Good source for buffalo horn

[Justin Urbantas]

I found a great place to find water buffalo horn for nosecaps, inlays, ramrod tips etc..cheap and easy.  Go to your local pet store, Petsmart  Petco etc...  You can usually find a few good ones in the chew treats area for dogs.  I think I paid $9 and got one big enough for 2 nose caps and a ramrod tip.

[Daryl]

Good tip, Justin. I think that is where this one came from.



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[Waksupi]

Justin, I also use buffalo horn from Petco, along with getting very nice white sections of bone for knife scales. I also occasionally find sheep horn.

[T*O*F]

We stopped at PetSmart for something else and I looked for buff horn.  They didn't have any and said that they never had.

[tnhillbilly]

get mine from Chewy's

https://www.chewy.com/qt-dog-buffalo-hornz-water-buffalo/dp/132929

[BruceH]

Tractor Supply also carries them in their dog section.  Pretty cheap also.

[Eric Krewson]

Walmart has the horns in their pet section.

[HelmutKutz]

I choose to support business in the trade rather than retail importers. The Gun Works has a great selection of horns including buffalo.
HK

http://www.thegunworks.com/custprodgun.cfm?Cat2Name=Blanks&SubCat2ID=134&do=list&Cat1Name=Horns

[T*O*F]

The Gun Works has a great selection of horns including buffalo.

That's Bison horn.  We're speaking of water buffalo horn.

[HelmutKutz]

The Gun Works has a great selection of horns including buffalo.

That's Bison horn.  We're speaking of water buffalo horn.

The subject being American long rifles and water buffalo are not indigenous to North America and were not imported until the 1970s, I assumed one would wish to use the correct material from the American bison rather than water buffalo horn imported from India.
HK

[Clark Badgett]

The Gun Works has a great selection of horns including buffalo.

That's Bison horn.  We're speaking of water buffalo horn.

The subject being American long rifles and water buffalo are not indigenous to North America and were not imported until the 1970s, I assumed one would wish to use the correct material from the American bison rather than water buffalo horn imported from India.
HK

While there may not have been actual water buffalo in this country at the time, there is a fairly strong possibility that if the English would have access to it for trade then the horn itself could very conceivably been had here through the same trade.

[HelmutKutz]

While there may not have been actual water buffalo in this country at the time, there is a fairly strong possibility that if the English would have access to it for trade then the horn itself could very conceivably been had here through the same trade.

Many things are "possible" but not "probable" and the reality is that cargo space aboard sail ships was a premium relegated to only the highest profit merchandise and water buffalo horn from India would not have been a high-profit item worthy of loading aboard ship. Any horn used in period times would come from local sources and based upon the history of other wares, the use of American bison by other than Native Americans did not occur until colonial traders expanded into the west. Even rare woods that commanded high prices were rarely shipped in any kind of quantities beyond their local region, thus the probability of low-value animal horns to be shipped from India to North America is extremely unlikely.
HK

[Nhgrants]

I looked at these yesterday and ended up buying one.
The last time I paid for a polished cow horn, I think it had a sticker on it that either said China or India on it.

[Clark Badgett]

While there may not have been actual water buffalo in this country at the time, there is a fairly strong possibility that if the English would have access to it for trade then the horn itself could very conceivably been had here through the same trade.

Many things are "possible" but not "probable" and the reality is that cargo space aboard sail ships was a premium relegated to only the highest profit merchandise and water buffalo horn from India would not have been a high-profit item worthy of loading aboard ship. Any horn used in period times would come from local sources and based upon the history of other wares, the use of American bison by other than Native Americans did not occur until colonial traders expanded into the west. Even rare woods that commanded high prices were rarely shipped in any kind of quantities beyond their local region, thus the probability of low-value animal horns to be shipped from India to North America is extremely unlikely.
HK

I'm sorry, but low value items came across on those ships with some frequency, granted it was in all probability already a finished item.

[HelmutKutz]

I'm sorry, but low value items came across on those ships with some frequency, granted it was in all probability already a finished item.

Of course anything is possible, but the lack of period items made from Indian water buffalo horn lends high probability to the fact that cargo space was dedicated to the high-profit items. Might someone individual brought a single finished powder horn made from Indian water buffalo? Possible. But highly doubtful the numbers exceeded more than one can count on his fingers.
HK

[T*O*F]

the lack of period items made from Indian water buffalo horn lends high probability to the fact that cargo space was dedicated to the high-profit items. Might someone individual brought a single finished powder horn made from Indian water buffalo?

India was under British rule.  WB horn was routinely used by British gunmakers as horn nosecaps on their guns, as well as powder "flasks", turnscrew handles, and other stuff.  Rich colonials purchased this stuff and also traveled on safari to hunt elephant, tiger, etc in the same manner that the British traveled here to hunt our buffalo and wildcat.  Many of those items can be found in Philadelphia gunsmith supply catalogs as imports to here.  It was a raw material with many uses.

[grabenkater]

Bison horn or water buffalo horn? When are you guys gonna start obsessing over growth rings in the wood used to build rifles?

[Craig Wilcox]

Took a look at the WB horn at Walmart yesterday, I think it was $6.99 per horn.
But I was NOT impressed with the size!  I think they must have come from baby water buffalo!
I spent a few years in the Philippines, mid '50's.  I was 10 when we moved there, almost 13 when we left.  The people who lived around us when we lived in town (Cavite, across Manila Bay from Manila) had water buffalo - carabao - to tend the rice and cane fields.  Huge animals, and quite expensive.  They usually detailed one young lad to ride herd on them when they were not hitched to a plow.
Those big beasts, black as the ace of spades, easily weighed 2,000 lb, and the horns were about 15" across the base, and curved around to the face, most horns being in the neighborhood of 2' from base to tip.
Quite obviously a different species from the Indian water buffalo!  I imagine you could have made an entire fore end from one of the Filipino buffalo horns!  My mind reeled picturing one of those making a huge muzzle cap!  Or you could use one as a powder horn for a small cannon....
The small black one I got will make a splendid ramrod tip, or fore end tip for a half-stock.