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Need help in identifying a muzzleloader pls help!

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I have a muzzle loader that was my grandpas and I’m pretty sure it’s late 1800s. I only found out a few months ago it was a foot-long because I was selling my car and someone saw it.I contacted the Nmla and never heard back. I have pictures I’m going to post, I’m sorry if this is the wrong thread but I’m looking to sell it and I really need the money but I don’t even know what it is or where I should go! Hopefully someone can help... thank you again so much.
 

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Other than saying it appears to be a typical late long rifle well used .But with family history you aught to keep it .Any name on it will help. there are far more experienced collectors than I am. It appears to be a 'Sleeper' untouched since last used which is desirable but you will need an honest appraisal . The NMLRA could pin it down or the KRA. Finding some one who will give you a fair price in a hurry is not that good a position there being plenty of sharks in the collecting waters . Lots of luck . Rudyard
 
The extra hole in the lock plate makes me wonder if it wasn't a flintlock at one time. Unfortunately I'm no expert on identifying these old guns. But it is a very interesting find.
I am an expert on regret, and on "need the money," which often leads us to things we regret later. Do not sell it. Instead keep it, and use it as inspiration to explore the family history associated with it. Maybe see if a good builder, there are a few on here, can do something with it to keep it from deteriorating further, not fully restore it, just make it so things like the warp downward at the front of the forestock and any rust don't get worse.

Best regards,
Dave
 
I’m not an expert, but have seen a couple of rifles in similar condition for sale in local gun stores for sale for $400-$600, maybe a bit more. For that amount of money I agree with others on keeping it. Once it is gone it is gone!

Years ago my dad tried to buy some silver mounted sleigh harness from a man he had purchased a Model A from. This was in the 1960s and he offered a couple of hundred dollars. The man responded he would not sell and said. “How many folks have two hundred dollars? Quite a few. And how many do you know with silver sleigh bells?” The point is, some things have more value than dollars.
 
Looks like an eary reproduction CVA Kentucky.
Is there any markings on the barrel?
 
I think it is a late percussion rifle. Based on the lack of identification as to the builder and condition, I think Kansas Jake is correct in his appraisal. I also think that in the end it would be better to keep than sell.
 
It’s not a CVA. I’m with Rudyard on that. I’m also agreeing with those who suggested keeping it. You’re going to have plenty of opportunities to have a few hundred dollars in your pocket but you’re only given one chance to own your ancestors rifle. The implement likely kept them alive and by extension, gave life to you... don’t pass it on lightly.
 
The the hammer attached by a spanner-nut is a somewhat unusual set up. I heard of a southern maker who used such a method on his hammers and can't recall who, maybe Lafayette Click? Christine, where are you from, or where did your Grandad hail from? This might be a clue to where the gun was made. If it could only talk, to be able to tell you of the trails it's been down, the game it's taken, the lovely woods it's seen, and the loving care after hard days afield that have been lavished on it as a cherished possession of a man who needed and depended on it. It would tell you, save me, I'm worth the effort. Look at my curly maple wood, my hand forged iron, the evidence of a craftsman's hands. Keep me, not as an object of worship, but one of veneration, an extension by proxy of our Maker's creation.
 
Wow! Thank you so much for all of your help! I really appreciate it! If you look at the first picture there’s actually a engraving it looks like a “D5 “. I will take better pictures tomorrow and post! I do have to say this though, I appreciate all of your kind words but when I said this was in our family I just meant that my grandfather purchased it or got it from someone at an auction during the 1930s. The truth is my family and I are very close at all and when I say “I need the money” (I remember seeing one of you say that) I really mean I need the money. See, now this has turned into a different forum!!! Just kidding. Again, I appreciate all the kind words and I’m going to read through them again just to get all the information and post pictures ASAP!
-CS
 
Wow! Thank you so much for all of your help! I really appreciate it! If you look at the first picture there’s actually a engraving it looks like a “D5 “. I will take better pictures tomorrow and post! I do have to say this though, I appreciate all of your kind words but when I said this was in our family I just meant that my grandfather purchased it or got it from someone at an auction during the 1930s. The truth is my family and I are very close at all and when I say “I need the money” (I remember seeing one of you say that) I really mean I need the money. See, now this has turned into a different forum!!! Just kidding. Again, I appreciate all the kind words and I’m going to read through them again just to get all the information and post pictures ASAP!
-CS

C.S., if you "really need the money" you can post it for sale in the "Free Classifieds" in the forum. More members would probably see it there than on this thread. Give the general description you gave here with pictures and as nhmoose said include a full length photo. Either ask for an offer or go with the estimate Kansas Jake gave. Good luck.
 
Of you are serious about getting the most information possible about the gun, with which to come up with an honest and fair estimate of value, I would also post your pictures and what information you have about the gun here,
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?board=3.0
Then, by all means please post it in our classifieds here, not their's.
Any idea why your granddad bought it in the 1930's? Just cause he wanted to, auction fever? Cheap to own and shoot meat gun to feed a family during very rough economic times? I'm always interested in the thinking and doings of that generation. I was very close with my grandparents, and even some of my great-grandparents.
I'd give almost anything for a few more conversations with any of them. Where abouts did your grandpa buy the gun at auction?
 
I hope it’s not frowned upon need the money....
To answer your questions @Brokenrock: my grandpa and dad both passed before I was 5 so I don’t know much besides they were both huge history buffs and lived in Bloomsbury which is south eastern a Pennsylvania. I would love to ask them questions as well.
There were actually 10 guns that were divided on between us three so the one - my fathers - a Walther P38 I’m keeping. My brothers sold a few at auction and I sold 1 to a local pawn and now I’m trying to be a little bit smarter!

Any ideas about the engravings in the first photo on the butt of the gun?
 
Very sorry for your loss so early on.
I keep hoping @dave_person will chime in here, or another of our well researched builders, as I'd hate to see you not get as much h as possible if you do sell it, and he (as well as others like him) really have this stuff nailed. I'm also wondering about a couple things that to my novice eye seem, different. The 2 tiny wood screws on either end of the side plate for instance. I'm assuming the use of the nut to hold the cock in place was done at the time of conversion from flint to percussion, but, I don't know for sure. Someone like Mr. Person might also know what can be, and should be, fixed, and how it will effect the value.
Can we see a pic looking down at the top of the barrel to include the tang forward to the front end of the lock please? Also of the muzzle with something for size reference? Have you measured the bore, even just a simple measurement across the diameter?

On a more personal note regarding selling it. I and in a mountain of debt, just spent a few months out of work, and the last few weeks with no pay from any source. I need tires on my truck before the snow flies. I kept a nice cedar closet and a cedar blanket chest, among a few other smaller things, from my grandmother's house after she passed away in January. If I sell any or all of these things and buy tires (or groceries) with the money, in a year and a half to 2 years, I will need tires again, but I won't be able to replace what I sold. I've done this dance before.
If we go with the early estimate that it is only worth a few hundred dollars, is that really enough to fix your financial situation? Or just a band-aid on an axe wound?
To be honest, even though I'm on the "don't sell it" side of things, I wish I could buy it. It seems a little later than my general period of interest, but, something intrigues me about it. If only it could speak.
Not sure if that is a "D.5." or "D.S." crudely carved into the stock. If "D.S." I would assume it to be someone's initials.

I wish you all the best.
 
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