1962 MARCA NORICA 9mm Muzzleloader

[Rodney Johnson]

Found at a local pawn shop Saturday. Rickety and grimy, but kinda cool I think. Just thought some would like to see an old replica muzzleloader. Barrel at breech is 20mm - at muzzle is 16mm. It has a funky little patchbox with some round pillow ticking patches stuffed inside.

 

[Treestalker]

Some time back I was given one of these by a friend. I had been overloaded and the barrel swelled at the breech. I trimmed the breech of the barrel and re-tapped and plugged it. I hope to build a new half stock for it and use the patchbox and buttplate. The triggerguard wound up on a pistol I built. Some body else needed the lock. The bore of the barrel is surprisingly clean. These were also made in a 28 guage, a friend bought one in 28ga for five dollars at a gun show many moons ago. Good luck with it, George. P.S. The barrel of my 9mm is a smoothbore, so it will make a shotgun.

 

[Rodney Johnson]

Some time back I was given one of these by a friend. I had been overloaded and the barrel swelled at the breech. I trimmed the breech of the barrel and re-tapped and plugged it. I hope to build a new half stock for it and use the patchbox and buttplate. The triggerguard wound up on a pistol I built. Some body else needed the lock. The bore of the barrel is surprisingly clean. These were also made in a 28 guage, a friend bought one in 28ga for five dollars at a gun show many moons ago. Good luck with it, George. P.S. The barrel of my 9mm is a smoothbore, so it will make a shotgun.

Treestalker,

That is cool. $5! Nice!! I probably gave way too much for this one, but it looked cool. I cleaned it up a little (removed the dirt and as much of the rust as I could on the first pass). It seems to be plugged down at the breech somewhere - can't blow any air through the barrel. I looked down the barrel and I think that I can see rifling, so I don't think it is smooth bore, but I wouldn't mind if it was. There might be a ball stuck in the breech. I measured with the really thin ramrod and it seems like there is something keeping the ramrod from going all the way in - about the depth of a .36 cal ball. Still not sure. The nipple is in surprisingly good shape, but seems to be rusted into the body of the breech so some good soaking is in order. I got a quart of transmission oil and a quart of acetone to mix up and use to loosen things up with. I've not seen any 9mm/.36 cal barreled muzzleloaders around here yet, so I thought the barrel might be worth using if it was still in good enough shape. I was surprised at how light this rifle is. The lock is non-functioning - I took a close look at the tumbler and the notches are all rounded off - maybe someone messed with it. The hammer looks a bit thin and may be a tad twisted. Right now, in the shape it is in - I'd call it a "wall-hanger", but it could be made into a ni

 

[Rodney Johnson]

nice rifle with a lot of work. It is a project gun for sure.

 

[Mark Herman]

Looks like an old Monkey or bird" gun made for South American trade. They were. Used on birds to collect the fancy feathers. Used to buy them new for around $25. Barrels were sometimes just a pipe and sometimes a second barrel was welded on over the breech to strengthen it. Made in Spain & Mexico. Advice is DO NOT SHOOT IT.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Dixie Gun Works sold hundreds of guns with the same lock, breech and patchbox. The lock internals are mostly junk. I was given one as a gift. The sear crumbled to bits on the first trip to the range. They sold numerous 410 and 28 gs shotguns with the same lock and patchbox. Some even had twist barrels that were nearly paper thin.

 

[Rodney Johnson]

Thanks for the information, y'all. I think that I'm going to hang it on the wall.

 

[Stantheman86]

The demand for and use of muzzleloaders in South America went well into the 1950s , probably even today.

Someone posted a pic of a downsized replica musket in some weird caliber like .30 , they were made for the South American market.

 

[Treestalker]

The 9mm barrel I have had Spanish proof marks and pressure limits marked in kg/. I remember thinking it worked out to about 10,000 lbs/square in. With the thinness of the barrel, I would not push it, but it seems like a decent steel barrel.

 

[Rodney Johnson]

The 9mm barrel I have had Spanish proof marks and pressure limits marked in kg/. I remember thinking it worked out to about 10,000 lbs/square in. With the thinness of the barrel, I would not push it, but it seems like a decent steel barrel.

My barrel also has the proof marks with the little Spanish soldier with the "X" marked shield (underneath the barrel). 700kg/cm2 is 9956.34lb/in2 - just a tad under 10,000 lbs per square inch pressure proofed. Just like most Italian and Spanish barrels. So it could be fired - low charges maybe. The barrel is the main "good" part on my gun, but even it seems to be plugged. So it isn't a big priority for me - maybe one day I'll fool with it more.

 

[desi23]

My barrel also has the proof marks with the little Spanish soldier with the "X" marked shield (underneath the barrel). 700kg/cm2 is 9956.34lb/in2 - just a tad under 10,000 lbs per square inch pressure proofed. Just like most Italian and Spanish barrels. So it could be fired - low charges maybe. The barrel is the main "good" part on my gun, but even it seems to be plugged. So it isn't a big priority for me - maybe one day I'll fool with it more.

I've tinkered with a couple of these little Spanish guns in the past, think they're safe enough with mild loads. Dixie Gun Works sold some of these years ago, I remember seeing them in their old catalogs from the 1960's (think I still have one packed away upstairs, need to find it just for the nostalgia). They used that style breech on many of the early Spanish imports besides these little guns. The early "Kentucky" style rifles and handguns were set up the same way. Bought one used once that I thought had a ball in it. Turned out the breech plug was longer than I thought and went farther up in the barrel than expected. The long flash channel was plugged with manure so air couldn't get through. They are fairly easy to unbreech though for inspection or cleaning

 

[Rodney Johnson]

I've tinkered with a couple of these little Spanish guns in the past, think they're safe enough with mild loads. Dixie Gun Works sold some of these years ago, I remember seeing them in their old catalogs from the 1960's (think I still have one packed away upstairs, need to find it just for the nostalgia). They used that style breech on many of the early Spanish imports besides these little guns. The early "Kentucky" style rifles and handguns were set up the same way. Bought one used once that I thought had a ball in it. Turned out the breech plug was longer than I thought and went farther up in the barrel than expected. The long flash channel was plugged with manure so air couldn't get through. They are fairly easy to unbreech though for inspection or cleaning

Thanks for the information. That's good to know! I will set the breech end of the barrel to soak in some penetrating oil then soon and see if I can get the nipple out and that flash channel cleaned out. Good to know that the breech plug at least can be removed without too much problem. I've got a 2-1/2" thick American walnut (16"-21" wide and some 6 foot long) slab that I can probably whittle out a stock - the slab is both twisted and warped though, so I'll have to take a long thoughtful look at it before slicing into it. I looked up the year and it should be from 1962 - I was 5 years old! LOL The lock on my gun might be beyond saving though. I figured that I could shoot 20 or 25 grains of black powder out of it to start and see what kind of accuracy I could get. The inside of the barrel isn't in too good of shape, but you never know until you shoot it I guess.