Colm Byrne
32 Cal
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2019
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 15
Thanks very much for this information I really appreciate it, It would be nice if it was an African trade piece, this did not cross my mind, although Nepal had, I was thinking that the original stamping was removed for some reason to prevent the maker from being identified, I note with interest your observations about the barrel which only measures 30 inches the total gun size is 46 inches, the butt stock furnish is not brass, and the gun seems to have been very well used with no cleaning. I would be delighted to hear any more opinions on it, if anyone would like to add anything.My Scientific Wild Arsed Guess [SWAG] is that is an African trade gun. The Africans liked the Bess, and would go for Bess-ish looking guns.
The pan on the lock is all wrong.
The marking on the lock for the origin of the maker is a poor stamping, and there is no additional engraving.
Then you have the bands, which I thought were repairs.
There is space left on the barrel for a bayonet, but it's not enough to actually fit a bayonet.
The side plate is right for a 3rd model but it doesn't fit, by virtue of the location of the lock screws.
LD
Hello Many thanks Dave, I am grateful for this input!! I am based in Ireland where i bought it, It is possible it was put together over here many years ago as well, probably assembled by a few different craftsmen, could be a rebel put together, or maybe some lord had it privately made and used it for hunting, it has been fired hundreds of times by the looks of it, and is still in working order, but the frizzen is a bit worn out, this section in the photo where the Barrel gets the powder now has a brass/copper color, from either a build up of residue, or to hide a proof mark, but other areas of the steel on it are cleaning up quite nice, one more point to note is that another touch has been added to widen the area. All further opinions very welcome.Hi,
First off, it is not a brown Bess. It looks like something cobbled together using some old Bess parts. It might be some indigenous product using old parts available within the 19th century British sphere of influence.
dave
Hi Dave again I thank you for your interest, the pan is attached to the lock I tried to get clear photos of underneath the pan and above, I put it into half cock to try allow a better image but it is not easy to get good shots on these items due to color and lighting in the nooks and crannies, I do see one more tiny braze of copper/brass I hope it is visible to you on the last photo, I would say that if someone took a drill to do a new touch hole they might also have taken the proof mark out at that stage as well I would tend to side with you that TOWER might be the removed letters
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