One New Gun A Month Show-n-Tell

This is a thread for members to show-n-tell new blackpowder arms. Please not more than one a month. Pics are the main point so don't forget 'em.


May 2012

All guns are, at their heart, a tube on a stick. This bronze "hande gonne" is a new replica of the Tannenburg Gun, the oldest definitively-dated gun in Western civilization. In 1399 the town's castle the gun was named for in present-day Germany was knocked down on top of the arm (it was at the bottom of a well). See the pics of the original at the Nuremburg Museum.

This exacting foot-long replica (see pics), and so labeled, from Germany has quite-close dimesions to the original (see pics -- 1" = 25.4mm). There's an efficiency-promoting smaller diameter powder chamber behind the main bore which is .66 caliber. The original bore tapered up to .70. It is serial-numbered and proof-marked for 28 grain blackpowder as well as 1.8 grain smokeless powder charges.

The other gun (see pic) is The Rifle Shoppe approximation of the Tannenburg Gun of .62 in brass which I've had for a long time. It is one honkin' heavy tube!

These arms would have been ignited at the time with a red-hot wire wisk from a brazier. As I explain in demos, it wasn't long till people learned that barrels of gunpowder with little scoops and open fires didn't go well together...

 

And the Days Go Bye...

Day after day w/out posts on the blackpowder forum.

Well here's another...

This is The Rifle Shoppe's steel .75 hand gonne. I bought their latest version of a serpentine too. Hammer marks and all -- that's how you can tell it's olde timey, lol. In this context* it's a lever attached to the tiller that holds the slowmatch and is used to lower the cord into the priming powder like a big trigger.

Eventually it'll look more like the picture here from 1411...

*Serpentine has other meanings -- in fact it was also the name for an early mixture of black powder itself!

 

Early Hudson Valley/New England Club Butt Fowler

This is my new .62/20 ga. smoothbore doglock. It is in the pattern of an early Hudson Valley club-butt-influenced New England fowler. This is after one made by Enoch Bolton of Chalestown, Massachusetts between 1665 and 1667 which is owned today by the Historic Deerfield (Mass.) Ass'n.

42" octagon to tapered round barrel. 7-1/2 lbs.

Raid on Deerfield - Background:Situated near the junction of the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers, Deerfield, MA was founded in 1673. Built on land taken from the Pocomtuc tribe, the English residents in the new village existed on the fringe of the New England settlements and were relatively isolated. As a result, Deerfield was targeted by Native American forces during the early days of King Philip's War in 1675. Following a colonial defeat at the Battle of Bloody Brook on September 12, the village was evacuated. With successful conclusion of the conflict the next year, Deerfield was reoccupied. Despite additional English conflicts with the Native Americans and French, Deerfield passed the remainder of the 17th century in relative peace. This came to an end shortly after the turn of the century and the beginning of Queen Anne's War...

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars16011800/p/Queen-Annes-War-Raid-On-Deerfield.htm

 

Nice find. Miroku never made a bad product. Hope it was a bargain to boot!

 

Le Dragon de Samuel

This is my like new Uberti 1st Model Colt Dragoon.

Cabella's says Samuel Colt first focused on military markets in 1848 with the introduction of the Dragoon. The 1st model utilizes oval cylinder slots and integrated loading cutouts for easy, secure percussion-cap seating. Six-shot, .44-caliber revolver. Case-hardened frame, brass backstrap and trigger guard. One-piece walnut grip. Blued finish.
Barrel length: 7-1/2".
Overall length: 13.4".
Weight: 4.1 lbs.

Love the grip size and I won't shoot my Colt Blackpowder 2nd Model dragoon cased set -- too darned expensive to dirty nowadays.


Wiki said the Colt Model 1848 Percussion Army Revolver is a .44 caliber revolver designed by Samuel Colt for the U.S. Army's Mounted Rifles, also known as "Dragoons" [French for Dragons]. This revolver was designed as a solution to numerous problems encountered with the Walker Colt. Although it was introduced after the Mexican-American War, it became popular among civilians during the 1850s and '60s, and was also used during the American Civil War.

Production
The Colt Dragoon Revolver was produced with several variations between 1848 and 1860, when the Colt Model 1860 revolver replaced it. All the improvements in design of Colt revolvers were applied to the Dragoons as well to the smaller models of Colt revolvers. For collectors, there are three different types. The First Model Colt Dragoon Revolver has oval-shaped cylinder notches, a V-type mainspring, no wheel on the rear of the hammer, no pins between the nipples on the cylinder and a squareback triggerguard. Colt produced about 7,000 first models between 1848 and 1850...

The Dragoon was produced because of the problems seen with the fielded Colt Walker revolvers, namely, the Walker's large size, four and a half pounds, making it suitable only for use as a saddle-mounted revolver, the Walker's propensity for cylinders exploding on occasion when fired (due to the chambers being loaded with too much powder), and the Walker's habit of dropping the loading lever upon discharge, locking up the revolver action in the middle of combat. The Colt Dragoon Revolver had a comparatively shorter cylinder (thus preventing overloading the cylinder) and held up to 50 grains of powder, whereas the Walker had used up to 60 grains of powder. The Dragoon Revolver had a shorter barrel at 7.5 inches (some later revolvers 8 inches) as compared to the 9 inches (230 mm) barrel on the Walker. A loading lever latch in front of the lever replaced the spring to keep the lever from dropping during recoil, thereby preventing jamming of the revolver. These variations made the Colt Dragoon Revolver 4 pounds two ounces. These changes also reduced the risks of the Colt Dragoon Revolver from exploding when fired, unlike the risk that had been demonstrated with the Walker revolvers.

Popularity
In the troublesome events that led to the Civil War, Colt Dragoons became extremely popular. In the beginning Colt Dragoon Revolver were issued for the U.S. Army's Mounted Rifles. They were carried in pommel holsters on the saddle. The Colt Dragoon Revolver gained popularity among civilians in the Southwest where many had served in the Mexican-American War. The Dragoon became a master weapon for civilians who hailed it as a powerful weapon of the time.

Famous users included Joaquin Murietta, the California bandit, Charley Parkhurst, California teamster, Union general George B McClellan, probably Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad, and fictionally Mattie Ross in the 1969 version of "True Grit". Parkhurst, while driving freight, was confronted by two bandits whom she dispatched with the Colt Holster Pistol. According to Harper's Weekly, James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickock arrived in Springfield, Missouri carrying a Dragoon though it is generally accepted that he used a Navy in his street duel with Davis Tutt...

Quality Replica Dragoons are currently produced by the Aldo Uberti Company of Brescia, Italy...

 

Native Italian

Four days and no posts to the blackpowder forum.

Well, here's my new Pedersoli Indian Trade Gun. Fired a few times by its previous owner, this excellent .62/20 ga. smoothbore flintlock with some casehardened accent is a beauty. It has a 3' sweetly rust-browned barrel that transitions from octagon to round with two sets of "wedding bands" and, with its walnut stock, weighs 7.3 lbs. (not including the woven sling).

Pedersoli says it faithfully reflects the type of ams used by the most well known trading companies (Northwest Co., Hudson’s Bay Co., American Fur Co.) for transactions with American Indians and the white fur-trade hunters in the late 1700's. Hence, it is a Northwest Tradegun.

They point out these arms show the classical lines of the old European muskets produced there and by the best-known American manufacturers. There are brass thimbles as well as buttplate and engraved snake-shaped lock backplate which, along with the wood ramrod and the large trigger guard, were typical features of these guns.

Some will point to individual aspects of this arm as being historically irregular -- it is rather above-average so I won't argue, at least until they try to take this beautiful smoothbore from me.

Louis

PS: Met acquaintance, let's call him "George," at Dixon's and he bought a broken one of these from nearby Cabela's for about the same price I paid for this. He asked me to take his back home where he'd repair it as he wasn't allowed to buy anything and his very large, very mean, wife would be watching him and even inspect his truck when he got home. A week later I called him and said I was Cabela's and we'd undercharged him $200 by mistake but it was OK as we had his credit-card number and had billed the balance there. When he started hyperventillating I told him it was me and it was just a joke... He recovered.

 

Thanks Mr. Jenks!

 

Folks, I musta sent the wrong message. I only meant to acknowledge this member's unique arms, much appreciated postings and craftsmanship!

Metal, we hail you brother!

 

Nice. Give us a little more detail on the Army (who, what, when, where, how...) -- maybe a closeup of the gun.

 

Happy Oktoberfest!

Here's my new early Germanic matchlock pistol. Coupla feet long. That's a Landsknecht short Katzbalger sword next to it.