What can you tell me about his blunderbuss?

[Bennypapa]

Link to and album with all the photos.  https://imgur.com/a/T5Ontol
Overall pic below.


A friend inherited this blunderbuss. We're pretty interested in anything we can learn about it.
We didn't see any markings and he didn't want to try to take the barrel out to look underneath.
The lock is quite unique to me. Both the half cock and fully cocked positions are held in place by pins the protrude through the lock plate. Pulling the trigger makes the pins recede into the lock. The fully cocked sear pin is flat but the half cock pin is cylindrical with a groove that catches and holds the hammer even when the trigger is pulled. From the filly cocked position the hammer tends to bump over the bounded head of the half cock catch pin. It's quite ingenious.

The flare on the muzzle looks to be soldered on though I didn't get a good picture of the solder/weld line.

There also appears to be some sort of patch near the breech block on the left side.

I don't think this lock was ever made as a flint lock. What do you think?

[Mike Brooks]

Probably spanish

[mr. no gold]

Mike, I agree, Spanish with a percussion 'miquelet' lock. Interesting gun and worth having. Thank you for showing it here.
Dick

[alacran]

The lock appears to have been made as percussion, and not a conversion. The style of the gun is odd and not of any and may suggest that it may have been made in the colonies.

[Robby]

I was getting a crick in my neck.
Robby

[Levy]

I remember that in the late 60's early 70's Dixie Gun Works was selling a bunch of muskets that were converted into blunderbusses and I distinctly remember seeing a Spanish Miquelet locked gun in the bunch.  If I remember correctly, they sold for somewhere around $45 back then.  I have seen others come up for re-sale over the years.  James Levy

[Hungry Horse]

James I suspect your right. This looks more like decoration than one that was designed to work.

Hungry Horse

[Bennypapa]

I was getting a crick in my neck.
Robby

Ha, thank you.

And thank you all.
If it is a converted musket that might explain the attachment of the flare at the muzzle as it appears to have been added on either by solder or welding or something. I'll take a better photograph of that when I get back to the house.



From the outside the bell doesn't look all that bad but when you look on the inside it's got a pretty obvious step at the joint where it was added.

[Craig Wilcox]

The Traditions Blunderbus kit that I just finished has that very same step in the barrel.

The lock on it is for $#@* - took me forever and a day to fix it so it didn't go off when the frizzen was closed.  Weak sparker at best, tho I did get it to set off a charged pan, finally.

I did get the barrel nicely brown with the aid of Mr. Lee #2.  The heating between coats really speeds up the process.  Used a Brownell's fine wire wheel for the rust removal.

Wood on it is terrible.