doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com An unknown ML gunstock accessory. What is it?

My first question is, what is this part? It's slightly larger then your typical stock oval and I obtained it years ago with a bunch of percussion shotgun parts.

I was thinking of insetting it into the stock of a 12 gauge Pedersoli SXS I have, drilling a cavity under the opening and use it for holding percussion caps. I figured to mount it where one would normally mount a stock oval.

Steve

I think it might be awkward to keep loose caps in a hole in your stock, and would prefer to use a proper sized straight line capper for that task.

This little accessory was more likely intended to store a jag, worm, or a couple spare nipples.

I'm wondering if the maker of this little item started out with a rectangular piece of German silver, or actually drilled the hinge pin holes into the curved surfaces without having the bit wander all over the place.

Army M1 had the opening. It was used for a cleaning rod

You don't indicate the size, but it looks like a percussion cap box. I have one that is 2 1/2 inches long by 5/8 inches wide that is mounted in the bottom of the buttstock behind the trigger guard on an original 1850's or 60's percussion gun

Muzzleloaded for about 20 years and it IS a cap box and was used on both shotguns and rifles, also some pistols although these were usually more round and went into the butt like a buttcap. Mounted as William Lowe indicated. Put caps in it, when needed turn the gun with the trigger guard up, open the cover and tip out what you need. They really work quite well.

Some folks do/did use them to hold a jag and in smaller calibers like a 36 Cal. Squirrel gun they could be used to hold precut patches, providing the hole it large enough.

It would work very well for what you are considering using it for although as someone pointed out a nice inline capper is easier to use....

Have a Great Day All...
WBLDon

Was used for a variety of items. Usually to hold a couple spare nipples. Could be used for caps as well. Were probably used to hold just about anything you could think of at one time that would fit, which isn't much.

In pistols you sometimes see them holding an extra ball or two.

Thanks for the responses!

I like the idea of using it to hold the jag that I keep for unloading the gun. As for storing spare percussion nipples, I use stainless steel percussion nipples so I doubt I'll be needing spares soon. And why not, my ancestors would've done the same thing if they had been available then. I guess I'm just a pragmatic black powder shooter. In fact I only use black powder because I really like the KABOOM!, huge muzzle flame, and smoke.

Steve

Yup-and we in the USMC from 1941 through 1965 knew the great M-1 Garand quite well- great rifle, very reliable, accurate and heavy--

What??? I thought the only weapons they gave Marines were Model 12s and Ka-Bar fighting knives.

http://olive-drab.com/od_other_firearms_shotgun_m12.php

Nope- we had the Springfield 1903-the later revised version 1903-A3, a few had the Johnson semi-auto, then the Garand and the BAR- plus our issued bayonets and K-Bar fighting knives- shotguns, mostly Winchester Model 1897 trench guns from WW1- later on, with the campaign against the Japanese in the Pacific theater, the great M-1 Garand, the Thompson SMG and some Ithaca M37 and both Model 12 and 97 riot guns- usually with brass shells, against the salt water and over-all humidity of that TO--

Issue sidearm for officers and non-coms E-5 and up was, of course, the great 1911-A-1 in .45ACP- same round as for the Thompson SMG-- The only issue weapon, which came out in about 1943, that was not 'up to snuff", IMO, was the M-1 carbine. Dave Petzal, gun writer for F&S, once wrote about a boyhood neighbor who was in the 101st A/B and survived both Normandy and Bastogne in WW11-- he carried both a 1911-A-1 and the paratrooper issue M-1 carbine with the folding metal tubular stock (similar to the British Sten and also the German Schmeisser-)and he had a full 15 round magazine, when a huge German Feldwebel (Sgt.) charged at him with a drawn Luger pistol- at close range he emptied all fifteen rounds from that M-1 carbine, all hit the big German in the chest, and he was still alive and aiming his Luger when the last round hit him in the head and he died face forward in the snow at Bastogne--I share the same negative feeling about the M-16 in 'Nam, POS weapon, and I relied on the "improved version" of the Garand, the M-14. "Use enough gun" does not always mean Robert Ruark in Africa--Semper Fi!!