Old Guns - New Money ..

 The Remington New Model Army "1858" 6 shot Percussion 44 Revolver was made from around 1863 to 1875 and was offered for sale to the Union Army for a reasonable $15 each. 

My nice example, bought some six months ago here in New Zealand - may have been from a batch sold-off as surplus from PENSACOLA Navy Base, Florida, in 1873, for $2.50 each.

I remember grimacing in pain while transfering the "buy now" price to the private museum selling this antique .. but I justified that cost knowing that these original revolvers are far from common here in New Zealand as OFF REGISTER antiques .. not capable of firing metallic cartridges.

 - $4,500

As I write this - there is another one on trademe offered with a 'Buy Now' price of  $7,250

I guess that this exemplifies the dreaded inflation - explained as being either that 'stuff' keeps on costing more .. or, any money you keep under your mattress loses worth every time you get into bed - until you just give it all to the grandkids ..

One way to beat inflation might be to buy quality items that you enjoy .. such as classic cars - Ferraris, Manx Norton motorcycles, or fake oil-on-canvas paintings

or, if your investment income consists of Superannuation from WINZ .. try rusty old pop-pops from the past. Such item might just prove useful at Armageddon.

I'm not claiming my Remington revolver is the same, better (or poorer) than the one on offer .. but it is of similar value as a collectable - and the asking price does appear to be rising sharply. Naturally, nothing says the vendor will actually GET his asking price either ..

When I ditched my lovely, - fully licensed and Registered, as new, Ruger SP101 in 327 Federal Magnum - it sold at a heavy loss at around one quarter of what it cost to import and register with NZ Police.

The bottom fell-out of the LICENSED FIREARMS MARKET in New Zealand - as the direct result of prohibitive punitive rushed law changes following the Christchurch Mosque Massacre.

I auctioned that fine accurate, four inch 32 caliber revolver - the last of my 'restricted weapons' - because my rising years and falling eyesight made me decide to let my Firearms Licence lapse.

Marty K.

There you go - Life IS Good

Just because something is old does NOT mean that it is useless ..

- Interested in the POWER obtained from old matchlock/tinderlock 16th Century 'Arquebuses' ? - Well watch this and be surprised ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC2mGsiSFZ4

M.

Something New - Kel-Tec PR57 Pistol:

 I've been looking at SHOT SHOW 2025 reports for any news of innovative developments in small arms for the future ..  ..

Well that was a waste of time eh.

- Except there is one interesting, high capacity, .22 small caliber STRIPPER feed semi-auto pistol from Kel-Tec chambered in 5.7x28mm. - TWENTY ROUNDS CAPACITY.

Restricted Magazine Capacity? - try NO Magazine For Size ..

Maybe that's not the point - as the PR57 is a very slim .94 inch and lightweight carry gun. That's under an inch wide versus a Glock 19 at over an inch and a quarter - that could prove popular in USA .. but that cartridge - which is now a NATO approved Personal Defence Weapon PDW standard round, - designed to replace the 9x19 pistol caliber, is also interesting.

Bottle Necked cartridges are said to FEED more reliably ..

The 5.7x28mm is around a THIRD smaller and lighter than the 9mm NATO cartridge which is a factor in military considerations. - Military Generals want their operatives to be able to carry as many rounds as possible to achieve MAXIMUM KILL RATE (MKR) under all circumstances.

- This 'Two-Two' center fire round pushes it's bullets well above 2,000 ft per sec .. say from 2,300 to 2,800 feet per second with less recoil, - which is nice - but with horrific LOUD REPORT & MUZZLE FLASH.

- Should be great for Hearing Aid sales and incapacity benefits .. You'd have to be a loony to shoot one of these things without an auto-darkening welding screen and both earplugs AND ear defenders clamped on your skull.

A very nasty little cartridge for nasty applications .. that apparantly is being increasingly adopted by U S Police Departments.

The projectiles TUMBLE in soft tissue while rapidly dumping energy - thus helping solve over penetration issues in crowded 'hoods.

Is this the future?

- Or some enterprising maker needs to introduce a more pistol friendly 5.7x28mm cartridge with less powder wasting blast and maybe heavier, blunter pills ..

Marty K.

Greased Leather, Woodie Grips:

I got this tan leather 'Doc Holiday' holster rig made for my antique '1858' Remington New Model Army .44 built 1863. 

- Holster made & listed by standingbull on trademe. - Now I'm not showing you this to skite about it but to suggest that you jokers consider the value of LANOLIN natural sheep's wool grease ..

This Leather has been 'Dressed' twice with Lanolin

Now I got this new leather wrap to protect and store the original old sixgun from dings & dust .. so I wanted to "dress" the leather inside & out with some kind of anti-corrosive lube - as I have heard about the acids used to 'tan' raw leather causing the dreaded RUST to guns left laying around in holsters.

I wanted to use natural product, - LANOLIN is the grease washed-out of raw sheep's wool after harvesting, and you don't see any rusty sheep around - even on New Zealand's wild and wet 'West Coast' eh. - I understand I could try a silicone product or whatever .. No guarantee that what I'm doing will bring everlasting peace & happiness into your world - but I'm trying.

LANOLIN is 97% long chain waxy esters

Lanolin is sold as a cosmetic skin care product AND IT WORKS. - I have it for my old hands and I blended some into my black powder lube made from Bee's Wax & Rape Seed Oil.

The pot of grease was by my chair when I attacked the scratched varnish & dings on the grip of this affordable antique Pocket Pistol with 0000 steel wool wetted with methylated spirits (alcohol) .. so after giving the woodie a good rub and a rest to recover I polished it with the lanolin and it came up well.

It looks great doesn't it? - much improved, but be aware this is an animal product.

I like the stuff and it's 'local' - But you may not like using it or might even be allergic .. who knows?

Life is good 

Marty K.

Eccentric Grubby Old Boxes:

 .. That's called "Click Bait" eh

If you take a gander (which means "to stretch one's neck to see, like a male goose") at these three BOX LOCK Percussion Pocket Pistols you will observe some differences ..

A weird thing - that gun in the middle is likely the most poorly made antique pistol that I have, 

BUT it's my current favourite, because it realy fits comfortably into my hand & trigger reach

- That's an empty propellant tin

- All three of these cheap antiques have octagonal barrels

- the first from the left has it's HAMMER centralised in the action

- the second - middle - percussion pistol has it's HAMMER offset towards the right (eccentric)

- the third box-lock has it's HAMMER placed so far to the right as to be outside of the boxlock and is a 'SIDELOCK' gun. (- And it has a hidden trigger that drops when cocked).

Now I've no idea what the mid 19th century makers had on their minds when they chose their specialty pattern to make .. probably "This is going to make me rich" - but experts write that it's all about facilitating sighting - which I seriously doubt, as these everyday carry pocket pistols were close range repellents .. "GET OFF ME" guns, not target pistols. - Just marketing? but interesting.

Now, - these mid 19th century Pocket Pistols or Muff Pistols are - sort of - the European version of American Derringers (these 3 percussion guns pictured are English Birmingham proofed, unknown, & Belgian, Leige stamped) and are sensibly 'smooth bored' - But, you Jokers naturally will know that all genuine Deringers have 'back-lock' actions and rifled barrels.

Why would anyone increase the friction losses by cutting rifling into a short range handgun?

As far as I can gather - the first 'BOX LOCK' pistol appeared around 1730 - being a flintlock - and the first turn-off barrels on pistols date back to 1640ish.

The very FIRST hand cannon 火铳 known is Chinese and dated to 1288. (They got to Europe by 1364).

Henry Deringer claimed to have made his first 'Deringer type pistol' in 1825 .. so it was quite an old design that became popular there for killing presidents.

____________

Now - the second bent feature of box-locks - that has taken me years to notice - is that these 'boxes' containing the actions are NOT square and parallel sided - but they are tapered from back to front.

Yes I am slow witted .. but I never gave it a thought .. moi just being assumptive I guess

These boxes get tighter the further you go up ..

they are not as "low budget" as I thought

I've owned that Mitutoyu vernier caliper for nearly 65 years and can still read it - I wonder how many of the new digital versions might work in 65 years time?

Putting it simply - these pistols are basic & very useful tools. Modern thinking versus the olden times .. Back then these pistols were everyday carry by respectable adults - whereas now we BAN GUNS rather than raise disciplined trustworthy and responsible citizens and permanently removing dangerous deviant scum from society.

- Talking about deviant scum .. If you ever wonder about Democracy and who rules the world - Consider that Elon Musk being 'worth' some 421 Billion Dollars - bought the American government - for just TWO DAYS of his income and every other Western nation's venal leadership would likely cost even less.

Even so, Life is good,

Marty K.

New Old Shooting Stuff:

Will FB remove my content yet again? - We will see.

I've been 'at it' again - buying antique Black Powder gear .. "Old Junk" as my ex would say

The double sided in-line capper, - tin of ELEY percussion caps, and the powder measure are part of one lot of stuff - while the pistol size Powder Flask was separate, as was the muzzle loading Pocket Pistol ..

All You Need Now Is an 'original' Box, eh Mate ..

I had to make a new stopper for the brass Powder Flask from a piece of pine dowel rod - as the cap was just flopping loose, - while the vendors description of two rusty percussion pistols said "in need of attention as non functional with seized triggers" - I got lucky with this one as - after drilling out the frozen top grip screw to remove the stock - I spotted that the main spring had slipped to the right and it now works positively like a bought 'un after levering the spring back to its central operating location.

This anonymous  "Muff" Pistol has no makers mark nor Proof stamps .. but has the number 46 stamped on the hammer, trigger guard, trigger, & box lock action. Interestingly this everyday old lump has a fixed barrel rather than a 'turn-off' - but the hammer is offset to the right for sighting by steadily squinting along the barrel maybe.

Yes I understand that I have RUINED any collector value by scraping-off all the rust, patina & filing gouges and by re-finishing it to some degree when restoring it's function .. but it was stuffed useless corroded scrap when bought and I prefer owning a decent WORKING antique. - The kids can throw it all away after the cremation party eh 😀

I'm not that concerned about the $$ value of these collectors items as most of the fun is in the fixing but I reckon these antique off licence pistols and percussion revolvers have risen in asking price by around 50% every year in the last few here in New Zealand - whereas used Registered firearms seem to have halved or worse in value, as licensed shooters drop-out and sell-off everything they treasured at a loss. - Makes them more affordable for the stickered recreational chemists I suppose ..

Life is Good eh,

Marty K.