doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Questions About an Old Double Gun

There is one thing I failed to mention, above. The gun has Belgian proofs, but the parts may have been made in Germany. The rifle barrel is the right barrel, which is typically a German arrangement. Belgians usually( admittedly my experience is limited)placed the rifle barrel on the left hand side. The difference this makes, in my mind, is German calibers become a little more likely.
Mike

My best WAG is that the gun was made by a German in Germany, using sourced/proofed barrels from Belgium.

Going by the proofmarks, IIRC it was proofed (not necessarily made) after 1892 & before 1923.

Dixie Gun Works, for one, sells LH hammers that might at least let youf Cape Gun look complete.

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/product/product_id/2364/category_id/532/category_chain/616,520,532/product_name/HP3911+Hammer%2C+Percussion+for+TN.+MTN.+Rifle+-+.50+Caliber+LH



The rear corner of the barrel assembly's forward under lug is broken off.





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I'd let the little lady bear the brunt of this bad decision....there's always a bright side to everything.

If your son owns a rustic cabin with very bad lighting and is in dire need of ugly wall art then she did good.



Man will be extinct on this planet before any money you put into this gun could ever be recouped.

If I were you I'd stay as far away from a gunsmith as I could with this gun....what part of junk are you having trouble with ?

How did I miss this first go round ?

I'll give you my honest unbiased opinion of what it's not worth.

As wall art It's not worth over a couple hundred bucks as wall art displayed in a dimly lit restaurant.

As a practical shooting gun it's not worth over .50 cents.

It's not worth spending another dime on.

Now if you don't mind I have a couple of questions for you....

How much did you pay for this rare gun...And have you whipped the neighbors azz yet ?

Hiya Homeless Homey

I'll answer your question with a question and a comment...
Did you take your meds this morning?
I do believe you are clueless as well as homeless.

What part of my evaluation you think is incorrect ?


Trust me bud it's spot on.

I never trust a rude, arrogant, homeless internet troll. For this, you have won the prize today.

Gee only 10 posts in and it seems like Craig has Frank Cox figured out.


Excuse our rudest board member for his complete lack of manners, he is an embarrassment here on the board.

I restore these type of guns for a living. Unfortunately Frank is correct in his assessment that this gun will need far more money invested in it than it will ever be worth. If you are looking for a gun for your son to shoot you will be much farther ahead buying something that is in sound condition when you buy it. In today's market a nice shootable double can be had for well under 1K, often for half that. Best of luck in finding the right gun for your boy. One recommendation I do have is if he is a new shooter you find him a gun with "modern dimensions". Many of the older doubles have lots of drop and can be hard to shoot for a beginner. Feel free to email or PM if you see a gun that interests you I am happy to offer a free opinion on it.

That is a very involved project gun. It should have ended up in the hands of an experienced gunsmith as his project, but, most good gunsmiths would have likely passsed on it. Instead, it ended up with neophytes, who are politely asking questions about making it serviceable on an internet board. To their credit, they have posed the notion that they are comfortable hanging it on a wall.
That is exactly what should happen to the gun. Unless you can complete all the work any project needs, be it a gun, a car, an aircraft, or a mansion, the results will almost never be worth the effort and money extended to bring the project to fruition. The world is littered with half-assed attempts at same, that are listed for sale to the next guy in line, with a notion of completing it, for good reason, or, mostly, not.
Project guns, especially good quality double guns, suck. The people who work in this medium are indeed, artists, and neophytes seldom understand that the guy who repairs a modern repeating gun is seldom the guy who repairs a double gun of even middling quality.
If you have need of a hammer cape gun, go buy one that needs nothing. You will be time and money ahead.

Best,
Ted

With the last two posts from SKB and Ted, I totally agree. Particularly, I thank you for your intelligent and articulate replies.
If it were my own, I would be more than happy to clean it up, maybe replace the missing hammer with one I fashioned by doing a 3D scan of the right side hammer, inverting the image, then 3D printing an exact copy for the left hand side.