Hawken rifle exhibit

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Bob, your comment on making a fence out of gun parts reminded me of a matchlock barrel sent to me by Hans Meuller (sp?) known here as Dutch Gramps.  He said he found it in Yeman, iirc, salvaged from a fence.  It is iron, and the muzzle is a little damaged and bent from having been driven into the ground, but otherwise, quite useable.
It is hard to know how serious gun collectors from the late 19th C were, or whether or not, there even was such a thing?
 

[Bob Roller]

Bob, your comment on making a fence out of gun parts reminded me of a matchlock barrel sent to me by Hans Meuller (sp?) known here as Dutch Gramps.  He said he found it in Yeman, iirc, salvaged from a fence.  It is iron, and the muzzle is a little damaged and bent from having been driven into the ground, but otherwise, quite useable.
It is hard to know how serious gun collectors from the late 19th C were, or whether or not, there even was such a thing?

It IS hard to say what was being collected in the late 19th century as far as guns were concerned.
People like my maternal grandfather were happy to have even one gun that could put meat on the
table.I once found a copy of a Model 3 Smith&Wesson in a gun shop here and it was a poor quality
thing but the chamber would accommodate for ONE shot,a 44 Magnum* round and I suggested that
I would take it to my shop and disable it and then make a table lamp of it.Farris gun shop in Portsmouth
Ohio once had a fine long rifle made into a lamp.Mexico was once a source of Colt SAA and S&W's
that were cut off with a hacksaw to make them more concealable.Today's collector items were once
a nearly negative value.
Bob Roller
*I'm sorry to use the 44Mag as a reference but it stands out in my memory.

[Dave B]

I got to examine a Hawken rifle barrel that had at one point been used as a crow bar the tang cut and flattened up to where the tang screw hole was. Then it found its final use where it became a wire tensioner in a section of old fence on a ranch some where in eastern Montana before being saved from total ignominy. The man that taught me how to build muzzleloaders in a High school evening class had it in his collection. It was something to have a rifle in your hall locker and lugging it to metal shop for some extra credit work. It was 1977 Mr. Gary Rodel was a History teacher at West valley High school. Learned a bunch from him.

[snapper]

Grants Farm in the St. Louis area has a fence made from over 2,500 civil war rifle barrels.

Google it to see pictures.

Fleener

[Hungry Horse]

When I was back in Arkansas back in 1968, we stopped at a lot of antique stores, and local museums. At one of them we saw a back woodsy fireplace set, made by some clever mountain blacksmith. The ash shovel was made from an old tradegun barrel. The muzzle had been folded over, and forge welded several times to accumulate enough mass to draw out the scoop. The octagon breech made a fine handle, and the tang had been drawn out into a nice hook.
 A friend of mine in middle school lived in a house built by the son of a gunsmith. When they started to remodel the house which was made of cinderblock and concrete, we found that the rebar in the walls was all old gun barrels wired together.

  Hungry horse

[Bob McBride]

Military surplus has always been a boon for the less than average Joe. Less in the last 50 years. It’s interesting to consider the economics of the times when huge surpluses have been sold off and how they were used practically by folks in those economic times. Can you imagine how tough the times would be if we today could buy 200 half-life milspec AR barrels and decide they would be best used for rebar or fencing.

[Bob Roller]

When I was back in Arkansas back in 1968, we stopped at a lot of antique stores, and local museums. At one of them we saw a back woodsy fireplace set, made by some clever mountain blacksmith. The ash shovel was made from an old tradegun barrel. The muzzle had been folded over, and forge welded several times to accumulate enough mass to draw out the scoop. The octagon breech made a fine handle, and the tang had been drawn out into a nice hook.
 A friend of mine in middle school lived in a house built by the son of a gunsmith. When they started to remodel the house which was made of cinderblock and concrete, we found that the rebar in the walls was all old gun barrels wired together.

  Hungry horse

In the Spring of 1958 when Bill Large had the concrete floor poured for the big shop
it was reinforced with about 400 old gun barrels that were too far gone to save.
It saved on rebar. Bill caught a lot of flak when word of that got out but he said that
they were the collectors that couldn't hit bull in the rump with a Gatling gun and not
shooters.No cracks ever developed in that floor after20 years.

Bob Roller

[Bob McBride]

When I was back in Arkansas back in 1968, we stopped at a lot of antique stores, and local museums. At one of them we saw a back woodsy fireplace set, made by some clever mountain blacksmith. The ash shovel was made from an old tradegun barrel. The muzzle had been folded over, and forge welded several times to accumulate enough mass to draw out the scoop. The octagon breech made a fine handle, and the tang had been drawn out into a nice hook.
 A friend of mine in middle school lived in a house built by the son of a gunsmith. When they started to remodel the house which was made of cinderblock and concrete, we found that the rebar in the walls was all old gun barrels wired together.

  Hungry horse

In the Spring of 1958 when Bill Large had the concrete floor poured for the big shop
it was reinforced with about 400 old gun barrels that were too far gone to save.
It saved on rebar. Bill caught a lot of flak when word of that got out but he said that
they were the collectors that couldn't hit bull in the rump with a Gatling gun and not
shooters.No cracks ever developed in that floor after20 years.

Bob Roller

Historical gold.