Tower Pistol

[moose30273]

Hi. A local pawnshop has one of the Japanese made Tower pistols in .69 cal. It was first marked as a British Antique and sold for too much money. Then it reappeared and is now marked as what it is. Still priced at too much. My question is How bad were these? I have heard the locks were soft but the barrels were OK. Can I make a shooter out of it with minimal work? Would I need to replace the lock? I just like the big horse pistol idea. Thanks

 

[Zoar]

Yeah big monster bore hand cannons are enticing. The big question is how much is too much for their price on this Tower gun?

I don't know about you, but I'd choose to spend my money on a nicer gun by a reputable maker ESPECIALLY for a caliber that large. Big bang could make for big boobooo.

 

[aap2]

Moose: My first flintlock was a Japanese Tower pistol from Dixie Gun Works in 1969. The price was $29.92 plus an extra few bucks to have the frizzen hardened. Long story short: the lock was a disaster, frizzen impossible to harden properly, all parts were butter soft and the mainspring broke while I was attempting to fix the lock. You see these on GB from time to time; they look cool, but they are really crude. Mine was made by Ultra Hi, the ones by Miroku might be a little better. One thing: make sure that the barrel is properly breeched (plug properly screwed in).....some were not...These pistols were advertised as decorators and probably best in that role. The $29.95 that I paid in 1969 is about what they are worth. There were some Japanese "Harper's Ferry" pistols that worked better; but for a big flint pistol I would look for a Pedersoli Harper's Ferry .58 in decent shape..at least they are safe.....good luck

 

[flintlock75]

I have 3 of them, all made by ultra high, I have been shooting them for 20 years with no problems. They are a hoot to shoot. Mine are all .67 cal. I use a .650 RB and 30gr of 3F. They all spark like crazy, I have seen quite a few and have not seen one with a soft frizzen or bad locks. I also have 2 of the Harpers Ferry pistols as well and they are tight and sound, they are .54cal smoothbores.
The towers i paid $25.00 for at various gun shows. I have seen them for as much as $125.00 thats to much, From what i have read on this subject you either love them or hate them, I think it depends on the individual gun as quality seems to very. good luck, I would not pay more than $100.00 for one in new condition.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

I have 3 of them, all made by ultra high, I have been shooting them for 20 years with no problems. They are a hoot to shoot. Mine are all .67 cal. I use a .650 RB and 30gr of 3F. They all spark like crazy, I have seen quite a few and have not seen one with a soft frizzen or bad locks.
The towers i paid $25.00 for at various gun shows. I have seen them for as much as $125.00 thats to much, From what i have read on this subject you either love them or hate them, I think it depends on the individual gun as quality seems to very. good luck, I would not pay more than $100.00 for one in new condition.

I paid $32 for a Ultra-Hi "Tower Pistol" about 4 years ago. It was a kit pistol, that someone got fed up with. I don't know why someone grew tired of it--there was very little work left to do--as everything was fitted very nicely. The really neat thing is that I have (what I feel is) the Ultra-Hi companion long gun--a .670 smoothbore flintlock that is a pretty accurate shooter with Lyman .648 cast round balls. I have also used shot loads (as a 16ga... though 15 is probably closer).

I have no qualms about either of these Ultra-Hi manufactured guns... I even found an extra barrel for the long gun for $10 about 3 years ago. Don't know what exactly I will do with it, but the barrel walls are quite thick and it would make another nice piece (long or short).

Regards, and shoot safely!
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Many Klatch]

I have a pair of the Tower Pistols. Both required a lot of work to make them right. One lock was OK, but needed cleaning up and tuning. The other needed a new frizzen and mainspring before it would work. I paid $100 for the good one and $25 for the P.O.S.

I later reworked the stocks of both of them so that now they look kinda like a Dragoon Pistol if you squint real hard in dim light.

They are fun to shoot but forget hitting anything beyond 15 feet.

Many Klatch

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Both required a lot of work to make them right. One lock was OK, but needed cleaning up and tuning. The other needed a new frizzen and mainspring before it would work. I paid $100 for the good one and $25 for the P.O.S.

They are fun to shoot but forget hitting anything beyond 15 feet.

Many Klatch

I can see where there could be a boatload of problems with the lock. I guess I was twice lucky. The lock (and frizzen) look like they were plated with nickel or chrome... not exactly the best choice. Of course, I usually buy "klunkers" anyway--for the fun of figuring out how to get them working again.

I haven't fired the pistol yet, but it would probably be best loaded with buck & ball or maybe #6 shot. The long gun keeps 3 shots (.648-.650diam) in 3 inches at about 100 feet and on a saucer at 150 feet. Shot load is good for about 30yds.

These are what they are, and it's unfair to try to make something more out of them. I originally bought the long gun as a nice looking wall hanger, but found it had some utility as well. The short gun will go nicely with it. Just need to check it out closely and accept it for what it is.

Shoot safely...always...
WV_Hillbilly

 

[mazo kid]

My first Tower pistol was a kit from Dixie and IIRC it was $19.** plus shipping. The mainspring was soft and wouldn't move that big hammer real fast, but it sparked good. That pistol is still going good after ~35 years, as one of my friends bought it many years ago for rendezvous "duels". I have 3 more of them I acquired over the years, never paying more than $75-90 for them. I have seen them for sale at close to $200 but I won't buy one for that price!

 

[rafterob]

I bought a kit for my Brother back in the '70s. .69 caliber. It was a good quality pistol, nice barrel and heavy duty flint lock. I do not know the manufacturer, but I do not recall it being Ultra-Hi. I remember part of the marketing on the box advertised it as "the personal side arm of George Washington". I,ve seen some of the Ultra High versions and they are not the same pistol. If the one you are looking at is in really good shape my top recommended paying price would be $150.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Daughter and son-in-law picked up five ML pistols for just a few bucks at a garage sale in Cody WY.

Among them was two of the .69 Ultra-Hi tower pistols. They sent them down to me for taking a look. One is much better built that the other, but after examining, concluded they both were sound and safe to shoot.

Trigger pull on both is atrocious. (may take a look at improving)) I agree with you as to being real sparkers, they never fail to go off.

 

[moose30273]

Update.
In the Pawn Shop it still sits. Priced at $295.00. I offered $100.00 and was turned down. They were at least polite.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Update.
In the Pawn Shop it still sits. Priced at $295.00. I offered $100.00 and was turned down. They were at least polite.

and at the price of $295, it would set there in that Pawn Shop for a very, very, very long time... (at least for me it would)

I am either a bargain hunter or just plain cheap, but I'm not stupid either... they would never be worth more than $50 to me; and even then all the parts would have to be intact and functional.

Spend Wisely,
WV_Hillbilly

 

[Zonie]

WV: I agree.
There is no way on earth that one of these pistols is worth that much money.

 

[rickystl]

Moose: There are a couple of the Jap Towers for sale at $125.00 on Guns America Web-Site under Replica Muzzleloading Pistols - Flint. JFYI
My experience is pretty much the same as aap-2 above. Good luck.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I decided to gamble and just purchased an Ultra-Hi kit that I just happened to stumble across at a very reasonable price. It hasn't arrived in the mail yet but when it does, I'll find out what the breech plug and lock look like before I start to work on it. It may be a fun .69 cal shooter or it may just be a wall hanger. If nothing else, it'll be a chance to do my first pistol build.

 

[Geraldo]

I had one 25 years ago that I got in a package deal. It sparked well but had what had to be a 20# trigger pull. I have no idea who made it. I was happy to sell it for $25 and I wouldn't pay more than twice that for one now. They do look intimidating though.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Yep, I pretty much expect that and working on the lock doesn't intimidate me any. I'm more concerned about how it's breeched. If it does turn out to be a welded breech, I believe that I can still sell it cheaply enough as either a "blanks only" gun or as a wall hanger.

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Ultra-Hi "Continental Army" pistol finally arrived in the mail last week...
Breech Plug is threaded +++
Frizzen Spring is broken ---

Big bore mics out at .67 cal and barrel walls are thick.

The stock is rough as a cob and while some inletting doesn't look bad at all, some of the other inletting is not so good, and some waits for me to work on yet. Mostly it looks workable and there is lots of wood to be removed.

Trigger looks nicely done and even the lock looks OK but can use some honing. Spring quality howsomever speaks for itself. Numrich Arms is trying to locate a frizzen spring to fit. If they can't find one, looks like DGW has one that will work.

Metal ramrod will likely be discarded and replaced by something better...it's too short anyhow.

Overall it appears that I received just what I paid for.

 

[Many Klatch]

Since you don't have a lot invested in this pistol you can be creative in your spring replacement. I had one that needed both a new frizzen and a main spring. I had some spare Siler parts that I made work. I had to drill some new holes for the new main spring and grind down the frizzen but now it works reasonably well.

Many Klatch

 

[SDSmlf]

Purchased one last fall as part of group from an estate liquidation for $25 ”“ wanted the other guns so I had to take it.

Pros
1. Trigger guard and ramrod thimbles held into the stock with finishing nails instead of pins.
2. The only way you could get a spark off the frizzen would be to hit it with grinding wheel.
3. Pommel held into the wooden grip with a machine screw.
4. Hammer and frizzen do not line up well (offset from each other).
5. Breech plug is either pressed or welded into the barrel ”“ not willing to find out just how well it is held in place.
6. Trigger pull ”“ spiked my trigger scale at 20 pounds.
And now the cons”¦”¦

Plan is to clean it up, refinish it and hang it high up on a wall or in a dark corner.