Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

David R · 14th October 2020, 01:31 PM

Some of you will relate to this. I was just now moving stuff round in my storeroom, and idly picked up a dismounted antique gun barrel I had bought over 30 years before. One of two I bought from Colonel Corrie. Having a ramrod in my hand at the time, I just poked it down the barrel, and it stopped a couple of inches short of the touch hole.
Into the kitchen and a rapid pouring of boiling water down the barrel... Yup, the small remnant of a black-powder charge and wad still down there, and now gone! Bought a long long time ago as a project and nothing done with it since.
I had earlier, again more than 30 years ago, bought a couple of percussion pistols from him, which I checked as soon as I got them.... and they were still loaded as well. No ball though.
They were Kurdish "Saturday Night Specials" that the Shah's police had confiscated and then sold to dealers out of Iran, I suspect the 2 very nice damascus twist long barrels were from the same source..... Sigh, those were the days my friends. The pistols were very cheaply made, in one case literally a gas pipe barrel, and the other a very nice old one with remains of koftgari. One lock hand made, and the other from a sidelock shotgun. The idea was that they were a shoot and dump item, pull the trigger and throw it over the wall. A bit like a "four winds" gun. If they were there a few days later, then they would be picked up for later use.

14th October 2020, 01:31 PM	#1
David R Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 1,051	Check your barrels. Some of you will relate to this. I was just now moving stuff round in my storeroom, and idly picked up a dismounted antique gun barrel I had bought over 30 years before. One of two I bought from Colonel Corrie. Having a ramrod in my hand at the time, I just poked it down the barrel, and it stopped a couple of inches short of the touch hole. Into the kitchen and a rapid pouring of boiling water down the barrel... Yup, the small remnant of a black-powder charge and wad still down there, and now gone! Bought a long long time ago as a project and nothing done with it since. I had earlier, again more than 30 years ago, bought a couple of percussion pistols from him, which I checked as soon as I got them.... and they were still loaded as well. No ball though. They were Kurdish "Saturday Night Specials" that the Shah's police had confiscated and then sold to dealers out of Iran, I suspect the 2 very nice damascus twist long barrels were from the same source..... Sigh, those were the days my friends. The pistols were very cheaply made, in one case literally a gas pipe barrel, and the other a very nice old one with remains of koftgari. One lock hand made, and the other from a sidelock shotgun. The idea was that they were a shoot and dump item, pull the trigger and throw it over the wall. A bit like a "four winds" gun. If they were there a few days later, then they would be picked up for later use.