A VERY DECORATED FLINTLOCK PISTOL FOR ID

[Pukka Bundook]

It Is a very nicely made lock, Jean-Luc.

From the outside it looks English but I see it has a separate pan attached to the lock plate, so has to be either Continental, or a copy of Continental.
I wonder why the bushed hole for the pan retaining screw? It looks very clean and well done but a bit recent possibly?
Does the touch-hole have a liner fitted? .... I am wondering about a possible re-conversion to flint from percussion.
Does the engraving on the frizzen/steel & cock and rest of the piece?

The lack of markings on the barrel and lock still say this could possibly be Very high-end Indian work.
It is a lovely and well designed piece.
If possible at some time, please show us the mortise for the lock. Inletting tells us a lot about where a gun may come from.

Best regards,

Richard.

Yes, On looking again at your first photos Jean -Luc, I see the pan and cock show none of the patina we see on the barrel.
The pan and cock and frizzen appear to have been added more recently.
It is a high-end lock with lovely springs.
When this re-conversion was done I do not know, but it is a very tidy job.
This also opens up the possibility that the lock is a high-quality English trade lock, and the "continental pan attachment" could have come about in its re-conversion.

A lovely and enigmatic piece!!

Richard.

[Fernando K]

Hello

The thesis of a percussion conversion to flint has no handle. There is nothing in the canyon that has been percussion. The lock, with false cup, is consistent, if as we maintain, the weapon is Belgian or continental
The different coloration or patina between the barrel and the lock is due to the fact that the barrel has been cleaned of its rust, to highlight the silver incrustations, which become inexorably black with the passage of time. The presence of caries or pitting, next to the shiny metal, prove it.

affectionately Fernando K

[Pukka Bundook]

Dear Fernando,

The lock would have originally been flint, and at some time altered to percussion, Then, later back to flint.
The easiest method of converting to percussion, is with the drum and nipple arrangement. This entails drilling out the touchhole to a larger size, tapping, and screwing in a drum containing the nipple.
This type of conversion was very common, and these days Many are being converted back, as a flint is worth more generally then a converted percussion piece.
I hope this clarifies what I was trying to say.

The patination on the barrel and the rest of the lock are consistent, and much more visible than on the (newer I think) cock , pan and steel, (or frizzen).
Yes you are very correct, a lock made in Europe very often had a separate pan fitted, as I said in my post above.

Kindest regards,
Richard.

[Fernando K]

Dear Pukka

What he manifests is imaginative. there is no record of the successive transformations.

Affectionately. Fernando K

[fernando]

Although tocayo, this is not the first time i hear about 'successive' modifications. I confess that this 'diagnosis' i once received for a pistol of mine was doubtful for me, but ...

[Fernando K]

Dear namesake

Of course, there are transformations. But in this case it is not theory, it must be demonstrated based on elements that are mentioned and that can be seen in the piece ...

A hug

Fernando K

[Pukka Bundook]

Fernando K, my dear friend,

At times I am baffled by our use of a common language,
To me, it means one thing, to others something very different.

I will try again to say what I mean, and will thereafter in this case, "forever hold my peace".

What I have to say it this; The lock and barrel have the same patina.
The cock and frizzen And pan appear to not have this same patina, they look cleaner and newer to me. Not brand new, but newer.. The pan still has the milling marks on the inside.

To me, this can mean that these parts are Possibly replacements.

I will not go into Why they would be replaced, but logic dictates that they were either damaged or missing.

There my friend. I have done my best, and must leave it now.
I hope to at least to be understandable in what I say, and will not fall out if we disagree.
I am not saying I am right, this is just what I think.

Kind regards,
Richard.