A fellow blogger is looking for some help identifying the vintage of a family heirloom. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, except by saying that the flintlock mechanism would seem to plant it in the 18th or early 19th century. A lot of blunderbusses had brass barrels, and this one looks like steel. My understanding is that blunderbusses were not common arms, among regular folk, so I would imagine this might be worth a pretty penny. But I really know little about them. Can anyone offer some advice?
5 thoughts on “Blunderbuss”
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Carrying it around to gun shows is not a great way to get information on a family piece like that. He can have the gun museum curators look at it. Or if it is easier for him to take it to Pennsylvania he can go to the next ‘antiques gun roadshow’ at the annual convention.
http://nrablog.com/post/2010/05/15/The-Antique-Guns-Gold-Showcase-at-Annual-Meeting.aspx
Blunderbusses, to my surprise, were very common. When I was reading through records of firearms purchased by colonial governments from civilians at the start of the American Revolution, I was startled at how often they were blunderbusses. They aren’t Pilgrim hunting weapons; they are intended as short-range antipersonnel weapons used for repelling boarders (on ship) or dealing with large crowds attempting to force their way into your home.
Thanks for the link and any information is appreciated!
Kelly
Whoops! Wrong Website in previous post. Should be: http://keads-anotherday.blogspot.com/
Thanks!