Very sad barn find

[solitare1340]

Had to share these pics of a muzzleloader (I think) , that was found last week by a friend while cleaning out barn. He is going to wipe off and hang in cabin as is. Pictures aren’t the best, haven’t seen it personally yet . Very odd looking , I think it is in the worst shape of any firearm I have ever seen.

 

[TFoley]

Sir, I'm sorry to say that the quality of your photos is such that they pixelise into utter unrecognisability when I try and enlarge them. In any case from what I can see of the gun it appears to be a breechloader after the style of a Snider. It is NOT however, any kind of Snider that I recognise, even after forty years of ownership and shooting of them.

Can you take better pics, please?

For comparison - here is a Snider breech -

And here is a Snider lockplate -

As you can see, the lockplate on your pal's gun is what they call a back action lock.

 

[solitare1340]

Sir, I'm sorry to say that the quality of you photos is such that they pixelise into utter unrecognisability when I try and enlarge them. In any casem from what I can see of the gun it appears to be a breechloader after the style of a Snider.

Can you take better pics, please?

For comparison - here is a Snider breech -

View attachment 151805

And here is a Snider lockplate -

View attachment 151806

As you can see, the lockplate on your pal's gun is what they call a back action lock.

Sir, I'm sorry to say that the quality of you photos is such that they pixelise into utter unrecognisability when I try and enlarge them. In any case from what I can see of the gun it appears to be a breechloader after the style of a Snider. It is NOT however, any kin d of snider that I recognise, even after forty years of ownership and shooting of them.

Can you take better pics, please?

For comparison - here is a Snider breech -
View attachment 151805
And here is a Snider lockplate -
View attachment 151806
As you can see, the lockplate on your pal's gun is what they call a back action lock.

They are poor quality pictures, but that’s all I have until I get down to see him sometime. Sorry, thanks for info

 

[mushka]

Tell him not to take any termites into his house with it. That is a sadly kept gun, but interesting.

 

[hawkeye2]

A breechloading cartridge conversion of a military percussion musket. With that back action lock it could be French, not English at all. Looks like it was dug out of the pig pen.

 

[deerstalkert]

commonly known as Zulu shotguns. Belgian. in best shooting condition 150.00.
bought a barrel of them in 1988 for 12.50 each. thinking of restocking mine just for giggles.

 

[TFoley]

Nailed it!

 

[garypl]

A little linseed oil and cold blue and it’ll be good as new

(Might have to replace the ramrod)

 

[smo]

I would say it’s a relic someone dug up and stored in the barn.
Looks like it’s mounted/clamped too a board..
It would take a little elbow grease…..

 

[solitare1340]

Thanks guys, I have never heard of them. Should have known deerstalkert would have one . I will pass along the info.

 

[sheriff john]

Looks a similar to a zulu 12 gauge we had long ago. Ours was converted from a military gun of (if I remember correctly) Belgian heritage. Bannerman sold them by the thousands "back in the day".

 

[RAEDWALD]

Originally a French service breech loading rifle for the National Guard, the Modele 1867 Tabatiere rifle used in the 1870 War. Almost certainly this one was purchased post war as surplus by a Belgian firm and converted to a 12 bore shotgun and sold by the thousands to the cheapest end of the US market where it sold so well that they ended up having to ultimately make new locks to meet the demand. Intended for a short black powder cartridge but, sadly, many were later fed smokeless cartridges and I have seen three with the shoe stretched by such uses. There is a Facebook group for these shotguns which were marketed as ‘Zulu’ as a trade name even though they had no connection with South Africa.

 

[Brazos John]

At the farm, c. 1900:
"Grandma, where's Grandpa's old rifle?"
"Just never you mind. Leave that old thing alone. After your Grandpa shot the neighbor's dog, I put it in the barn where he couldn't find it. Here, have some more pie."

Now, 120 years later...

 

[Bighorserider]

Zulu was my first thought when I saw the pics. My Grandpa had one when I was a kid. No idea what happened to it. Thanks Deerstalker for confirming my suspicion.

 

[Brazos John]

My Grandpa had one when I was a kid. No idea what happened to it.

Look at the post above your post for a possible scenario.

 

[Colonial Boy]

If you fire it, remember black powder only!!

 

[TFoley]

Ah, yes. Tabatiére.....the alternative to the design by the American Jacob Snider for the first British breechloading service rifle conversion [apart from the ill-fated Ferguson, that is].

Tabatiére lost out to Snider by a few pennies - Snider's conversion to the P53 rifle was just a teensy bit cheaper, and so he got the deal from the British government.

........and spent most of the rest of his life trying to get paid.........

 

[Tradbow]

No desire to own one but very good information on the guns. It’s amazing the knowledge on this forum

 

[Loyalist Dave]

So I moved this to Firearm Identification as it was a converted muzzleloader. The system was invented in 1864, which is prior to our cutoff date of 1865, but they are primer fired, so now that we know what the cool barn gun is, we can move on.
Tabatière Rifle Wiki

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