Found rifle....or most of one

[Stressfire]

I know it's been awhile...

But the man finally made it back in.

Not much you can tell from the pics aside from that it used to be a gun barrel.

Condition is actually quite a bit worse that it was initially described, but if you all would, see what you can see.

Even a rough idea of make might be a nudge in the right direction.

 

[Stressfire]

And a couple more pics

 

[Molasses]

Well, at first glance and just taking a glance, the action looks a heck of a lot more like a Flobert than a trapdoor Springfield.

 

[sgms]

If it helps some photos of a m-1873 barrel and breach for comparison.

 

[g.willikers]

More intriguing than the gun itself, is why would someone bury it?

 

[JimPage]

Perhaps because of yesterday's election

 

[Stressfire]

More intriguing than the gun itself, is why would someone bury it?

Wish I could tell you. Though I LOLed at Jim's post

From what the man said, it was under an outbuilding that he had asked the local FD to burn down for him, rather than try to demo it himself.

I can tell that its a hexagonal barrel, but that's about it.

 

[Scorch]

It looks like a Warner breeched parlor rifle, often called Flobert rifles because of the widely-distributed parlor rifles made by the Flobert company in the late 1800s-early 1900s. And yes, that one is beyond the point of restoration.

Why it was there is anyone's guess, but when parlor shooting went out of fashion (yes, imagine that, it used to be fashionable to shoot rifles indoors) many of these old guns were tossed in an attic or trunk or garden shed.\, where they were often discovered and appropriated by young boys, who then hid them for later recovery. Many were tossed in leaf or trash fires to dispose of them, they had little value. And many were just given away to the neighbor boys for mowing the lawn or trimming a hedge. It was a cheap gun, few people even gave it much thought.