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hello all. i am so new to this i still have that new car smell

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new to fire arms I am not. new to flintlocks omg I am such a rookie. about 30 or 40 years ago my father[a 93 year old blind and bed ridden ww2 vet, who I take care of] picked up what looks to me to be a flintlock pistol. yea he got it at an auction for $12.00 and he gave it to me and I have not a clue what I have. I would like to apologies in advance if it is a wall hanger or just a looks like one but is just nothing at all. I think it might be something tho it has proof marks and London on the very heavey barrel witch makes me feel like maybe I have something here. I have 2 questions I hope someone can help with
1. is this a weapon and if so what is it and when was it made. 2. when you see the pics its very obvious the lock mechanism is gone. can an original replacement be found or am I looking for new parts. most important where would a guy like me find such parts. any help would be very much be appreciated. thank you in advance for any help I can get. lol oh and by the way my spelling is really bad at best but not as bad as my computer skills. I cant figure out how to post pics. ok I am a mess at this. I took a shot in the dark in an attempt to post pics I hope I didn't mess things up
 
Welcome newbie, didn't see much wrong with your spelling, I was able to read the entire post. :grin: I tried to view your photos but it seems one needs an AOL account to do so. Hopefully the next person to post has an account and is also very knowledgeable. We are all willing to help as much as we can.

Please say Thank You for your service to your father from all of us.
 
the spelling lol thank god for spell check. thank you for the reply. my computer skills to put it mildly they are really bad trust me. I even had to have my son take the pics. I tried to take pics with my phone [a phone captain kirk would be proud of] and I couldn't even get them to my email. I am not sure what to do at this point, but please don't take this wrong I am very thankful for any comments good, bad or ugly. I just wish I was born in the 90's so this poooter stuff would be a second language. again thank you for any input
 
thank you for your thoughts of my father. he is indeed a good man, don't make them like that today. speaking of serving my son is going to teach me how to post pics here when he gets back from his weekend in the service. please accept my apologies for not having the knowledge to do so myself. lol the more I try the more frustrated I get. to be continued
 
:pop: I’ll get the popcorn going, and wait for the picture show.

Good luck with posting the photos. :thumbsup:
 
ooooh myyyy goddddd I cant believe it has taken me 20 days to learn how to post pics. I also cant believe the patience of zonie to teach an old dog like me a new trick. I am sure he doesn't want me posting anything about him. he is just that kind of a man. and yes the reference to kind of man is in reference to his kindness. any lesser a man would have lost it with my ignorance. so anyone waiting for the pic of the century I'm sorry this I believe is a flintlock that your everyday man that joined the service was issued. my questions are still the same pretty much. altho I do now know that this is not a wall hanger. I would love to know the maker. what year it was produced, and what would a reasonable man do to make it operational maybe even historically correct. yea I think you will understand what I mean when you see it. theres a lil part missing lol like the entire lock lol. ok ok here goes a try at posting. thanks zonie
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[/url]20180401_194313 by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]
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[/url]20180401_194706_jpg_r18ltmg_partial by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]
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[/url]20180401_194644 by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]
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[/url]20180401_194430 by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]
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[/url]20180401_194446 by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]

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[/url]20180401_194505 by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]
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[/url]20180401_194541 by thomas Ortlieb, on Flickr[/img]

thank you all for your help of any kind

as I said before I don't know much about this age of weapon but this is what I do know
it is an 8 1/2 barrel there is a possibility of this never or at least fired only very few times. it is smooth bore. the bore is 60 cal. the barrel has London on it and 2 proof marks that look to be the Birmingham crown and the crossed scepters. the old lock that was once apon a time attached, yea that's right just like the fairy tale lol. looks to have been a 4 3/4 inch lock and yes I need help with that, I took into account the shadow of where it once crossed into the wooden frame. this might be absolutely wrong to take that into account :surrender: remember rookie here. please any help in how to order parts would be very helpfull
 
if you want to make it functional, Track of the Wolf has a good selection of locks that (for a gunsmithing fee) one of which i'm sure could fit your pistol......send them the pics and see if you'd need to send the gun to them (probably would)
 
gentlemen thank you so very much for your input. anyone have any idea when this 10 pound hunka metal and wood may have been made. lol the curiosity is killin me. my god tho please understand I cant thank either one of you enough for any help I can get. thank you, thank you
 
mr nit wit I am having a lot of trouble with my email account as of yesterday. I have had the same email for like 20 years or so. it was just something I never wanted to take the mental effort to remember more than one address. so yesterday I tried to log into my email and my password didn't work but know worries :doh: they will email me a new password :doh: I am kinda curios as to how they expect me aaaaa to retrieve that email when I cant get to my email :doh: but I am sure its me
 
my god this place is amazing. the amount of information in these pages is just incredible!!!! I stopped in another forum before stumbling into here. I am pretty sure it was being over seen by abet and Costello. yea it seemed like abet would look at the pics and Costello would call it fake or not fake but there main function was to call out weather it was a wall hanger or not and if they thought maybe it was a real weapon they always called out the same thing. take it to a professional to have checked out. lol and then they would congratulate each other on the call they made. good job there abet, why thanks there Costello. good job again lol
 
It's about impossible to say exactly who made your pistol but the size and shape of the grip indicates it was most likely made sometime between 1795 and 1820. That seems to be the time period the "bag grip" your guns stock has was popular in England.

If you haven't figured it out, it was called a bag grip because it is shaped like a small, full bag.

The English pistols in this time period that are shown in the book, Pistols of the World , Claude Blair, ©1968, THE VIKING PRESS, N.Y. shows several guns similar to yours, #280, 281, 282, 283, 360, 362, 363. (The 300 series are percussion guns).

Finding a lock that would fit your pistol without modifying it or the lock mortise would be very difficult.

Modern locks that might be made to work include the "Chambers, Small Queen Anne pistol flint lock", "Chambers Siler small flint lock", L&R Durs Egg flint lock" and the "L&R John Bailes of London (small Manton)" lock.

All of these locks have different shapes but if you are interested in trying to figure out if one of them would work, here is a suggestion.

Go to Track of the Wolf's web site and order one of their catalogs. You will find a link to this here.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/303/1/CATALOG-18

The catalog costs $10 + postage and it will show you each lock in exact, full size photos.

You can then trace the shape of your locks mortise on a sheet of paper by placing the paper against the stock and rubbing around the mortise with a lead pencil. The pencil will leave a darker line where the edge of the mortise meets the paper.
Once done you can cut out the shape and compare it to the photos in the book.

If there is an area where the stock wood would have a gap between it and the lock photo, that lock can't be used. By gap I mean, if the cutout is larger than the photo in some area, that lock would leave a gaping gap if it was put into your pistols stock.

If the lock photo is larger than your cutout either the lock can be filed down (a little) or the mortise in the wood can be enlarged (a little).

Let us know if you bought the book and what you find. :)
 
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mr zonie how come I kinda already knew it was probably going to be you to come up with info I needed. I will indeed pick up a book. by the way you are talking the book has full sized drawings of the locks available. is this correct. if so I believe I can get a pretty good idea how to get started. I do have some general smithing skills lol numrich and brownells know me by name lol altho I can not produce my own screws and I have never ever even thought of working with flintlocks. since coming here I have found these weapons amazing pieces of art
 
Yes.
Many of the photos in the Track of the Wolf catalogs are full size.
This includes locks, trigger guards, butt plates, triggers, ramrod thimbles and a host of other items.

The lock photos usually show both sides of the locks. This can be handy for people needing lock parts because it allows them to compare their damaged part with something that is commercially available.
 
mr. zonie sir, as always your input is highly valued. sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday it was a very trying day at best. I had doc visits and my dad had to be recertified for hospice so it was jump thru this hoop and get ready for the next. just a crazy day. well bottom line..... you are big time helpful
 
Looking at the lock mortise in your pictures, I am seeing a resemblance to the Davis Late Ketland lock. It can also be viewed in the images in the Track of the Wolf catalog.

Measure from the touch hole in your barrel to the center of the hole for your sear. Compare that measurement to the locks in the catalog for the closest match. Measure the length and height of your lock mortise to compare to the catalog image. Of course, the pencil rubbing is also an excellent source for a comparison.
 
mr. grenadier, god I hope I got that spelled correct, but any way my name is tom, pleasure to make your acquaintance sir. more important thank you for your feed back. bottom line I have to get off the pot and get this book ordered. now I am just not that farmilure with the terminology and yes absolutely I need to fix that so we can all talk the same language and I promise I will fix that by expanding my vocabulary. what I think you are saying is measure the distance from the trigger interior block to the powder hole in the barrel. is this correct??? I will order this book by morning all, thank you for your patience.
 
Looking at the Ketland lock shown in the TOTW catalog, it does look like it might be a good fit to the mortise shown in the pictures above.

Both the mortise and the lock have a squared off tail at the rear of the lock.

Measuring the picture in my TOTW catalog, the lock also measures almost exactly 4 3/4" long.

That might be a good place to start.

Before Tom does anything else though, he really needs to spend the 10 or so bucks and get himself a copy of that TOTW catalog.
 
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