Flintlock Smoothbore

[Davey Boy]

My best friend gave me this just before he passed. His best friend gave it to him before he passed. Both these men were patriots and served their country very well.

I have looked around for identifying it and failed.

My best guess is this had the barrel cut down, barrel rings adjusted to new location, and perhaps missing or broken strap holder at front of trigger guard.

It concerns me that there is a gap between the flash pan and the barrel. Suggests to me it was made up to be a looker but not used much after surgery.

Please feel free to offer up whatever you can for identification and advice.

I can see only one mark, letter G?, on the trigger plate.

It is unloaded and I shot a blank load which was fun. then cleaned it and put it on the wall.



From butt to end of barrel 43 1/4"

Barrel from end to end is 27 1/2"

Barrel end in stock across flats measures 1 1/4"

Barrel end diameter is 0.822" Outside , Inside diameter is 0.715

 

[gabedard]

Interesting stock config

 

[Davey Boy]

More pictures

 

[2 shots]

1777 french . cut down.

 

[TreeMan]

Will the lock screws tighten that gap up?

 

[Davey Boy]

2 shots

Do you think it was cut down for service aboard ship?

 

[Davey Boy]

TreeMan,

I have not done anything to it other than tighten the flint for a test shot, then loosen the flint and clean it.

The lock feels tight into the wood.

dave

 

[toot]

1777 french . cut down.

I concur with you.

 

[toot]

shortened for hunting in the woods. made into a shot gun.

 

[toot]

the cheek cut out in the stock & trigger guard is a dead give away.

 

[Eric Krewson]

It is very easy to tighten the lock to the barrel, blacken the inside of the lock plate with soot from a candle or oil lamp, put the lock in the inlet and tap it a few times, lightly scrape off the black marked high spots in the mortise, repeat. The lock will settle in slowly to give you a perfect seal.

 

[Davey Boy]

Eric,

Thank you.

I watch Bill Raby YouTube videos on building muzzle loading rifles. I watched him inlet a swamped barrel, lock, trigger with guard with great interest. He used Inletting Black and I have never tried it and liked the technique so I bought some from track of the Wolf when I bought my spring compression tool. At work I was doing something and I used the inletting black to complete the job.

Since this is a cut down version of the original design, I assume it is still made in that time. The question I have to ask is should I make this a shooter and do the fit as it should be or leave it alone. I lean towards making it work and shooting it.

With these old guns I want to make them ready to shoot and then hang them on the wall. When friends want to try a muzzleloader, let them shoot a real one and they can say they did something.

Eventually I want to get me a rifle kit and build it. Then go through lots of shooting with it.

dave

 

[Grenadier1758]

I tend to agree with @2 shots or @toots. Its a French 1777 or US 1795 cut down. I am perplexed by the lack of markings on the lock. There should be some markings. The barrel proof markings could have been lost if French and the breech was cut off.

 

[Davey Boy]

Grenadier 1758,

Thank you

Now that I have an identification I spent time doing some lookup on the internet.

Saw that America bought these by the thousand for the Revolutionary War. France wanted to keep the sales private and delivered guns on the sly. They also made these with much shorter barrels for use aboard ship and something else. The wood doesn't look to be that old but I suppose it could be.

I want to learn all I can about it before I start in on it.

dave

 

[2 shots]

the french muskets used in our revolution were the 1763/66 and 1774 type. seems very few if any 1777 types made it here for that war.