I picked up a muzzle loader barrel at an auction.
I would like to try to figure out who made it, and possibly when and where.
Here is the info I can provide:
Octagon barrel, I think you would call it a straight barrel,
length from muzzle to flat back of the breech is about 35"
tang was bent at the auction, but messures about 2 1/2" with one screw hole.
bore is about .50 caliber, and is rifled
looking at the muzzle I see 8 points so I think it is 8 groove???
there are threads when the drum would have been.
rear sight is a shallow, semi-buckhorn, soldered into place.
front sight appears to be german silver, very shallow, about 1" long
2 brass thimbles under the barrel, front one 1 1/2" long, rear one 1 7/8" long
one spot for a wedge, this too is shallow about 5/8" long and maybe 1/8 tall. the hole is about 3/8" long
this is fairly straight on the bottom, but is rounded just enough to allow me to rock my ruler on it, if you can understand this.
both the front and rear sights have simple tooling in front and back of them.
looks like a hand tool made a double row of marks, shaped more or less like diamonds,
from the rear sight, to the rear of the gun, are about 2 1/2 diamonds, ( 1 1/4") then goes to a sqiggley line about 3/4" to the letters J.S
The J looks like the maker started at the lower tip of the letter, then went up, and then straight back down,..........
or, the J slipped too close to the flat, and had to be corrected.
in the front of the rear sight are 3 1/2 diamonds (1 3/4") the goes to a straight line about 1/2"
in rear of the front sight are about 3 diamonds (1 3/8") then goes straight for about 1 1/8"
the tooling follows both sides of the front sight....then becomes a squiggley line in front to the sight, extending to the muzzle.
There are simple tooling mares on the end of the barrel surrounding the muzzle.
The barrel is probably the original length, unless all the tooling was done AFTER the barrel was cut.
I hope someone can help me with this.
If I cannot get pics to post, maybe someone can let me e-mail them the pics, and they can post them for me.
Thanks from Nebraska
Good Shootin!!
DarryH
