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Removable Stock Muzzleloader

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Dave Wallis

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I've recently acquired this percussion muzzle loader, with an unusual stock. It says D.Egg and G.R with crown on the lock plate; any ideas? Thanks.
 
While I'm certainly no expert in locks, it does appear to be an original Durs Egg lock, that would have been originally flint (he died right around 1830).

Somebody did a job on it, converted it to percussion and (looks like they) styled it after an English bar style lock which might have been the "style" when the lock was converted - however, they opted for a drum instead of re-breaching the barrel.

To me, the overall appearance does look "English".

The take-down stock is intriguing. Does the grain on the two sections match up at the joint?

What I'm getting at - does it look like it was done "originally" or was it perhaps a later repair to fix a broken butt stock (where the method may have been more of a "thinking outside the box repair").
 
The 2-piece stock may be referred to as a "poacher's gun" modification. Poaching was a crime in most of the British Empire, including Ireland. Poachers had firearms that could be quickly dismantled and stored away to avoid being prosecuted. Your gun looks about right for this use. Certainly it is a percussion conversion judging from the lock. Using a "drum & nipple" was much less expensive than re-breeching the gun with a "patent breech."
 
I agree with it being a poachers gun,the takedown butt combined with the short barrel makes it ideal for this purpose
 
That screw thread looks deliciously old :thumbsup:

Odd that the lock has the crown but no ordnance lines :idunno:
 
Wow! Thanks for all the great replies! I wondered about all the holes in the lock plate, now I can see that it's been converted from flintlock. The grain in the wood does indeed line up ok. Any idea of a rough date for this gun?
I'm slowly learning about these old weapons and it looks like I've found a great forum to further my knowledge on the subject.
I'm in the U.K and have a couple of other old pieces that you might like to have a look at. They are at, what you might call, the 'entry level' end of the collectors market!
 
The stock behind the hammer does not look as if it was ever cut to clear the stop shoulder on a flint cock. This suggests that an available lock was used to set up the gun in percussion. Also, the fore and aft screws holding the lockplate in on the right side are not typical. I would suggest that the gun was made up from available parts, as a "poacher's" gun, maybe by a gunsmith, maybe by an amateur.
 
The lock is from a British military Short Land Musket also known as "Brown Bess". It was likely purchased or otherwise acquired as surplus. I doubt that the lock maker - Durs Egg - had anything to do the making the gun it is mounted on, Egg made locks for the British military but he is best known as a quality gunmaker who built first class arms and locks. Born and trained in Switzerland, he also worked in France before migrating to London to set up shop in 1772. This gun, while interesting and well made is not up to his usual standards. Egg's locks made for the civilian trade were of fine quality, other gunmakers purchased his locks for their own use. The used military lock, while of good quality, was not something that he was likely to have used on one of his products for the civilian market.

The above being said, it is a very interesting piece, you did well by acquiring it.
 
Again, many thanks for all your constructive comments/opinions. So, I'm looking at a gun from the first half of the 19thC, put together using a converted lock plate, possibly from a Brown Bess, for use by some miscreant/poacher! :thumbsup:
 
Dodgydave said:
........ put together using a converted lock plate, possibly from a Brown Bess

No doubt about it being a converted musket lock, that is a fact.

Dodgydave said:
.... for use by some miscreant/poacher! :thumbsup:

Possible, very possible. There is no doubt that the work was done by an experienced gun maker, the work we can see seems to be well done.
 
That is a pistol sized lock; a musket lock is close to 7". I think that someone used parts that were at hand to make a specialized gun. Look at the interest now-a-days putting M4 carbine stocks of just about any gun.
 
DickS said:
That is a pistol sized lock; a musket lock is close to 7". I think that someone used parts that were at hand to make a specialized gun. Look at the interest now-a-days putting M4 carbine stocks of just about any gun.


Right you are DickS, that's what I get for assuming without asking for the measurement. Dodgydave, my apologies for steering you in the wrong direction concerning the lock. It is a British military pistol lock. *sigh* :)
 
Right you are DickS, that's what I get for assuming without asking for the measurement. Dodgydave, my apologies for steering you in the wrong direction concerning the lock. It is a British military pistol lock. *sigh* :)[/quote]

No problem! I really appreciate everyones input.
 
Squire Robin said:
That screw thread looks deliciously old :thumbsup:

Odd that the lock has the crown but no ordnance lines :idunno:

I am afraid I don't understand what you meant? At first I thought you may have meant the engraved lines that British Ordnance called "threads," but they are still there except for the top front of the lock that has been cut down significantly. Then I thought perhaps you meant the shape of the lock?

Gus
 
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