AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: George Roberts on October 04, 2014, 11:04:09 PM
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Found this recently at a small gun show. It is marked on the top of each barrel Wm. M. Gage. The back action lock which has a fly, is marked H.S. Miles. I found a single reference to Gage as being a gunsmith in Coldwater, Michigan. The barrels are 30 inches long and both are .38 cal. and rifled.
My question is: How often did wenders have two ramrods? The ribs on both sides stop 2.5 inches from the breech, and apparently there were "boot" thimbles soldered there at one time. The other 4 thimbles all match and appear old. The ribs forward of the front thimbles are either both missing, or were never there in the first place.
I have not seen nor handled a lot of wenders, but I don't remember any with two ramrods.
I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.
George
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There are many exceptions, but as a general rule most "late" percussion swivel breech guns like yours were built with 2 ramrods. Flinters usually had only one, with a brass or wood panel mounted on the other side instead of a second ramrod. Early percussion swivel breech wender type guns often had only one ramrod, but sometimes had two especially if the gun was a "combination gun" configured with a rifle barrel over a larger shotgun barrel.
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I see the button the tang and I assume it is the swivel lock? any chance of pics of the internals if you don't mind?
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OLUT, Thanks for the information. I seemed to me that every percussion wender and often double side-by side rifles I had seen, when they had two ramrods, one of them was obviously a late addition. Usually the addition of the ramrod was to cover up a missing rib.
tim crowe, It took me a while to get a chance to take the wender apart. Had to remove the trigger guard, and then the (brass) trigger. The trigger pin did not go all the way through, and there was only a small nubbin protruding to get a hold of.
Hope the pictures are clear enough. The button pushes against one end of a hinged lever. There is a small leaf spring holding the lever closed. The other end of the lever fits into a notch at the end of the barrels. Second picture shows the notch.
George
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