It's LOADED!

[kenysd]

There was a neat full page story in our Venice FL paper this AM about a guy that bought a CW Colt musket. They called it a Springfield, but it was marked COLT which means a Colt special musket. He is not a collector, and just wanted a musket. OK, I get that.
but when he put the ramrod in, it came up 2 inches short...WOOPPPSSS.
he brought it to a gunsmith an hour away, and was charged $$$ to have the gun unloaded. the 'smith' had to make a special tool he said and it cost to do that. he found a lead bullet and a bunch of black 'goo'.
Too bad, I live a mile away from him, and would have done it in ten minutes with any one of the 'special' tools we ALL have. and free too.

so. while there is 'one born etc' we should remember to check the barrels of any new guns we buy...and for your enjoyment for reading all of this. I've enclosed a pict of my unfired, new out of the box. original Remington Zouave musket. This is what they looked like brandy new and unissued.
be safe....Ken

 

[Greshamian]

My father acquired an 1851 Colt Navy (London), every chamber was loaded. He put on fresh caps and unloaded it the quick way. Every shot fired.

 

[johan_steele]

Sounds like the gunsmith screwed him over... though to pull the bullet & clean out the old powder that's probably about an hour. I don't know what most gunsmith's charge by the hour today.

I've helped unload, four originals and had my father help with two more. An original M1841 & an original M1816... that was a BITTY!

 

[JOHN42768]

Well at least he did not drop a lite match down to see what the blockage was about

 

[UCVRelics]

I have 3 in my collection that are loaded. I don't know what the big deal is as it ain't going off without a cap. Nervous Nellie's

 

[Greshamian]

When I was a boy I read and re-read Hatcher's "Textbook of Firearms Investigation, Identification and Evidence" (1935). He tells the story of an actor, Russ Columbo, who died when a friend struck a match on a percussion pistol which was being kept as a curio. The charge ignited and the bullet bounced off a piece of furniture and wounded the actor fatally. I remembered the story I read more than 60 years ago it seemed so bizarre, I confess I had to refresh my memory for the name of the actor.

 

[sourdough]

That would have been a Darwin candidate...

 

[UCVRelics]

When I was a boy I read and re-read Hatcher's "Textbook of Firearms Investigation, Identification and Evidence" (1935). He tells the story of an actor, Russ Columbo, who died when a friend struck a match on a percussion pistol which was being kept as a curio. The charge ignited and the bullet bounced off a piece of furniture and wounded the actor fatally. I remembered the story I read more than 60 years ago it seemed so bizarre, I confess I had to refresh my memory for the name of the actor.

Just goes to show "You can't fix stupid "

 

[johan_steele]

The four I unloaded were loaded with .58 and were easy to unload with a ball puller on a range rod. The two my father helped with were loaded with buckshot and were an absolute bitty as I recall. My dad thinks I'm goofy but if you have to fight with it...

 

[UCVRelics]

The four I unloaded were loaded with .58 and were easy to unload with a ball puller on a range rod. The two my father helped with were loaded with buckshot and were an absolute bitty as I recall. My dad thinks I'm goofy but if you have to fight with it...

Why unload them as I see it as part of the history of the weapon.

 

[DixieRifles]

He tells the story of an actor, Russ Columbo, who died when a friend struck a match on a percussion pistol which was being kept as a curio.

Here is an article with photo of the pistol

Bizarre Tales: Russ Columbo Dies - Bizarre Los Angeles

RUSS COLUMBO DIES FROM ACCIDENTAL GUN WOUND Radio and Screen Singer Succumbs as Condition Balks Operation; Witness Tells of Tragedy Los Angeles […]

bizarrela.com

 

[redbob]

Why unload them as I see it as part of the history of the weapon.

It's rather like having a box of original Spencer cartridges and wondering if they still work...then the phrase: Curiosity killed the cat comes to mind. Plus, if I survived; the thought of ruining a very nice Spencer Rifle enters into the discussion.

 

[johan_steele]

Why unload them as I see it as part of the history of the weapon.

I look to shoot them... but I want to make certain they're all good first. That way all my parts will remain where they're supposed to be.

 

[frontrank2]

There was a neat full page story in our Venice FL paper this AM about a guy that bought a CW Colt musket. They called it a Springfield, but it was marked COLT which means a Colt special musket. He is not a collector, and just wanted a musket. OK, I get that.
but when he put the ramrod in, it came up 2 inches short...WOOPPPSSS.
he brought it to a gunsmith an hour away, and was charged $$$ to have the gun unloaded. the 'smith' had to make a special tool he said and it cost to do that. he found a lead bullet and a bunch of black 'goo'.
Too bad, I live a mile away from him, and would have done it in ten minutes with any one of the 'special' tools we ALL have. and free too.

so. while there is 'one born etc' we should remember to check the barrels of any new guns we buy...and for your enjoyment for reading all of this. I've enclosed a pict of my unfired, new out of the box. original Remington Zouave musket. This is what they looked like brandy new and unissued.
be safe....Ken View attachment 373186

Those 63 Remingtons are beautiful guns, right up there with the Mississippi. But there was never any evidence that they were ever issued to the troops, despite being first rate muskets.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

I once bought a civil war rifle-musket that had something at the bottom of the barrel, and when I got it out, it was a newspaper dated 1923 used to wrap a charge of birdshot rammed down the barrel over top of some black powder. The person who loaded it in 1923 turned the gun into sort of a shotgun. The rifling was still present, and this would mean that a load of shot would not group well at a distance. The newspaper wrapped around the shot was dated 1923, meaning that 70 years after the War, someone loaded this up with shot so that they could use it to shoot at short range a varmint - many of these old arms were so loaded and left on the back porch or in the barn, close to the chicken house to shoot a fax, mink, skunk, weasel, or dog who was bothering their chickens!