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A new project. Duck gun.

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I have been thinking recently about a new flintlock to have a bit of fun with and lo and behold a friend turns up with an old duck gun that is in serious need of repair so I guess my need will be satisfied over the next few months as the stock is totally gone and a new one will have to be made. An interesting project for when (and if ) the weather gets cooler! We have had a ridiculously long and hot summer here in France and I think I forget what rain looks like!
The gun is placed next to my Enfield no 5 for size comparison. I have had a look over it and all is there , the bore is clear and the flash hole unobstructed and there is minimal rust so I think the metal will be the easiest to restore, the stock though will be interesting.
A quick measurement of the bore has it at .960.
Any tips for stock building will be well appreciated.

Cheers all. Keep well.
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The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has a great display of guns and equipment related to commercial duck and goose hunting on the bay. There are several large punt guns, and some smaller ones like this. According to the museum, they are “market guns”. They were meant to be fired into a flock sitting on the water and carried large shot columns in order to harvest as many birds as possible with one shot. Keep in mind this was in the days before sporting laws prevented such a thing.

This being a French gun, I wonder if it was used for a similar purpose or if they just really like BIG fowlers over there? Either way, it’s a great piece and I’m excited to see more of the restoration.
 
I do not know too much about it. There are no marks that I have discovered yet but I am not overly familiar with older French gun marks. If there were any, clocks here do not always have makers names and often only displayed the town of the selling shop regardless of who made it or where. It can get confusing when trying to trace provenance especially if it was locally made. The friend who gave it to me said it was in his house when he bought it and the previous owner said it was there when they bought the house too, his property dating to 1780.
I think it will be an interesting project regardless.
 
Very interesting Piece sir!

On another note, is legal to hunt with muzzleloaders in France? I've always wanted to meet my French side of the family and wondered if I could combine it with a hunt.
 
It is, I think, important to recognize all of our heritage. Admit, accept, embrace that hunting was once not only a sporting but also and overwhelmingly a commercial activity. On a par with commercial fishing. Do this but refuse to accept guilt for things a hundred years past.
 
I've seen these called "bank guns" - fired from the shoulder with a rest as opposed to "punt guns" of much greater bore, no shoulder rest, and mounted somewhat to the boat. Semantics not withstanding, it was probably a duck-killing wonder to behold in its day.
 
IMHO it clearly identifies as a punt gun.
I've seen these called "bank guns" - fired from the shoulder with a rest as opposed to "punt guns" of much greater bore, no shoulder rest, and mounted somewhat to the boat. Semantics not withstanding, it was probably a duck-killing wonder to behold in its day.
This exactly. It is not a punt gun as such though use as one is not a problem. Old photo's from the Uk show groups of men lined up on the banks shooting together, not off the shoulder with a bipod but propped on a a plank at ground level. Poor ducks! Punt guns are heavie, carried a greater charge and were not carried about in the same manner.
 
It will be a slow project but the start is always in the dismantling and my thoughts on the metal parts were good, all is fine bar light rust. The wood however is toast with some shonky repairs in the past that relegated this to being a wall hanger.
I, at least, have a template for the new stock so that is good news. I intend to use an old oak joist that was taken out when I did some renovations in the house and as it is around 190 years old I think it fitting to be recut in to a stock for this flintlock.
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Very interesting Piece sir!

On another note, is legal to hunt with muzzleloaders in France? I've always wanted to meet my French side of the family and wondered if I could combine it with a hunt.
I asked a friend for this one. Yes..if the muzzle energy reaches 1000 joules at 100m. So you would have to know what weight of projectile and charge were being used to achieve that.
Realistically all hunters use what are termed cat c weapons here , single shot, self loading limited to 3 or manual loading limited to 10. All with centre fire. The safety concerns in managing the weapon from loaded to unloaded during the course of a hunt or moving about make muzzle loaders an unpopular choice.
 
All repaired and back together. It was an interesting project. I was intending to build a stock but took some advice on drilling and pining instead which worked out exceptionally well. There was a lot of time spent dremmeling out the old glue though to once more get the broken pieces to mate together first. All in all I am exceptionally pleased as I now have a wall hanger that is no longer a non functioning ornament but a real live piece.
Following getting it all back together I did three test fires each with 8 dram of 3f ( all I have) and 4oz of no5 shot...well it is a duck gun after all. This piece is too heavy to hold so it was laid supported on the ground for each firing and I did the firing from behind with a piece of string. No cracks and no issues. So now she sits in the hallway with me just knowing that yes it is an ornament...but it is real!

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It is nice to finish something....I have a Jeep Cherokee in the barn that shames me a bit every time I walk past it....perhaps that should be my next job, amongst many others!!
 

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