerordie]

I think they call them Dags. By what makes you happy I say

 

[Rudyard]

By early in the nineteenth century ‘antique’ guns were being assembled mostly in Spain and Italy for mostly English and Scott’s collectors.
There were plain wheellocks used in the military. Hard work a day guns. At times these were taken and fancied up.
Turks were next on the line, and they too turned old plain janes into fine ladies.
And to meet demand new old guns were built from scratch or using old parts mixed with new.
It’s hard to date such a gun as yours.
Failure to meet a style doesn’t mean it wasn’t old built. One of a kind assembled parts did have a market.
While it may be nothing but tourist product it could be a real used gun or a repaired and restocked gun.
I would lean to tourist trap, but even then made with real old parts.

Yes many plain Janes got gussied up & old parts bone/stag inlays ect reused got up by the likes of Earnst Smitt & others for the collectors .Like Wallace who went for pretty & not too studied . Plus many arms of all sorts got made to grace the walls of Newly rich Cotton Mill owners ect who felt they needed old armours to make their grand houses look more stately than they where to give the look of old Money..& breeding .Many grand Museums house such got up pieces its needs a gunmakers Eye to pick them. I was once paid to do just that . .Rudyard

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

It's Mideastern. Some wher there, maybe north African. Maybe 1850 to 1920.

 

[Loyer]

More like 1950 to 2020 ! The parts may or may not be old but the assembly is strictly tourist trade.

 

[Eterry]

It's hard to tell size with 2 Dimensions, but it appears way too small a serious Blunderbuss. The barrel looks to be about twice as long as the lock. That's a huge amount of belling on the barrel.

 

[Rudyard]

Dear Loyer . While you may be bang on correct I have learned not to be dogmatic in such cases humans don't allways do the logical and of all guns blunderbusses got put together with all sorts of odd mixed bits . The photo isn't that detailed it probably is a fake but without a better pic its my guess its Levant region as like as any . They liked the absurd trumpet muzzles . Which incidentally are not the simplest barrel form to make my guess they might be forced hot over some thing like a Boiler tube mandril gets to form the enlarged end to the oversize needed ere its placed in for beading into the tube plate . A job I've done myself steam & black powder being related elliments (Both defy the instant push a button approach . You have to coax them.)
Regards Rudyard

 

[Auldjin]

I am not an expert on the matter and I certainly would not pass judgement but there are a couple of points in the item'
s favour.

First, the band obviously is wrong, but the stock has been cut back so the barrel cannot be secured by a pin (the redundant fixing on the barrel is visible.

I don't think the proportions or barrel shape are unacceptable for an Ottoman "knee blunderbuss". Here is mine for comparison,

 

[rickpa]

Buy the butcher blade bayonet second to the left of it.