CB Turner combination gun

The brown truck delivered new goodies today. This is a CB Turner combination gun. The barrel is marked

C.B. Turner
Grand-Rapids

It is a .360” rifled barrel over a .715” smoothbore. Everything is complete and seems solid. The mainsprings do need a little work though. They are rather weak.
The lock utilizes dual mainsprings, and one sear. Makes for a nice compact lock.

Excellent. Thanks for posting this.

You're welcome John!

My favorite part is that rear sight. It has a vertical slide in the rear that can be tapped up or down to adjust for elevation instead of filing the front sight.

Two piece rear sight.

That’s a nice old combo gun. I like it a lot!

Tree rat hunters' gun. very nice.

Very nice.
You gonna keep it as is, or make it fresh and shiny?
I personally am not a patina fan. Never got the allure.

cynthialee said:

Very nice.
You gonna keep it as is, or make it fresh and shiny?
I personally am not a patina fan. Never got the allure.

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Thank you! Aesthetically, it's going to stay as is. The lock needs some tuning, and it should be ready to go. I've never been a fan of restorations myself. Too much time and money go flash in the pan. I like "resurrections" much better. Cheaper, and I won't be afraid to go out and use it.

Dusty_Traveler said:

Thank you! Aesthetically, it's going to stay as is. The lock needs some tuning, and it should be ready to go. I've never been a fan of restorations myself. Too much time and money go flash in the pan. I like "resurrections" much better. Cheaper, and I won't be afraid to go out and use it.

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right on
myself....I know me, I couldn't stop myself and I'd polish it up as pretty as I could get it.
But collector value would be impacted, but I am not a collector.
I get why you would just resurrect it instead of restore.
Now I would recommend getting the muzzle crown on the rifle barrel redone. It looks beat up enough to effect accuracy.
.
I bet that old hunting gun has taken plenty of game over the years.
Do you know when it was made?

An American Cape Gun! Love it.

cynthialee said:

right on
myself....I know me, I couldn't stop myself and I'd polish it up as pretty as I could get it.
But collector value would be impacted, but I am not a collector.
I get why you would just resurrect it instead of restore.
Now I would recommend getting the muzzle crown on the rifle barrel redone. It looks beat up enough to effect accuracy.
.
I bet that old hunting gun has taken plenty of game over the years.
Do you know when it was made?

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My guess would be 1850’s, but it’s just that, a guess. I haven’t found much info on Turner. No active dates, no address, just the name.

Chester B Turner was born around 1831 or 32 in New York. His family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan before 1850. Turner made several types of combination guns, including a three barrel version. The few guns of his that I've seen are rather plain, but well constructed. I'd guess that your gun was probably made in the 1860's, but that's just a guess

@OLUT Wow! Thank you for the education!

Nice, that is the coolest gun I have seen in a while. I bet some old timer was the cock of the walk out in the woods with that back in the day. So whatever is cocked gets tripped when you pull the trigger? Musket caps?

@Timber Wolf

Correct. It can only be cocked one at a time due to the single sear, and it is fired by pulling the trigger. The nipples seem to be for regular number 11 caps.

Nice find enjoy!

I love mule ear locks, small calibers, and unusual rifles - that one has it all! Does it come apart at that joint at the breech? I suppose it's sort of heavy. How does the bore look? Let us know how it shoots.
Thanks for letting us see it - that is one heck of a nice rifle.

Jim in Wisconsin said:

I love mule ear locks, small calibers, and unusual rifles - that one has it all! Does it come apart at that joint at the breech? I suppose it's sort of heavy. How does the bore look? Let us know how it shoots.
Thanks for letting us see it - that is one heck of a nice rifle.

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Thanks Jim! I like finding the oddball ones also!

Yes, it does break down at the joint you mentioned. I have not done it yet, but I will when I start working on getting the stuck nipples out. It is secured with one tapered pin.

The weight is 8.5lbs. Not a feather, but definitely not a porker. I consider it to be on the lighter side for a combi gun.

The .36 bore has a sharp 5 groove rifling, and is bright and shiny.
The 12 gauge bore is not as bright, but still shines a little. It is moderately covered in shallow pits. Nothing to preclude shooting after it gets a good scotch brite-ing.

I’m excited to get to shoot it, but the lock will need some work first. The mainsprings need a little tuning, as they are pretty weak.