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Need help in identifying a muzzleloader pls help!

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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?
CS could they have lived in Bloomsbury NJ? I could not find a Bloomsbury PA.
 
Agree that the lockplate (at least) started out as flint.
Additionally, that the rifle started out with a single trigger, but that a set trigger was retrofitted at some point. Look at the trigger guard and you'll see that the rear of the bow has been removed to make room for the rear trigger.
 
I think the mainspring was replaced and the locating tip was moved. The lock was always mated to a percussion drum. There is one lock nail to the lock. I would think that two lock nails (bolts) would have been used for a flintlock. There is also no threaded hole for the fastening of the frizzen spring.

That is a good observation about the removal of the back part of the bow in the trigger guard to accommodate the double set trigger.

D. S. Could the owner who scratched the initials have been a Stahl?
 
Yeah I attempted to join Americanlongrifles.org and some of their questions to join include what material is melted down to make flintlock balls .... or what color is the powder...
so that went well.
 
Yeah I attempted to join Americanlongrifles.org and some of their questions to join include what material is melted down to make flintlock balls .... or what color is the powder...
so that went well.
"Pure Lead"?
"Dark Flat Gray"?

Why they ask stupid questions like that?
 
"Pure Lead"?
"Dark Flat Gray"?

Why they ask stupid questions like that?
Many web forums have ways to block places that want to join so they can post their SPAM. These places have computers that are programmed to automatically fill out the standard questions like a name, e-mail address, etc but because it is hard to program a computer to read a question and then answer it right. Other forum sites use those almost impossible to clearly see pictures of numbers and letters that you have to copy into the answer box to prove your a human.

Asking what color the powder is or what the balls for a flintlock are made from sounds like a pretty good idea to me. If someone said flintlock balls were made out of flint I'd kinda wonder if I wanted him to be telling our members how to shoot. :eek:
 
Yeah I attempted to join Americanlongrifles.org and some of their questions to join include what material is melted down to make flintlock balls .... or what color is the powder...
so that went well.
You may want contact @rich pierce on this forum for some assistance on joining ALR. He is a moderator on that forum.

Many members of this forum are also members of the ALR forum, but there is a different group on ALR and someone there may have a different or more insightful opinion to offer you on your father’s gun. More eyes can’t hurt.
 
1F3113B6-E516-4768-B605-348A6C814940.jpeg 1F0ED7A1-8691-479F-9400-104D4CED5C97.jpeg Hello all! I’m adding some new photos with flash and a full body and down the barrel photos.
I’ve kind of given up because I can’t join that other site and no one at the NM LA will return my email or call. I actually emailed them over two months ago and sent the photos and someone responded but I emailed back after not hearing and they said “no one had viewed them yet”.

Let me know what you all think! I’d love to pinpoint just a name so if I did post it on Craigslist people would have more of an idea... I can post it on here, as well?
Sorry, I’m just remembering seeing a post for selling/trading on this forum...
 

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I don't think Cragslist will allow you to post it there. They have a No Guns policy.

I see you have been a a member for 14 days as of today and you have over 5 posts so you can place an ad in our Classified section if you really want to sell it.

The rifle appears to have a Curly Maple stock which is more valuable than a plain wooden stock.
It was most likely made around 1840 to 1860.
The bore size looks like it is about .45 caliber but really before saying that in an ad you should try to measure its size. The right way to do it is to use a precision measuring device like a dial or digital caliper but you can come close using any accurate ruler. If the bore size is about 3/8 of an inch it would be about a .38 caliber. 7/16" would be about a .44 caliber and 1/2" would be a .50. If you use a ruler say something like, "it is about a .xx caliber but I can't accuretly measure the bore."

I'm just guessing but if your lucky, you might be able to get $400 - $500 for it. (If you knew it would shoot it would be worth a little more.)

The D5 or DS on the stock was carved by someone who owned the gun some time in its life. It was not done by the person who first built it. I think someone did this to show ownership or maybe because they just got a new pocket knife and wanted to try it out on something.
You'll see similar carvings on the butt of the 1842 Springfield musket I used to own.
1842butt.jpg
 
That’s actually quite fascinating. So, (and I’m quite new at this, very new) if it is a muzzleloader that means with the powder and the long stick and reloading every time, right? But if it’s a flintlock..... that means? I’m so sorry! I’m going to do some research.
 
That’s actually quite fascinating. So, (and I’m quite new at this, very new) if it is a muzzleloader that means with the powder and the long stick and reloading every time, right? But if it’s a flintlock..... that means? I’m so sorry! I’m going to do some research.

You've got it. Black powder (Not Modern Smokeless Rifle or Pistol Powder) gets poured down the barrel, in an appropriate measured quantity, then a lead ball wrapped in a lubricated cloth "patch" gets pushed down on top of the powder, for each shot. The whole procedure is done for every shot, one at a time. Being a caplock means that after the powder and ball is loaded, a small percussion cap, kind of like a plastic cup type capgun cap, gets placed on the nipple where the hammer rests in your pics. The hammer is brought to full cock, and when the trigger is pulled the hammer falls smashing and detonating the cap (again, like a kid's capgun) which ignites the powder, the pressure created by the burning powder (small explosion) pushes the ball out the barrel.
A flintlock is older technology, no cap, a small amount of black powder is placed in a pan, close to where the nipple is on your caplock, and a steel cover flips over it that has a vertical piece of steel to the side near the hammer. The hammer holds a piece of flint, when fired the flint strikes and scrapes the steel causing the cover to open and the resulting sparks to ignite the powder in the pan, the flash and heat of which ignites the main charge effecting the sme result as your cap detonating.
The only significance to the possibility that your gun may have been a flintlock at one time is that it would mean the gun, or at least some of the lock parts, could be older than the caplock would imply.
 
Looks like an eary reproduction CVA Kentucky.
Is there any markings on the barrel?
CVA "Kentucky" rifles (I've had two) have a 2 piece stock, and lack the extra hole in the lock plate.
Also, the CVA's have a large brass ... (old man brain fart ... I forget what it's called) at the muzzle end of the stock/barrel. Two screws secure this to the barrel. there is a tounge on the end of the stock that fits into the brass piece.

I don't know who the maker of this rifle is/was, but I know it wasn't CVA.

It is possible - likely even - that it is an early arm converted to percussion post 1840's. (not uncommon)
The extra hole in the lock plate and the drum and nipple are indications that it was converted from flintlock to percussion at some point.

OP:
I agree with the others. Don't sell it. Especially with the family provenance.

Trust me. You WILL regret it, even if you are not "into" firearms or muzzleloaders.

In 1972 or 1973 I sold a old nothing fancy H&R single shot .410 shotgun I inherited from my paternal grandfather in 1963. I've regretted it every minute since.
(even though I am not a "fan" of the .410 "guage".)
 
So I had someone look and they said it’s an AB Connolly flint percussion rifle..

Thoughts???

Your expert says it's a flint AND a percussion rifle? and made by AB Connolly?

It is NOW a both percussion and a rifle, since we can clearly see the rifling and the percussion lock, but what is the basis for applying the name?
 
Well, for what it's worth, none of my reference books show a "AB Connolly" or any other way of spelling Connoly.
That includes the book, "American Gun Makers" which lists thousands of names of various gunsmiths.

That doesn't mean the person who suggested the name was wrong. It just means the name isn't among the more widely known American gunsmiths.
 
Your expert says it's a flint AND a percussion rifle? and made by AB Connolly?

It is NOW a both percussion and a rifle, since we can clearly see the rifling and the percussion lock, but what is the basis for applying the name?

Maybe they were referring to the lock plate originally being a flintlock lock?
 
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