• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Inherited a flintlock pistol

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 5, 2022
Messages
6
Reaction score
13
Location
Brunswick, Ga
Inherited a flintlock pistol and know very little about flintlocks. Anyone able to tell me what I have, how old it is? I’m not interested in selling it.
 

Attachments

  • 88FB81BA-EAEF-4FC8-9EB3-1924B836FC73.jpeg
    88FB81BA-EAEF-4FC8-9EB3-1924B836FC73.jpeg
    97.8 KB · Views: 4
  • 551BB513-AAE7-4D08-AF55-9A0452C45179.jpeg
    551BB513-AAE7-4D08-AF55-9A0452C45179.jpeg
    83.7 KB · Views: 0
  • 56F56239-C8BF-4114-9D29-8B7DDBDDD958.jpeg
    56F56239-C8BF-4114-9D29-8B7DDBDDD958.jpeg
    105 KB · Views: 0
  • AFAE0D9F-324F-4A4D-BC34-FD7B74EA445E.jpeg
    AFAE0D9F-324F-4A4D-BC34-FD7B74EA445E.jpeg
    109.9 KB · Views: 0
  • E3533891-141D-4D1D-B595-DE2C40586E34.jpeg
    E3533891-141D-4D1D-B595-DE2C40586E34.jpeg
    65.5 KB · Views: 0
Your pistol is a flintlock screw barrel pocket pistol. In use the barrel is unscrewed from the frame by means of a special wrench (usually lost). The wrench is a handled ring with a notch to fit over the raised boss near the breach of the barrel--shown in your second photo. A powder charge is placed into the exposed chamber in the frame, a ball placed on top and the barrel screwed back on. The pistol is placed on half-cock, primed and the frizzen closed and the trigger folded forward flush with the frame. As the pistol is brought to full-cock the trigger will flip down ready to fire the gun. The London proof mark you show (there should be more marks) dates the pistol to about 1813 or after.
 
Last edited:
Hi,
William and Samuel Dawes worked in Birmingham, England 1799-1812. They often marked their guns "London", which was a common marketing ploy at the time. You have a nice little "box lock" turn off pistol. Many were made and they were quite popular for personal defense.

dave
 
Given that most I've seen were caplocks, I find that it's a rock lock very interesting - BTW, please accept our condolences on your loss.
 
Those are not standard London Gunmakers Company proofs and are likely period forgeries. The standard London proofs should include a "crown/GP" proof mark of slightly different style and then a "crown/V" view mark. The Birmingham makers didn't have their own formal proofhouse until 1813 and previously would sometimes mark their firearms with their own "private" proof marks or illegally copy the London proofs.
 
Hi,
William and Samuel Dawes worked in Birmingham, England 1799-1812. They often marked their guns "London", which was a common marketing ploy at the time. You have a nice little "box lock" turn off pistol. Many were made and they were quite popular for personal defense.

dave
Thank you. I’ve been trying to figure out why my grandfather held onto this. Birmingham, England makes a lot of sense since my Great-grandfather emigrated here from Birmingham. Perhaps my grandfather was holding on to it because it was his dad’s gun. I will be digging through my grandfathers tools and such on my next trip home to see if I can find the barrel wrench. Any suggestions on how to determine the caliber?
 
Back
Top