ca gunsmiths

[trail of roses]

There are a case pair of Slotterbeck target pistols for sale with Witherell's of Sacramento.
Beautiful, as pictured in CA Gunsmiths by Larry Shelton.  Get them now!

[Hungry Horse]

 I got a phone call at my home, from the owner of these pistols, asking if I was interested. Interested, yes, but at the price they are asking, no. Not saying they are not worth it, just saying it was way too rich for my blood.

                Hungry Horse

[JTR]

Wow, that's about the most user unfriendly site I've been on. I couldn't find a search function, couldn't find an auction, couldn't find the guns!
Oh well.
John

[Mark Tyler]

http://witherells.com/Private_Sale_Gallery.aspx

[JTR]

Thanks Mark. I got as far as here; http://witherells.com/Private_Sales.aspx

But see the Sale Gallery at the bottom of the page now.

John

[Bob Roller]

I got a phone call at my home, from the owner of these pistols, asking if I was interested. Interested, yes, but at the price they are asking, no. Not saying they are not worth it, just saying it was way too rich for my blood.

                Hungry Horse

Willing seller,UNwilling buyer,simple as it can be.

Bob Roller

[Hungry Horse]

 I guess I should rejoice, since the price is $5,000 less than the original asking price.

              Hungry Horse

[mr. no gold]

Standard price of a cased set of English percussion pistol with equipment runs 8K to 10K usually. A local shop has a set for 7K. Pistols are very fine and have all the refinement you could want. Sounds like this fellow is hoping for a big pay day from a collector of CA guns. Probably made in Philly anyway. Have to say that they are pretty and most likely somewhat rare. You see rifles now and then. but seldom any pistols.
Dick

[Hungry Horse]

 These pistols are marked Lakeport, Ca., So I wouldn't think they were made in Philly. The other Slotterbeck brothers built guns in Philadelphia,as well as a few other places, but I've never seen one signed by Charlie made there. I've seen several made by Charlie marked San Francisco though. Charlie's old gun shop still stands on Main St. in downtown Lakeport ( it now houses a Chinese restaurant) and his treadle lathe, and tooling, is in a local collection. I think he was the best craftsman of all the Slotterbecks.

               Hungry Horse

[JTR]

That's a nice set in nice condition, but even as a CA made set (questionable at best), at that price you'd Really need to want to own them. 

John

[Hungry Horse]

 O.K. guys, the bar in wood lock,gold inlayed metal, and recessed panels for the checkering, are all C. Slotterbeck signature features. None of the guns built by his brothers show all these features. Lakeport is the last place Charlie had a shop, so the barrel stamp had to be the last one he used. So, how come everybody has questions as to where these pistols were made?

               Hungry Horse

[mr. no gold]

Would be nice to hear what Larry Shelton might have to say about them. Having written the book on CA gunmakers, he surely has seen them. They are nice guns and if made out here, so much the better.
Dick

[Ky-Flinter]

The opening post states these pistols were pictured in CA Gunsmiths by Larry Shelton.

-Ron

[Hungry Horse]

 Larry Shelton has visited me in my home, in years past, and is an avid Slotterbeck collector. So, if these guns were worth anywheres near the amount being asked, they would be in his collection. He lists them in his book as being made in Lakeport.

                  Hungry Horse

[mr. no gold]

Larry will probably be at the Las Vegas show, (he usually is) and I will take the opportunity to ask him about the set. He will likely know who is selling it and why it is priced so optimistically. He has visited me, and I in turn have stopped by his home up there in mountain lion country. Larry is a good guy and one who deals honestly.
Ron, when he wrote his book he used photos sent in by various collectors. Being shown in the book does not necessarily imply that he actually saw them. So...
Dick

[Curt J]

A magnificent pair of pistols. Since they cannot talk, we will probably never know for sure whether they were made in California or "back east".  I'm just glad they were not made in Illinois, so I don't have to feel bad about not being able to buy them.  I've already been through that once, with a cased percussion target pistol, by Geo. T. Abbey, Chicago.  It was cased with two barrels, a detachable shoulder  stock, and a scope.  The scope was also made by Abbey. It brought upwards of $9,000 on an Amoskeag Auction, several years ago. Pistols by any American maker are rare, but fine, cased examples are much more so.

I visited Larry Shelton when he still lived in Orangevale, CA, and he visited us here on a vacation trip some years back. He is a fine fellow.

[Hungry Horse]

 The other issue with the price on these pistols, is I don't see any of the other stuff, that should be in the case. Charlie's guns came with all the stuff to shoot them, when they were cased, and I don't see the bullet starter, or the mold, in this casing. That would drag down the price a lot in my book.
 The woman I talked to about these guns didn't know much about them, and although her husband was there next to her, he refused to discuss the guns. She did say they hadn't owned them for and overly long period of time. Which gives me the impression that they were bought to sell.

                   Hungry Horse

[greybeard]

I am probabley way off base but I am wondering if the guns are original to that case?

[PPatch]

I believe you HH. Beautiful set of fine pistols make in Lakeport California. Fellow was a accomplished Craftsman with a capital C.

dave

[oakridge]

I am probabley way off base but I am wondering if the guns are original to that case?

The interior of the case does seem odd in that it doesn't have partitions for other accoutrements such as mold, flask, bullet starter, nipple wrench, etc.