HOW MUCH? - Qua Libra? .. CALIBRE. - Don't be DAFTE

 John Dafte of London was a gunmaker in the 1660-1670 era who is said by some to have made the FIRST Breech loading handgun ..

A captive screw barrel ..

And an early REVOLVER Snaphance gun by John DAFTE

I'm just passing this on .. as a matter of interest. - What do I know?

The modern spelling of CALIBER is the same word as CALIBRE and there are some who say     that it comes from QUA LIBRE - the Latin for 'How Much?' .. sounds reasonable to me, having been taught Latin during my first year at Grammar School I can still recite amo amas amat amamus amatis amant - that's all there is for an 11 year old to know about LOVE.

____________

So .. who needs a barrel anyway?

I'm not going to say anything here other than you can read this story ...

https://gunsmagazine.com/discover/who-needs-a-barrel/

- Been snubbed lately?

NOW .. Those of us with more curiosity than brains should be prepared to find that a bullet fired without any barrel - may well EXPAND from the gas pressure impacting it's base while unconfined by the bore of a gun.

PISTOL & REVOLVER DIGEST Published 1976

The year I escaped from UK weather and came to New Zealand

Publishers back then were not so frightened of being sued by dumbass morons who injure themselves.

Interesting eh

UPSET or EXPANDED Bullets fired from very short revolvers - NO Barrel = INERTIA but No friction.

It's all been done before

DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME.

Boiling water may be HOT - SALTED PEANUTS may contain Peanuts.

Marty K.

Working on an 'Ottoman' FLINTLOCK:

 Delivered LOADED .. mud wasp nest + ball & powder indicate this charcoal burner has been inactive somewhere for many years: I'm so much happier now that the bore is clear - but there seems still to be a ring of lead from the ball remaining right at the bottom - where the 'spike' of the auger prevents the cutter going flat to the plug .. 

I cut-off that spike and flat bottomed the auger to remove the last bits of the lead ball, - then using a dowel wrapped in Scotch-Bright abrasive, polished the surface rust from the "smooth" bore.

Small thing, but I've now placed an antique "Brown Bess" flint into the jaws and it sparks OK .. a giant step for man ..

I bought an old Sterling Silver dish to cut and fit a replacement escutcheon for the one missing from back face of the stock ..

How difficult can that be?

Well the answer is difficult .. for me anyway. I sweated bricks cutting into the silver dish with old 'tin-snips' that I first needed to sharpen with a file - then I leaked in panic as I tried to cut, bend and file the thin silver "escutcheon" to shape & size - then I got myself into a right sticky mess mixing, applying and manoeuvering that silver leaf into place while trying to hold it down tight before the two-part 5 minute epoxy set up into it's death grip. - I seem to have ruined another wooly jumper with splodges of epoxy glue in at least three patches of my puku (beer belly in te reo maori) - and my shirt is now a grubby sweaty mess.

- Was it worth it? ..

Rough Enough.

- Oh Yeah .. that 100 plus year old powder charge that had been pooped-on by a mud wasp - wet with CRC - then soaked in water still managed to crackle & pop on my laundry back step .. smelling a bit like a pommie burnt-banger barbecue:

Next task is to give the whole thing a good wipe-down before a light coating of oily wax gently polished on. - All good, what's next?

Marty K.

"What's the Diff" .. Antique or 'Wall Hanger'?

 How can you tell if an old dirty rusty Flintlock is a genuine antique or a fake .. did I just pay dollars for an artfully aged modern repro from the tribal zone of the Indian Continent?

I honestly don't have the answer as I'm very recent into buying old shooters. - AND if you bought this gun, at a price you could afford, because it looks genuine and is made from traditional steel, copper alloy & wood - how can you lose? .. probably you could shoot it either way, with moderate loads.

"Bird-Mouth" or "Fish-Mouth" Muzzle.

I posted this image on-line asking could anyone name this style of flintlock muzzle form, only to be told this .. "I suspect it is a tourist trade wall hanger trying to look like a blunderbuss"

Maybe .. if you can't recognise cast POT METAL and plastic when you see it .. THIS is not either

Here is a useful article from the NRA Museum called 'FAKE' by Jim Supica:

https://www.nramuseum.org/gun-info-research/fake!.aspx

.. But be warned that they reference RL Wilson as an 'expert' with collectible Colts .. well he was an expert thief, liar, forger and con-artist. He definately knew his stuff .. You need to watch this Wilson expose' from C&RSENAL ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq8yHzNF3

Enough Patina for an Expert?

When I get an old gun - I want to clean it and remove any active rust before waxing surfaces to protect - and then lubricate moving parts. If there are broken & missing parts I try to fix it. 

- Problem .. these experts say that signs of corrective work and preservation are evidence of fakery ...

I dispute that - how would any genuine firearm survive from antiquity, 200+ years without damage, maintenance & repairs - that would mean only an investment piece kept as a safe queen for centuries would qualify as 'genuine'?

Variables again .. are your priorities MONEY or your interest and use of various kinds of guns?

I have seen an interesting FLINLOCK TINDER LIGHTER complete with remains of a beeswax candle .. that could be either a centuries old 'antique' or a "modern" unmarked Italian reproduction that ceased manufacture in the 1960's so might be only 70 years old.

An "expert" would need to take metalurgy samples and examine perhaps for machining marks etc. - Oh to be aged 'only' 70 years old again ..

Marty K.

Use Of Nitrocellulose Propellant in Black Powder Guns

 EEEK  

.. Now I'm not going to repeat that this can be extemely DANGEROUS - Nor am I recommending that anyone ever experiments at using 'smokeless powder' in any blackpowder firearm or cartridge. - 'Needs Must' - The key to understanding is awareness of VARIABLES.

But .. I just watched Jake from 'Everything Blackpowder' demonstrate shooting a percussion revolver he loaded with mixed powders. Another of his excellent videos - linked here ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPbXOLQr40A

His video is thought provoking and very interesting to watch. Full Stop.

- Going back in time, there used to be, from around 1900-1945ish various brands of .22" Rim Fire ammunition using 'LESMOK' that was a "Crossover" transitional powder that was something like a mixture of BLACK POWDER & NITROCELLULOSE .. possibly nitrated wood pulp was the base propellant.

Now this 'LESMOKE' powder was in a semi-smokeless cartridge using around 10-20% smokeless powder to it's advantage BUT it was still  dirty stuff  and corrosive to shoot .. They used more powerful VERY CORROSIVE MERCURIC PRIMING COMPOUNDS - because the smokeless powders were less easily ignited than the charcoal-saltpeter stuff.

- Later the makers Winchester changed the priming chemicals and renamed this blended powder range 'STAYNLESS'.

I understand that other cartridges were loaded by manufacturers with blended mixed powder at the time so this clearly shows that the simple prohibitive DIRE WARNING to never use smokeless powder in black powder guns may be questioned by thoughtful shooters.

And it seems that - to this day - the real BIG BORE ORDNANCE on warships actually are loaded with a little old fashioned mixed Gunpowder to set-off the main nitrocellulose charges ..

All I'm suggesting is that - if you know what you are carefully doing .. variations of the generally accepted RULES may work.

I had a mate once who became a millionaire and he would say "Every practical problem has got a practical solution .. The only REAL problem is people." 

Marty K.

Israel has More Nuke Ability Than Britain:

Wintertime STOP PRESS:

 New Zealand Police records show that 60% of criminal cases considered for action are now dropped due to lack of funding and resources. - Pretty good odds to be a Criminal Nutter eh - 60% likely NOT to be prosecuted even before going to Court and being dealt with and given a plastic ankle bracelet.

How do you feel about the current restrictions on lawful civilian ownership of guns?

New Zealand's "Mother Country" - GREAT BRITAIN has four nuclear submarines Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant, & Vengeance. - Each of these aging rusty vessels from the '90s could carry some 128 nuclear warheads - but their deployment & use is entirely at the whim of USA ..

Faslane Scotland September 2023

“If the US pulled the plug on the UK nuclear program, - Trident would be immediately unable to fire, making these submarines little more than expensive, undersea follies.”

So much for UK.

Israel, - a NUCLEAR POWER currently in the process of killing 35,000 Palestinians - is believed to have between 80-400 nuclear weapons deliverable by missile - aircraft, submarines and by land forces - produced independently - under the direct control of PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

This Israeli nuclear capability goes a long way to explain the lack of any aggressive action by her Muslem neighbours and Iran .. so far.

Another British NATO ally - FRANCE has around 300 operational nuclear warheads and they are currently commiting to send an army Battalion of 2,000 men to Ukraine to oppose RUSSIAN FORCES .. Good Luck to all of us with that enterprise.

- Russia maintains around 15 nuclear submarines in the Pacific Ocean at all times.

In January 2019, the Russian Navy announced plans to procure at least 30 Poseidon NUCLEAR WEAPON CAPABLE unmanned underwater vehicles, deployed on four submarines, two of which would serve in the Russian Northern Fleet and two in the Pacific Fleet.

- Who can say what the U S, Chinese, Indian navies are up to?

Are you feeling nicely secure?

Marty K.

Up the Spout with an Antique FLINTLOCK:

.625 Caliber "Stopping Power 😮".. This piece landed on my front step recently .. Good One. - It wasn't cheap - as usual, I paid too much eh.

How did I get to be almost 80 before getting a FLINTLOCK ? 

- Well I reckon it's from the Ottoman world - possibly around 200+ y.o. - The LOCK, Cock & Frizzen bits strike me as being wholly genuine and of decent quality - and the wood & barrel look honest, whereas the rest of it's furniture is a bit crude. It ain't no Tower Service pistol .. but it sure has big balls .. around .625 inch bore.

"Patina": As received this antique was a little rusty and had 'pimply splodges' of black carbon/rust solids stuck on the steel - it was dirty and in need of 'TLC'. - DIRT is not Patina.

This thing seemed to have been washed or wiped all over with 'Brass Blacking'.

I had started to give it a clean and brush-up & de-grunge - when I thought I must check down the barrel just in case it was loaded - It had come from an antique shop. - I cut a length of dowel and checked with a tape - only to find that the dowel was solidly blocked 60 mm before the vent. That's SIX BLOODY CENTIMETERS of something nasty and hard lurking in the bottom of the bore.

I started chiseling out what seems to be solid sawdust and fabric imbedded in rusty mortar - Is there a 20 gauge lead ball underneath, sitting on top of a charge of old gun powder?

How can you shine a torch and look down a long barrel without pointing the damn thing at your brain?

- Dunno if you can see in my pics - that eleven inch barrel pipe is round at the muzzle BUT it gradually 'morphs' into a eight sided exterior before the lock, with faded engraving - did they hammer forge that back in the 18th Century? 

- NZ ecologists announce that they have found SMEAGOL SEA SLUGS (gravel maggots) on a beach south of Dunedin .. I'm hoping I don't find one in the bottom of my flintlock's barrel .. The SANDWORMS OF DUNE 2.

NZ Gravel Maggot Smeagol:

I almost need a jackhammer as so far I've chipped-out 1 cm and extracted this ..

This extracted 'infill' from the barrel might, 

perhaps be from a "Mud Wasp" nest?

. BUT there is a suspiciously rounded metallic surface emerging .. Uh Oh.

If that ball measures 5/8 inch dia .. my sums suggest there could be 11/4 inch of powder below.

The good aspect of this loaded condition is that it conclusively proves this gun is NOT a tourist item. - Plus, looking at the next image, you can see the scrapes above the flash pan where flints have impacted the barrel when firing ..

Can anyone suggest what this engraved word is? Namuomiu ?? - What language ?

-Your guess will be better than mine.

I made an extended shaft DRILL and a long woodscrew with a L Handle to pull this ball by using steel rod that had collars pressed-on .. from an old camp-cot. I 'glued' a center drill into one collar and a woodscrew into another, bent to form a handle, using SELLEYS' KNEAD it - a sort of epoxy putty that smells like old canned sardines in oil.

Well ... THAT didn't work. -The epoxy putty was OK but the woodscrew eventually just pulled right on out of that soft lead ball jammed way down that tube ..TWICE.

- Now the answer has proved to be a new Bunnings 12mmx380mm Auger Bit (Made in China) in a vintage 'cranked brace' - to drill through the lead followed by a bit of poking about ..

I Wonder If That Powder Will Work ..

What a load of crap I bought there ! - but I can now blow air down the clear bore and out the vent & I've got a safe tube to clean and de-rust ..

THE END

Marty K.