Old gun id help

[Grover Willis]

 

[NCHillbilly]

Yeah, from the cutout in the lockplate, it looks like original percussion. That is a fine rifle, likely locally made, and I would treasure it for the rest of my life. Do you know what caliber it is?

 

[gawildlife]

Someone correct me here if I'm wrong.

Flint= pre 1830s
Percussion= 1830s on?

 

[NCHillbilly]

Someone correct me here if I'm wrong.

Flint= pre 1830s
Percussion= 1830s on?

They commonly made flintlocks long after percussion guns were developed, and a lot of people still preferred them to percussion, because you can find flint in the ground, but you have to buy caps. You can still buy spankin' new flintlocks. A lot of folks in the mid-late 1800s had their flint guns converted to percussion.

 

[gawildlife]

True, I understand one of the polar expeditions (Perry?) choose flint over percussion due to not having to haul and keep up with caps which might be a little fiddly to use in the cold.

 

[gawildlife]

Just from a mechanical stand point I would think a flinter would need better craftsmanship up front as far as tempering springs and hardening of the frizzen plus timing but if crafted well should stay in function quite well until the frizzen was completely worn away.

 

[gawildlife]

Lots of overlap of technologies during that period. The older was at it's very best of development with the new ideas of all sorts working through trial and error.
As I said a truly fascinating time. What I would give to visit the smithys of that time and learn from the great masters.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Just from a mechanical stand point I would think a flinter would need better craftsmanship up front as far as tempering springs and hardening of the frizzen plus timing but if crafted well should stay in function quite well until the frizzen was completely worn away.

Yep. A good flintlock is good and reliable. A shoddy flintlock is horrible, and won't go off half the time.

 

[Nicodemus]

Lots of overlap of technologies during that period. The older was at it's very best of development with the new ideas of all sorts working through trial and error.
As I said a truly fascinating time. What I would give to visit the smithys of that time and learn from the great masters.

There`s some smiths around now that are just as good. Some right here in Georgia.

 

[gawildlife]

I've often wondered if the bad rap flinters carry is more often based on modern repros where mass production has forgotten the old ways?

Of course you could probably apply that to so many things today.

 

[gawildlife]

There`s some smiths around now that are just as good. Some right here in Georgia.

I'm glad someone is keeping that knowledge alive.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I've often wondered if the bad rap flinters carry is more often based on modern repros where mass production has forgotten the old ways?

Of course you could probably apply that to so many things today.

Definitely. Elk, bison, Indians, and whitetail deer weren't extirpated from the eastern US with crappy rifles that wouldn't go off.

 

[NCHillbilly]

There`s some smiths around now that are just as good. Some right here in Georgia.

A few here around me too, Like Jim Chambers and the Rice brothers.

 

[Grover Willis]

Thank y'all for all the great information. I will update this when I find out more info.