Please help me identify this gun

J

justplainpossum

New member
I bought this gun in the 90's when the tv show Northern Exposure went off the air; it hung on the wall in the home of Maurice, one of the show's characters.

It's been hanging on my wall, and I'm curious as to whether it's a real gun. It's pretty heavy for a prop gun, but perhaps it is. Any ideas? Oh, and the trigger works.
 

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Heck, I suppose you could email Barry Corbin and ask him. There is a link
at the bottom of his website:

http://www.barrycorbin.com/maurice/logcabin.htm

Can't tell a lot from the pictures. There is something a bit odd about
the area just above the lockplate. The drum/nipple looks way too long
for a normal muzzleloader. Markings? Caliber? Is the bore rifled---
rifling is one of those things that's hard to do, and totally worthless
on a prop gun.

ETA: (from the website)
LOG ROLE: Cardboard tubes of the sort used in heavy construction double as logs in Maurice's house. The fakery doesn't end there: The numerous rifles were salvaged from broken stocks and fitted with barrels constructed of wooden dowels or pipe.
 
I imagine its a prop gun. First, for a set of a TV show, there isn't a need to have real guns on a set, when its a gun who's duty is to hang above a fireplace. Second, the foreend of the stock appears to be very thin, to where it could not accommodate a ram road. The forend is no wider than the barrel past for the for end, judging by the photo. If its percussion, it should have a ram rod store spot underneath the barrel. Also judging by the lock plate and trigger, it almost looks like a toy, more so than an actual gun. The lock plate is reminiscent of the ones found on zinc / pot metal "percussion" cap guns, from years back.
 
100% certain it is a dummy gun (a "prop" gun can be a real gun) made as a decorator. Such guns are often seen in "Old West" themed restaurants, and other locations. They were never made to fire and cannot be altered or changed to firing condition.

FWIW, in the old days, guns used in movies and TV were usually real guns, firing blanks. As a result of tragedies with blank cartridges, insurance companies (and sometimes local laws) require that guns on a set must be either dummies or totally deactivated. The flash and noise of "firing" is added to the digital master by the "back room boys".

(Ever see an actor sweeping the scene with a machinegun and notice that the muzzle flash is not tracking the muzzle?)

Jim
 
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Thanks, guys! You can tell Barry Corbin that his gun is hanging on the wall of a ranch in Texas, and it looks great! :)

By the way, what kind of gun is it supposed to be? If it was real, would this be a flintlock? I know nothing about antique guns.
 
It is a "replica" of a percussion, or "cap lock" rifle. Real rifles of that general type were made and used from roughly 1830 to after the Civil War. The show was set in modern Alaska, so a real gun of the type would not have a historical connection to the state, having been pretty much obsolete at the time Alaska was purchased from Russia.

A set decorator, pure and simple; intended to give a "frontier" look to the room.

Jim
 
justplainpossum

Well, now I'm not doubting the words of these other gentlemen and in no way do I have the expertise in this area, but I sure would like some better pics' of this rifle. With the hammer cocked back can you blow air, or smoke, back through the barrel and out the breech hole? Just asking. Thanks.:confused:
 
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