Brass barreled pistol !LOOK! !LOOK! New picture added below

[JTR]

I’ve had this old pistol for quite a while, and thought I’d post a few pictures of it.
 
When I bought it, it needed a little repair, but was mostly original with the exception of the muzzle cap, a ramrod pipe, that bit of the stock above the crack mid-way up the grip, and one of the lock bolts.    And the ramrod.

The lock is stamped Ketland on the inside of the plate and is original flint. Even though it’s a cheap import type, it still cocks and operates perfectly! The frizzen has been resoled, or possibly made that way originally.

The barrel is 8 1/2 inches long, brass, round, tapered and swamped, about 56 cal smoothbore, with no proof marks or maker marks.

The stock is Cherry and was broken a long time ago. Some splinters were missing so I didn’t try to fit the glue joint tightly and decided to leave the crack somewhat visible as part of the guns life history. I did the butterfly inserts partly for fun, and for some added support. I know that type of repair was used on furniture at the time, so why not guns.

Even though it’s seen a hard life, it’s still in one piece, again.

John 

PS, Sorry for the scrufty back ground!

[Kermit]

Any chance of a closer look at one of your keys? How deep we're you able to set them.

I remember the first time I set a key to stop a split. I ran the grain across the key instead of lengthwise. It lasted about a month before it too split. I got to do that repair twice. Learned the lesson.

[wet willy]

The flattened grips seem US east coast (see Dyke's "American Flintlock Pistols.") The sideplate seems military, British dragoons, etc.  The tapered round barrel and flat tang also seem military. Could this be a collection of pieces available to a 'smith who made something of what was on hand?

Brass was more available than iron, easier to turn, probably as good as iron for most firearms applications. Some Cu (copper), a little zinc (Zn). Not as likely to rust/corrode as iron.

Seems to me 'smiths would salvage whatever they could from firearms broken beyond repair. Moderately priced firearms from misc/salvaged parts are common, although they are not preserved at the same rate as higher-quality pieces.

[JTR]

Kermit, The butterfly's or keys are about perpendicular to the crack. The grain of the key is straight up and down as seen from the back of the grip. I have an old chair, maybe Irish or Scottish, made about 1650 or so that has a repair like this, and its still holding fine.

willy, yes, the flat grip and Cherry wood pretty well point toward New England. It could well be a parts gun. The bottom of the barrel, the edges of the side plate and the unseen parts of the trigger guard all have the same rough file marks, same angle, same spacing and seem to have been done by the same guy with the same file. No proof marks, touch marks or makers marks anyplace, so maybe an early US bunch of parts. The pieces have been together for a long time, as interestingly, the outline of the pan is etched into the side of the barrel, in crud, around the touch hole.

John   

[JTR]

Wow! I’m not surprised that there wasn’t much comment on the pistol, as it’s just a plain jane thing without much to comment on.
 
But after 300 guys had read it, I guess I'm somewhat surprised that no one commented on this line in my initial description,

“was mostly original with the exception of,,,,, that bit of the stock above the crack mid-way up the grip”,

because below is a picture of the pistol as it looked when I bought it!      

John 

PS, I guess that description would have been a pretty clever auction description! 

[davebozell]

Great job putting it back together!  And it's still more original than George Washington's hatchet!  You're right, we all read right over your very clever comment.  Plain or not, it's still a very nice pistol.  I'd like to see more pictures of how you put old and new wood back together and then finished them as seamlessly as you did.

[Kevin Houlihan]

I thought you did a nice job on an old pistol that needed some TLC...until I saw the last picture. Great job on the "stock repair above the crack" !! Without the last picture I never would have guessed.
Kevin

[WadePatton]

So, all in all-pretty much a completely new stock, 'cept for that bit below yer hand.  

Very good result.  

Some of us need a before/after to "get it" yo.  

[gibster]

When I read the post and saw the pictures, I thought that the "crack" you were talking about was the area in front of the lock.  Looked like a repaired "crack" to me.  I thought that the butterfly repairs that you did were just to stabilize another crack so that it wouldn't completely separate.  Boy was I wrong.  Great job on saving a group of parts that others may have just parted out for other projects.

[oakridge]

"I only restored a 'bit' of that stock". Isn't that a Bill Clinton quote?

[JTR]

Well, I guess I was a bit abstruse in my description, in that I could have just said, Old pistol restored by John Robbins! But sometimes it’s fun to describe things a little differently.

When doing the work, I realized there could be some confusion down the road as to what was what, so I purposely angled the grain direction of the new wood about 90 degrees from the grain direction of the original bit, so anyone looking at the crack area will realize that there was no way the two pieces of wood could have originally been together. Then added a comment inside the barrel channel in India ink, describing exactly what I had done.

I’ve added this sort of ‘advisory’ to a couple other jobs I’ve done when the client asked, and have no problem doing it. One was on the underside of a patchbox door that I replaced, engraved as to what I had done.

Also, I know some guys here take exception to just about any sort of restoration, but I think if it is done right and done well, and disclosed by the owner, that it will keep a lot more guns in circulation, that otherwise might just be tossed aside.
Also, keep in mind that Dillin in his book wrote regarding restoration, almost a hundred years ago. And that a lot of the really great rifles in the greatest collections have had some restoration work done to them.

Really great, or even just great longrifles in original untouched condition are unbelievably scarce, and if you want to own a particulars makers guns, sometimes you have to take what you can get. And sometimes, if the gun hadn’t been restored at some point in the past, it might well not even be with us today!

I don’t mind carrying on the tradition of repairing an old gun that has seen tough times to keep them in circulation. And given the hours it takes, you sure aren't going to get rich!

John
PS. And next time you find yourself reading an auction description, remember this thread!  

[Avlrc]

Well, I guess I was a bit abstruse in my description, in that I could have just said, Old pistol restored by John Robbins! But sometimes it’s fun to describe things a little differently.

When doing the work, I realized there could be some confusion down the road as to what was what, so I purposely angled the grain direction of the new wood about 90 degrees from the grain direction of the original bit, so anyone looking at the crack area will realize that there was no way the two pieces of wood could have originally been together. Then added a comment inside the barrel channel in India ink, describing exactly what I had done.

I’ve added this sort of ‘advisory’ to a couple other jobs I’ve done when the client asked, and have no problem doing it. One was on the underside of a patchbox door that I replaced, engraved as to what I had done.

Also, I know some guys here take exception to just about any sort of restoration, but I think if it is done right and done well, and disclosed by the owner, that it will keep a lot more guns in circulation, that otherwise might just be tossed aside.
Also, keep in mind that Dillin in his book wrote regarding restoration, almost a hundred years ago. And that a lot of the really great rifles in the greatest collections have had some restoration work done to them.

Really great, or even just great longrifles in original untouched condition are unbelievably scarce, and if you want to own a particulars makers guns, sometimes you have to take what you can get. And sometimes, if the gun hadn’t been restored at some point in the past, it might well not even be with us today!

I don’t mind carrying on the tradition of repairing an old gun that has seen tough times to keep them in circulation. And given the hours it takes, you sure aren't going to get rich!

John
PS. And next time you find yourself reading an auction description, remember this thread!  

You did a real nice job. As to the collectors who only collect untouched guns, they really are limiting themselves. Most of my rifles have had some restoration and the untouched ones, probably did to.

[jdm]

John, I was thinking about selling a couple of things from my collection. If I can get you to write the description of them that would help. If they sound good enough I might just keep them!  JIM