Identify old pistol
As the title states I need help identifying an antique pistol. It is a percussion pistol .68 or .70 cal. It has only 1 mark on it that may help identify it. Other marks of note are a top hat and shield (?) engraved on the handle along with three file marks.
It was found in the wall of a house by one of my co-workers friends. No one in our town was of help. I'm sure there is someone on this forum that can offer some help. My co-worker will be taking it to Cabela's to see if they can identify it (I doubt it).
I kept the pictures as large as possible to aid in identification so I will be using thumbnails, click on them for the larger versions if necessary.
A couple of the pictures didn't turn out and I didn't have time to fix them. They should be adequate.
Thanks for looking!
It was found in the wall of a house by one of my co-workers friends. No one in our town was of help. I'm sure there is someone on this forum that can offer some help. My co-worker will be taking it to Cabela's to see if they can identify it (I doubt it).
I kept the pictures as large as possible to aid in identification so I will be using thumbnails, click on them for the larger versions if necessary.
A couple of the pictures didn't turn out and I didn't have time to fix them. They should be adequate.
Thanks for looking!
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The percussion lock is a "back action type" which would date it to no earlier then the 1840's. Don't recall ever seeing one of the muzzle loading pistols from that era with a aluminum stock and trigger guard though?
Anything is possible though, as a lot of the firearms of that era were built by local gunsmiths on a custom basis.
The stock and trigger guard might also be some guys fairly recent, (last 50 years?), winter project?0 -
Rufe,no Aluminum in 1840.!!! D. 0 -
Is it really aluminum?
If so, agree with rufe, somebody likely made an aluminum stock for an old barrel and lock.
If not, it might be German Silver which was available in the 19th century.
OK, if it is not aluminum and not plated brass, then to quote a usually reliable source (Me!) it is likely German Silver (nickel silver = nickel + copper + zinc) which was developed in the 1823-1832 time frame. The Scots made metal pistols but of a distinctive and different style. This looks like a regular "overcoat pistol" except for the all metal construction.0 -
Looks brass to me, and a Birmingham proof mark on barrel.
And tell your coworker to measure down the bore to see if it's loaded, as it's surprising how many old muzzle loaders are found with 100+ year old loads still in there!0 -
That looks like a work of Henry Derringer of Philadelphia about 1848.
But the odd thing is the octagon barrel??? Bob0 -
Brass is not an absolute (in alloy formulation).
Combo of the photo lighting, and the ally used in making the frame may make it look like aluminum, etc.
My take is that the frame/trigger guard is brass..with a higher than normal amount of whatever it takes to make it look like Sterling.
Since Sterling silver uses copper in the formulation, perhaps a poor grade of 'Sterling silver'?
Joe0 -
It is loaded. That is the first thing I checked for him. The second was to remove the barrel to see if I could find any markings.
The stock and trigger guard really look to be made at the same time.
The stock and trigger guard are not aluminum. They are also not plated brass. I removed the trigger guard and the threads were the same color all the way through. Also in the pictures you can see that there are 3 notches cut in the stock they show no signs of plating.0 -
For safety sake, you might want to use one of the three common methods of getting the load out. The first method involves screwing an attachment into the nipple base and pressurizing until the contents pop out. The second method is the old fashioned screw tip on a rod to pull the ball out. (The third method is the most obvious but definitely the most dangerous, since you don't know how much powder is in there and whether the gun can still handle the pressure.)
Nice little addition to someone's collection.0
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