doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT- Looking for Flintlock Info

My boss brought three flintlocks into the office today and wants me to find what I can about them. They belong to a friend of his. I know absolutely nothing about these guns other than what I read after doing a Google search for "flintlock." There are two pistols and a musket (I assume you'd call it a musket; there's no rifling). All are in bad shape, non-functional, rusty, broken wood. One of the pistols is all brass and marked with "Sharp" on the sideplate and "London" on the barrel. The others are unmarked or else you can't read anything through the crud. The musket has a bayonet, so I assume it was a military weapon.

Where would I look to get ANY idea of what these things are, their historical significance, and their value? My gut reaction is that they're worthless unless there is some historical value to them. Like this is the pistol used in the famous duel between X and Y. My web search led me to a couple of sites that sell old flintlock pistols. I see that pistols in "excellent" or "near original" condition sell for $2,500 up to maybe $12,000.

Dave, visit Americanlongrifles.com and on their bulletin board select antique rifles discussion. Their bbs is as loaded with real knowledgeable individuals as this one.

You can also try here (requires registration)
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/fusionbb.php?

Thanks, gentlemen. I'll try these sites. Now I'll get to be like one of those people who poses the question, "I have this old shotgun my grandfather gave me. It has two barrels. Who made it and what is it worth?" That's an honest assessment of my knowledge of these old guns.

Only vaguely related, but one must admire the gentlemen of the era; the term 'follow through' must of had meaning that today's shooters of modern ammunition could not begin to relate to. I think of a lithograph that Bill Wise shared with me from the late 1700's. It was the earliest flyer ref he could find a depiction of .. and they were using flintlocks! Wanna know where the term 'staying in the gun' comes from? My guess would be the flintlock fowl shooters. Pull the trigger, pray, wait, pray again, BOOM .. all is obscured by smoke! What if you didn't kill it w/the first bbl? Shoot into the general direction? No real point .. by the time the second bbl would fire the bird coulda climbed the fence & walked half way back to the coop ;-)

Actually, it is not as bad as it sounds. I do dove hunt with one flint SxS, this 20ga. gun dates between 1790-1815. Doubles are not that uncommon. You do consider how you set up and if there is any breese, you try to set up to use it to your advantage. A well built and handled gun really doesn't have as much delay as one thinks. What delay there is, you get used to and think nothing of it. If there is much of a delay, use less prime, it has become a fuse instead of just an ignition source. Shooting a flinter though is good teaching for staying into the gun. It will help you shoot a modern gun better. Besides IMHO, it is so much fun, I almost don't remember when I used my Bakers for doves, my modern guns.

We didn't use as many local locks as we made barrels and misc pieces. Most locks were British. Many times, you will see names between the barrels and the wood or the inside of the locks. I have an extensive American flinter book collection and can help if you find any names. There are many famous American makers and they made pistols as well as rifles and shotguns. The shotguns were mainly smoothbore muskets. They best was to tell quality is to put the firearm against a light colored wall and view it from 30' away. A great quality piece will have pleasant lines regardless of age or condition.

By the way, the machined locks of the later Golden Age of American flintlocks (and later, caplocks) were almost all English. Before this time, the handforged locks were virtually all German and the insides usually had only initials stamped.