AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: James Wilson Everett on December 10, 2018, 03:58:11 AM
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Guys,
Took a great vacation to the Czech Republic. If you think that Germany is home to the "Jaeger" - think again! If you like Jaegers, go and visit Zleby Castle - too many to count, but wear a drool bib! If you love Jaegers, wear Depends! Anyway, I saw there two collections of "poacher's guns", cut down and easily concealable hunting guns. Apparently, only the rich nobility were allowed to hunt. If you were a commoner you had to poach to get venison. Thank God for our American hunting tradition. Here is an adaptation of one poaching gun, not an exact copy - but in the style. The barrel is a tapered octagon 0.50 caliber smooth bore 22 inches long. Great for poaching the rich folks deer in the Czech Sumava mountains.
Jim
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Poacher/SANY0002_zpsfqwu3cig.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Poacher/SANY0002_zpsfqwu3cig.jpg.html)
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Poacher/SANY0003_zps0ztldcxm.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Poacher/SANY0003_zps0ztldcxm.jpg.html)
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Poacher/SANY0004_zpsghfkti2v.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Poacher/SANY0004_zpsghfkti2v.jpg.html)
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Wow, what year does that date to?
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Wow, that’s interesting (to say the least)! I’d love to get back to Europe and see some of the places I couldn’t go before...I was stationed in Bavaria in the 80’s...iron curtain fully in place, had to wear Class A uniform and ride the “duty train” to get into Berlin. Spent some time guarding the border from the Russian hordes, and all that. Sure would be nice to just be a tourist...
Greg
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Guys,
Most of the poacher gun in the collections I saw were percussion, but many appeared to be cut down from some really nice earlier flintlock period guns. Imagine taking a hacksaw to a beautiful gun so you can hide it under the wagon seat! So, I really don't know a lot of the history of the poacher's guns, just that they were interesting. Here are some photos I was able to take, a little poor quality as I was not allowed to use a flash, and my hands are not that steady. In the photos you can see the remains of nice guns, imagine what they looked like before they were shortened.
Jim
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Poacher/SANY0553_zpsimc4ci6t.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Poacher/SANY0553_zpsimc4ci6t.jpg.html)
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Poacher/SANY0554_zpsyzfvjvzn.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Poacher/SANY0554_zpsyzfvjvzn.jpg.html)
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Looks like a really nice piece of walnut on that last gun. Must have been a beautiful piece in it's prime.
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Interesting guns, thanks for the photographs. Pouching must be the third oldest profession. There is a lot of it going on here in N Georgia, there are a couple of neighbors who keep the deer thinned no mater the season.
dave
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I'd say that person does now how to make their patch box.
So that's to make the gun lighter. That weird hole in the butt of the gun.
That is a cool gun.
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Guys,
Yes, a skeleton butt was not too rare in Europe. Here is an original poacher's gun or takedown gun.
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Poacher/bate5_zpsaxlscqlg.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Poacher/bate5_zpsaxlscqlg.jpg.html)
They also put then on pistols, like this.
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Shoulder/MVC-010F_af70d836-d3a6-46ab-a392-a65f9d31c862_large_zps7nmjsfr6.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Shoulder/MVC-010F_af70d836-d3a6-46ab-a392-a65f9d31c862_large_zps7nmjsfr6.jpg.html)
Here is one that I made based on such European pistols with stocks.
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Shoulder/Shoulder%204_zps6tgkhrvd.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Shoulder/Shoulder%204_zps6tgkhrvd.jpg.html)
(https://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n514/JamesEverett/Guns/Shoulder/Shoulder%203_zpsbajslbqh.jpg) (http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/JamesEverett/media/Guns/Shoulder/Shoulder%203_zpsbajslbqh.jpg.html)
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Now I can’t decide which I like best, the takedown rifle or the pistol with the detachable butt stock! I guess the well equipped poacher has to have both... :o. Nicely done!
Greg
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An we keep thinking we have the newest idea...! Yep sure we do...lol
Thanks for sharing. But don't let Mike see this. He'll go 🍌. Oldtravler
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Looks like a really nice piece of walnut on that last gun. Must have been a beautiful piece in it's prime.
Looks like ash or oak to me.
The gun in the middle of the rack, same.
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Looks like a really nice piece of walnut on that last gun. Must have been a beautiful piece in it's prime.
Looks like ash or oak to me.
The gun in the middle of the rack, same.
what do you mean by ash?
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He means the wood from an Ash tree.
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James,
Nice job on the short one!
I am always in more than two minds about poacher's guns.
Yes, those you show from the museum likely are, but English and such with a skeleton stock, I don't think so.
I mean, when did a poacher have money to get a gunmaker to build him one? (some poachers were Very good with throwing sticks)
The ones I have seen are nearly all for sure coaching carbines, short and light and carried for security, along with a brace of pistols. Griffin made a good few of these.
Thanks for the photos, James!!
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James, what a waste of fine guns.
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He means the wood from an Ash tree.
Yes- tks Dennis, exactly. The bottom rifle (bottom picture) actually appears to be Red Oak, virtually identical wood to a bow I made, decades ago.