Joshua Cattermole
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2014
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 1
I have this old gun I picked up in an antique shop for £100 and I don't know a whole lot about it. What I do know is that it was bought by the previous owner from a load that came back to England after storage in a now closed down armoury in India. I guessed it was used in the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8 and had this guess as it is certainly old enough to have taken part and has something lodged down the barrel that may be a lead ball or something like that.
What I would really like to know is how old it is, where it was made, and generally any information on what this musket actually is. The gun has no markings that I can see apart from a tiny 'G' looking mark on the barrel near the muzzle. The gun measures overall at 57 inches with the octagon-to-round smoothbore barrel measuring at 42.3 inches including the tang. The ramrod is a bit short measuring at 31.3 inches. The bore width is around 16mm wide. The lockplate measures at 6.3 inches long. The lock is a conversion from a flintlock due to comparisons with other locks and how the screw holes and parts are configured. A nipple port has been added to the side where the original breech hole would have been located. Amazingly the mechanism still functions and you can dry fire the musket with no problems. All of the parts are made out of iron: barrel, ramrod, lock, buttplate and trigger guard. The only parts that are not iron are the sidescrew ports on the left side of the gun, the modern barrel band and the strange 'G' shaped mark near the muzzle. The screws are all obviously handmade due to their irregularity and short screw bits at the end. The gun overall looks crudely constructed with bent nails in the trigger area, bent nails in the buttplate and a short ramrod considering the barrel length. I was guessing it was some kind of trade gun due to it's Indian history and crude construction but I just don't know for sure what I have.
I have attached some photos and hope they are good enough. If you have any questions on subjects I have not answered I will try my best to answer. And thanks for any help provided, it really means a lot.
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What I would really like to know is how old it is, where it was made, and generally any information on what this musket actually is. The gun has no markings that I can see apart from a tiny 'G' looking mark on the barrel near the muzzle. The gun measures overall at 57 inches with the octagon-to-round smoothbore barrel measuring at 42.3 inches including the tang. The ramrod is a bit short measuring at 31.3 inches. The bore width is around 16mm wide. The lockplate measures at 6.3 inches long. The lock is a conversion from a flintlock due to comparisons with other locks and how the screw holes and parts are configured. A nipple port has been added to the side where the original breech hole would have been located. Amazingly the mechanism still functions and you can dry fire the musket with no problems. All of the parts are made out of iron: barrel, ramrod, lock, buttplate and trigger guard. The only parts that are not iron are the sidescrew ports on the left side of the gun, the modern barrel band and the strange 'G' shaped mark near the muzzle. The screws are all obviously handmade due to their irregularity and short screw bits at the end. The gun overall looks crudely constructed with bent nails in the trigger area, bent nails in the buttplate and a short ramrod considering the barrel length. I was guessing it was some kind of trade gun due to it's Indian history and crude construction but I just don't know for sure what I have.
I have attached some photos and hope they are good enough. If you have any questions on subjects I have not answered I will try my best to answer. And thanks for any help provided, it really means a lot.