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ngp

32 Cal.
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Need some enlightenment on a lock mechanism I have from my fathers estate. Markings are :LePage Arquebusier Du Roy A Paris.Fabulous workmanship and nice shape. I am very new ,but learning.Any help would be greatly appreciated.see pics below.
gun007.jpg


gun005.jpg


gun008.jpg
 
In addition to the A Paris (in Paris) and the date Mike Brooks already suggested the only thing I see is that from the turned in lock tail and the hook instead of a front screw it is most likely the right hand lock off of a side by side double barreled fowler (shotgun).

Unlike what some others have immediately suggested, I thing the lock should be preserved as a study piece, antique, or collectable and NOT used to build a modern gun of any sort.

Gary
 
I agree, don't try to stock this lock. Besides, there's only a bare handful of gunsmiths that could really make a gun worthy of the lock. :wink:
 
Your right of course Gary but having a French rifle being built now, I can't say I wouldn't want to use it if I had that lock. :redface:
 
Yup, caps were around for a while but didn't become reliable and common until later. Just like electronic TV's were invented in the 1920's but weren't in households until the 1950's.
 
Le Page, Gunmaker to the King.

This means it cannot have been made between 1792 (when the monarchy was abolished) and 1815 when it was restored. LePage was a famous Paris maker and for most of the intervening period styled themselves "Gunmaker to the Emperor."

Stylistically it is pre-1792. I would guess closer to 1770-1780 but I am away from home and cannont check Stockel and some other sources regarding when the firm actually started.
 
"Yup, caps were around for a while but didn't become reliable and common until later."

I read in a journel, maybe Russel where they had to remove the caps form their guns because they would go off from the heat circa 1835 I think, not good in hostile country, it is available in the "Mt Men and the fur Trade' a good source with lots of searchable info.
 
Not easy to tell from a photo, necessarily, but I would venture that while the pistols date from 1818, they may well have been converted later. It looks like the bolster is sitting on the remains of a pan. As I said, hard to see if there are filled screw holes in the lockplate from the photo, at least for my eyes, so I may be wrong, but if those are indeed 1818 percussion pistols, they were among the very first, since the first patents for conventional percussion caps were 1818 and 1822, and either the "scent bottle" or the pill system was more common before that, IIRC.
 
I agree with the others about not building this into a working piece. It is more valuable as it is.
 
JV Puleo said:
Le Page, Gunmaker to the King.

This means it cannot have been made between 1792 (when the monarchy was abolished) and 1815 when it was restored. LePage was a famous Paris maker and for most of the intervening period styled themselves "Gunmaker to the Emperor."

Stylistically it is pre-1792. I would guess closer to 1770-1780 but I am away from home and cannont check Stockel and some other sources regarding when the firm actually started.


As always, excellent information.
 
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