You Pretty old 40 cal 'Pom' ..

 I sort of accidently bought this 1840's British made Percussion pistol .. it is a 'turn-off' - Cannon Barrel, Boxlock "Muff Pistol" with some real fancy  silver wire inlay  on the stock. - But I'm now so pleased that I got it, as it is such a nice thing. - The standard of metalwork is finely precise and detailed.  The steel (Iron?) metal is so hard you can feel it shining my Swiss Files as they cut AND - it is so well made. 

- How come such hard steel corroded SO badly .. was it case-hardened?

As delivered this gun had deep corrosion and all-over surface rusting. Where might it have been stored? .. dumped for years in some damp cellar in a salt mine?

A Delicate 185 year love token💝pistol for a Victorian Lady - Mistress or 'consort'.

- I've already made a start cleaning-up the Trigger Guard.

Now this piece has issues - some absolutely horrible rust corrosion of the barrel inside & out .. I think this once beautiful barrel looks to be SCRAP.

Muzzle as bought online auction ..

Someone please tell me I've ruined it's "Collector Value".

 - I was viewing images of it on the auction site considering just what the hell - if anything - could be best done to save this old thing .. maybe build-up the metal with weld or machine it all off and replace with steel sleeves - But the most simple solution is to just turn-up a completely NEW BARREL on the lathe and finish it appropriately. That would be easiest.

I waited until the last minutes of the online auction before putting up a throw-away extra $5 bid and it won. That surprised me ..

The pretty silver inlay decoration is missing in several places of the left side & top - meaning I have a repair job to do. I have to buy jeweller's Silver wire and learn how to use it to inlay into a once lovely pistol stock. This was old time skilled artistry.

AliExpress China offer various silver wires at reasonable cost while YouTube or Google have instructions on how to use it .. so what's the delay then?

The original domed screws are undamaged excepting the one fixing the stock to the bottom tang - so it will be seized-rusty .. I have been using my Chinese 'Swiss' files to excise the bubbling scabs of iron-corruption from this once fine barrel - and it now looks better than the corroded mess received ..

'Trust The RUST' .. Pitting is still HORRIBLE but better than it was ..

I guess I'm now hoping that there might be some barrel life remaining?

- In case you were wondering - I just checked .. NONE of these antique gun barrels can be interchanged as they each have different threads .. not much standardization in mid 19th century.

I'll do a "follow-up" showing my efforts with SILVER INLAY repair work and maybe a replacement barrel before I get too old ..

Marty K.

Big Bore Barrels, Boxes & BAD News.

22 Bore or .59 inch or 1.5 cm. ? .. Bigger than a .45 anyway

RUST to RICHES ..Was it worth the effort?

I still need to find a proper top screw ..

 

I like to research my facts before pecking at the keyboard letters - but I think I may have to give that up as a bad idea - reading modern writing that is .. Some joker called Dave Emary in Guns & Ammo July 2021 got paid for one of the crappiest editorial pieces on 'Cap & Ball Revolvers' that I've ever read. - He reckoned they are "anemic" and "tedious to load"  while observing that "the cylinders hold about 30 to 35 grains of blackpowder" .. and "cylinders may be .001" or .002" larger than a revolvers groove diameter". Link to this nonsensical crap:

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/cap-ball-revolver-history/394130

- Better try reading 1950's Sixguns by Elmer Keith eh ..

"For its size and weight nothing is so deadly as the round ball of pure lead when driven at fairly good velocity. Maximum loads give these slugs fairly high velocity from a 7 1/2 inch barrel gun. Both Major R. E. Stratton and Samuel H. Fletcher told me the .36 Navy with full loads was a far better man killer than any .38 Special they had ever seen used in gun fights."

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/keith-article-on-cap-and-ball-pistols-long.11474/

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I definately am NO expert but it seems likely that Boxlock actions in pistols date from, maybe 1730ish as carry gun Pocket Pistols aka "Boot Pistols" - with their parts protected inside the chassis - rather than mounted outside on a 'lock-plate'.

Naturally, these first boxlocks were FLINTLOCK guns - until the CAPLOCK percussion ignition guns were developed 100 years later - around 1820.

- Three of mine .. 

I fully understand that as collectibles these blackpowder boxlocks are rated as barely one degree above "Saturday Night Specials" - But there's a superbly good reason why I like Box-Lock Percussion Pistols ... I can  AFFORD TO BUY (fix) AND OWN THEM.

Likely they will cost here in NZ around three or five times more than in UK and what you might find in USA but they can be found down here in New Zealand and bought as 'antiques' free of licensing restrictions as long as you don't plan on shooting them at all. - This restriction might be wise - as some neglected offerings seem to be rust corroded and non-functional anyway.  Most of these that I see are smooth bore and commentaters like to observe that these will be inaccurate. NOT SO .. only at longer ranges, say over fifty feet - is rifling beneficial to even-out any projectile irregularity due weight and balance.

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Yes I have bought another double-barrelled one .. functional hammers but looks like shit .. all surface rust corrosion and seized barrels, black painted stock, loose trigger guard and wrong screws - but beggers can't be choosers and I get it to enjoy working on improving it.

This Latest buy is a BIG Boy - maybe 22 Bore (.596 inch) 15mm. 

Note the black painted grip ..

Advertised as a "shotgun pistol likely Liege Belgium made" .. but there are London 'view marks' .. if the CROWN over V markings under the barrel are genuine.

Rust & London View Proofs?

- These are 'Turn Off' breach loading barrels that are solidly seized in place. - First I removed the stock & boiled the iron lump with a change of water after 15 minutes - removing the crud and trying to convert the red rust to black oxides, which doesn't seem to work very well for me ..

Putting it aside for the seized barrels to soak in CRC - I have sanded-off the BLACK PAINT covering the walnut stock using fine 'Wet'n'Dry' to expose some sort of white filler BOG and an area of solid plastic wood that I'll stain & re-finish back close to the original walnut ..

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- So I'm cooking away with the butane torch to unseize the first barrel - trying to shift it at higher & higher temperatures in stages .. when at last it gives a little - BUT just as I smile in relief .. I catch the sweet pine resin smell of ROSIN soft solder FLUX.

- That screw-off barrel is not seized - IT IS SOLDERED in place.

That revelation is a message to LEAVE  IT  AS  IT  IS. Full Stop. - Cease all removal work on these tubes. This is an instance of  Red Line issues when buying old second hand goods .. Does everything always go right? - Does my screw driver sometimes slip and gouge a long scratch into the polished walnut? For sure - but we can fix it mostly.

- But this solid looking Big Boy does look somewhat better than before, it being a handsome fight stopper - something like an maxi 'Derringer' or perhaps even a Lancaster big-bore pistol, suited for colonial warfare and use against Tigers & Cape Buffalo ..

- Any identification help would be valued ..

Marty K.

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.

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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.