Help with What, When, Where and Who?

[dhorne]

I would like any help you could give me on figuring out what this gun is. I welcome any comments, opinions or guesses you might have. I bought it at an online auction out of Florida so I have no provenance or specific area it came from.
The barrel is .73 caliber or 12 ga on my bore gauge. I can see no marks at all on the barrel. I haven't taken the barrel out of the stock and probably won't. The bore was very rusty so I ran some oily patches thru it. I was surprised the nipple and drum were clear.
The stock appears to be walnut? It has some splits and cracks and I don’t think it has ever been repaired or refinished. There is some checkering around the wrist and a simple teardrop finial at the rear of the lock mortise and the sideplate.Thats all the wood carving I see. There was an escutcheon in the top of the wrist behind the breech plug that is missing. The wood is well worn but it has a buildup of dirt on it so I don’t think it was refinished/sanded/cleaned.
The trigger guard and butt plate are iron the thimbles and side plate are brass. The side plate is scratched up but I don’t think it had any engraving on it. The screw in the rear of the side plate I think is a much later addition probably to keep the tail of the side plate flush. The nose cap is brass and is reset to allow for attaching a bayonet. The muzzle of the barrel has a lug to hold a bayonet.
The ramrod is iron and looks old it might be original to the gun. the button/jag on the end of the rod is iron and I can't tell it might be threaded onto the rod. The other end of the rod is rounded off and isn't threaded for a worm etc.
When I got it the hammer would move but not hold half or fullcock. After soaking the bolts with oil I finally got the lock out. It looks like a well made lock and after I get it cleaned up with some oil I'm sure I can get it to work. There is a small mark that might be a couple letters on the inside of the lock plate but so far I can't read it. The lock plate is engraved with NEW YORK and WARRENTED and above that what I can make out AHE A? TON ??
It has a drum and nipple the drum is decorated with filing.
I'm not sure but I think it MAY have been built as a flintlock and converted. There is some wood removed on the top of the lock mortise you would expect to see for a flint hammer and the lock looks like the pan was cut and filed off the lock plate for the drum. It may have been built as a percussion gun with a converted lock. Either way I have a gut feeling it dates from the 1st quarter of the 19th century. ?

So there you have it. If anybody can give me any info on the name on the lock plate and when and where this gun was built I would appreciate it.
Thanks
DH

[Bob Roller]

I'm  no expert but that is probably a wild fowl and small game gun.Rght now,I would try to find out if it's still loaded.Whoever made it did a good job,The lock is typical of many American guns and that mechanism is usually found in flintlocks.
Bob Roller

[rich pierce]

How about Wheaton?  Just guessing.

[OLUT]

As a guess, I'd go for Abraham Heaton of NYC being the source of the lock, but it could be otherwise! Swinney lists only one very modified gun known by the Heaton family of gunsmiths


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[bluenoser]

Militia musket assembled using salvaged parts and later converted to percussion?  Is it stocked in cherry?

[dhorne]

I'm  no expert but that is probably a wild fowl and small game gun.Rght now,I would try to find out if it's still loaded.Whoever made it did a good job,The lock is typical of many American guns and that mechanism is usually found in flintlocks.
Bob Roller

Thank you. The first thing I did was check to see if it was loaded.

[dhorne]

Militia musket assembled using salvaged parts and later converted to percussion?  Is it stocked in cherry?

Thank you. Militia gun makes a lot of sense. It could be Cherry definitely not Maple. In a couple weeks I"ll show it to a couple guys who know way more about wood than I do.

[dhorne]

As a guess, I'd go for Abraham Heaton of NYC being the source of the lock, but it could be otherwise! Swinney lists only one very modified gun known by the Heaton family of gunsmiths


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Thank you. It could be A Heaton I agree its probably the maker of the lock and not necessarily the gun maker. I'll look uo Heaton.

[bluenoser]

The dates strike me as being a little late for this gun.  I believe the name on the lock could also be that of a retailer or an importer.

[JV Puleo]

They were called "training muskets"in period..light muskets made in Birmingham for sale in America to satisfy the requirements of the militia law. Aside from being cut back at the muzzle and having a bayonet lug they were indistinguishable from inexpensive fowlers. The militia itself was never intended to be embodied, even in wartime, unless the area they came from was invaded. It was a nationwide military training program and each member had to supply his own arms. The contract muskets of regulation pattern were, mostly, held in storage against such an event when provisional units would be raised and armed by the state, the men already having undergone basic military training. I'd say the gun is entirely English made and Heaton was just the retailer. He certainly didn't make the lock...lock making was a highly specialized trade and by the mid-18th century even the best English gunmakers rarely, if ever, made their own locks. It could easily date from the 1820s

[dhorne]

They were called "training muskets"in period..light muskets made in Birmingham for sale in America to satisfy the requirements of the militia law. Aside from being cut back at the muzzle and having a bayonet lug they were indistinguishable from inexpensive fowlers. The militia itself was never intended to be embodied, even in wartime, unless the area they came from was invaded. It was a nationwide military training program and each member had to supply his own arms. The contract muskets of regulation pattern were, mostly, held in storage against such an event when provisional units would be raised and armed by the state, the men already having undergone basic military training. I'd say the gun is entirely English made and Heaton was just the retailer. He certainly didn't make the lock...lock making was a highly specialized trade and by the mid-18th century even the best English gunmakers rarely, if ever, made their own locks. It could easily date from the 1820s

Thank you.

[Hawg]

There's no holes in the lock plate for a frizzen spring.

[rich pierce]

There's no holes in the lock plate for a frizzen spring.

I see holes for frizzen pivot bolt and frizzen spring.

[JV Puleo]

I'm certain it was converted. By the time percussion ignition arrived active participation in the mandatory enrolled militia had largely passed. It was still the law but was largely ignored...(I don't think the militia law was actually repealed until 1912 with the act creating the National Guard.) There are percussion militia rifles (I once had one) but those were all volunteer companies made of pf men that wanted militia training. I don't think I've ever seen a made-as-percussion militia musket though it would be presumptuous to say there were none. Also, the features of that musket are a bit archaic even for the early 1820s so I suspect it was made no later than 1822-23. Percussion ignition doesn't seem to have caught hold until about 1825 in sporting guns but, as we know, it was some time before the military adopted it, largely over worry about the supply of percussion caps. It wasn't until there were domestic manufacturers of caps that the military though it safe to adopt the new system.

[dhorne]

There's no holes in the lock plate for a frizzen spring.

I see holes for frizzen pivot bolt and frizzen spring.

Yep. Thanks

[dhorne]

I'm certain it was converted. By the time percussion ignition arrived active participation in the mandatory enrolled militia had largely passed. It was still the law but was largely ignored...(I don't think the militia law was actually repealed until 1912 with the act creating the National Guard.) There are percussion militia rifles (I once had one) but those were all volunteer companies made of pf men that wanted militia training. I don't think I've ever seen a made-as-percussion militia musket though it would be presumptuous to say there were none. Also, the features of that musket are a bit archaic even for the early 1820s so I suspect it was made no later than 1822-23. Percussion ignition doesn't seem to have caught hold until about 1825 in sporting guns but, as we know, it was some time before the military adopted it, largely over worry about the supply of percussion caps. It wasn't until there were domestic manufacturers of caps that the military though it safe to adopt the new system.

Thank you.