For those of you that didn't see my post in gunbuilding, this is the antique German pistol I picked up from an online auction in broken condition for $250.
To bring it up to shooting condition I had to clean up and glue the break, and run a dowel up through the grip.
The nipple was frozen in place, so I used some penetrating oil and a screw extractor to get it out. The threads were good and I ordered a .01 oversized nipple from Track of the Wolf, and it worked perfectly.
I also had to make a new sear spring, replace a couple screws and polish up the bore. It was a bit pitted, but not awful.
Best I can figure, the pistol was made in Widdern Germany around 1830-1850.
It is a .50 cal smoothbore with no rear sight.
I like to think that I am the first person to shoot it in the last 180 ish years.
It was cold out (15 F) so I didn't do too much shooting.
The pistol worked flawlessly and I was surprised how well it shot. I shot 7 shots at 10 meters and then backed it up to 15 for another 3 shots.
Load was 25gr Goex fffg, .490 ball, .018 ticking patch and bear grease lube. It shoots a bit high and left, so I may make a new sight for it to bring it right to point of aim.
I will take some time to try some different loads and experiment with it more later, but today was a great initial success.
