African gun in the house.

4

4V50 Gary

Staff
My buddy is more religious than I (I belong to the Church of the Sleeping Jesus - if you sleep in on Sundays, it's OK in his good book). Anyhow, my buddy attends church and his preacherman did time as a missionary in Mother Africa. While there, he saw their guns and asked the local gunsmith to make one for him. The fellow used a hollow driveshaft for the barrel. He fabricated the buttplate from a flat piece of brass and used what looks like a salvaged lock. It has three brass barrel bands that gives it a Charleville appearance (OK, Charlevilles had iron bands). The front band has a raised front sight. Anyhow, practicing good safety, I removed the ramrod and dropped it down the barrel. No clear "ping" but a dull thud. Opps.

I noted the length and measured it against the touchhole. It's loaded and has been for years. Tomorrow I'll pull the charge.
 
Therefore, just the same, don’t you meddle with old unloaded firearms; they are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man. You don’t have to take any pains at all with them; you don’t have to have a rest, you don’t have to have any sights on the gun, you don’t have to take aim, even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away, and you are sure to get him. A youth who can’t hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun in three quarters of an hour, can take up an old empty musket and bag his grandmother every time, at a hundred. Think what Waterloo would have been if one of the armies had been boys armed with old muskets supposed not to be loaded, and the other army had been composed of their female relations. The very thought of it make one shudder.

-Mark Twain
Click to expand...
:D
 
My Grand-dad had a 1855? Springfield .69 caliber that he had over the mantle for as long as I can remember & after his death we had a good look at it including finding out that it was still loaded with Buck-N-Ball from possibly the Civil War!!!!

I still get eerie thought of what could have been since I know that fire place quite often had a good roaring fire going during the winter months....:eek:
 
Rushed home after work and took my blackpowder stuff out. I put the stuck ball remover in and it didn't grab anything. OK, it may be some rag or wad atop a load. So, the stuck ball remover was replaced by the a worm and with it I fished out a greasy rag. No ball/shot or powder. Apparently the gunsmith stuffed it down there to preserve the barrel.

The bands were fabricated from sheet brass and appears to have been hammered into shape and brazed. The barrel is pretty straight (no taper) except near the breechplug where it flares out slightly. The lockplate & pan assembly are one piece and appears to be casted. An examination of the pan shows some pretty poor casting quality (by our standards). The frizzen screw appears to have been staked so as to keep it from backing out. The lock is unbridled. The ring neck cock also looks casted.

The sideplate is fabricated from sheetbrass. The screws securing the lock are too long and protrude quite a bit from the lockplate.

I pulled out a .62 caliber ball from a bottle (I store my casted lead balls in those 16 oz water bottles - hey, they work great, are strong and you can see your balls *not cajones* through the bottle) and it was a snug fit in the muzzle.

Will try to post some pics - if I can figure out how.

I'm contacting Eric Bye of Muzzle Blasts magazine. If he thinks the readers are interested, I'll write an article for them (NMLRA).
 
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