Screw Barrel Percussion Pistol Help

[Coonewah Creek]

All,

When my mother passed away almost 20 years ago now, this pistol was found with some things of hers that were stored away. I don't remember her ever talking about it; where it came from; anything about it. It appears to be a large caliber...maybe .44. The only markings I can find on it are the numbers 30623 at the base of the screw barrel. I have no idea if it is Civil War vintage, reproduction or what. Any help or even educated guesses appreciated. I've done some online research but come up with dead ends. I figure if anyone knows anything about it, it would be someone on this forum. Thanks!

 

[UCVRelics]

Interesting pistol. I just went thru Flayderman's entire book of American Firearms and I didn't see it. It has a serial # so they made more than one so I'm guessing foreign made.

 

[Coonewah Creek]

Interesting pistol. I just went thru Flayderman's entire book of American Firearms and I didn't see it. It has a serial # so they made more than one so I'm guessing foreign made

Thanks. Yes, over the years, I'd get it out, get curious and start doing more online research, take it to some local "experts" in historical arms, but never got a good answer and never found another that looked like this one online or anywhere else. So I'd put it back away, and a few years later, repeat the process with the same results. Thanks for the help!

 

[Zella]

I passed this on to my brother, who's a gunsmith. He says it looks vaguely familiar, but he can't quite place where he has seen anything like it. His hunch is it is likely of English origin. If anything else occurs to him, I'll pass it on!

 

[Coonewah Creek]

I passed this on to my brother, who's a gunsmith. He says it looks vaguely familiar, but he can't quite place where he has seen anything like it. His hunch is it is likely of English origin. If anything else occurs to him, I'll pass it on

Thanks Zella! I think I remember someone once told me it looked like a type of "gambler's pistol" from the mid-1800's, but I honestly have no idea. Oh, and I very much doubt the seven "notches" on the handle have anything to do with it having shot seven people. I'm not even sure it's capable, or ever was capable of being fired.

 

[Zella]

Brother dearest actually just chimed in with some more. After some further digging, he suspects it is a women's pistol from the 1800s called a muff pistol/muff gun.

 

[Coonewah Creek]

Brother dearest actually just chimed in with some more. After some further digging, he suspects it is a women's pistol from the 1800s called a muff pistol/muff gun.

Really? Interesting. That's more information than anyone else has ever been able to pass along. Please tell him "thank you" for me!

 

[Zella]

Really? Interesting. That's more information than anyone else has ever been able to pass along. Please tell him "thank you" for me!

Will do!

 

[Booner]

Muff gun, belly gun, boot gun, they went by many names. Unfortunately, many different companies have made do it yourself kits out of them over the years so I'm thinking it's probably from one of those kits

This you tube video looks a lot like yours, but yours is in better shape.

 

[tbuckley]

Maybe the seven notches are to show the number of times it actually hit a target.
Many years ago I owned a .32 rimfire Saturday Night Special with four notches. I always assumed it meant someone shot four rodents with it.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Is it a true screw barrel, or is that a little ramrod on the left side of the barrel? I think it's a 1960s-1970s era reproduction. The grip looks crude; many of the kits had simple grips that could be carved and sanded down, but as they came out of the box were chunky an poorly finished. Also, I don't think a 19th century gunsmith would leave an exposed tang screw at the back of the grip; he'd had covered it with a little brass or silver shield shaped decoration called a scutcheon plate. I've never seen one with that exposed spring arrangement behind the hammer, either. These details make me suspect that it's from a little fad of home gunsmithing that flourished about 40-50 years ago. It LOOKS safe to shoot, at least as safe as it ever was. I have a little derringer from that time period, and I can't bring myself to fire anything but caps on it, even though it boasts that it should be able to handle a .41 ball.

 

[Coonewah Creek]

Is it a true screw barrel, or is that a little ramrod on the left side of the barrel? I think it's a 1960s-1970s era reproduction.

Yes, it has a ramrod, but the barrel does screw off. So I'm not sure if you call that a true "screw barrel" or not. It probably is a reproduction or kit pistol as you said. It just never seemed "old" enough to me to come from the 1800's (if that makes sense). But does makes me curious about how my mother came to possess it though. I mean my family always had guns and we hunted, but none of my relatives as far as I knew were into black powder or kit guns. Ah well, another family mystery that may or may not ever get resolved.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Coonewah Creek]

Muff gun, belly gun, boot gun, they went by many names. Unfortunately, many different companies have made do it yourself kits out of them over the years so I'm thinking it's probably from one of those kits

Thanks for the video. I'm beginning to suspect you're right about thinking it's a repro. Just makes me curious as to how my mother came to possess it though.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

Your pistol is modern made. It isn't really a reproduction of anything in particular, but rather a modern version of a general pattern. Yours came in both finished and kit form. They were not expensive when they were sold originally, nor are they expensive today. They were made to shoot, and not as decorative items. Enjoy!
J.

 

[Glen_C]

I owned one of these in the 1980s as a kit. A fun little piece.

Cheers
GC

 

[Copperhead-mi]

I put one of those together for a customer about 10 or 15 years ago. I remember the hammer spring that protruded from the back and the metal ramrod. I believe that it is a modern made .44 caliber pistol made by CMC that was sold by Navy Arms or Dixie Gun Works in the 1970's? -- give or take a few years.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Dixie Gun Works "New Orleans Ace" kit gun currently available made by Classic Arms.

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index...ssic+Arms+New+Orleans+Ace+Pistol+Kit?view_all

 

[mofederal]

I seem to remember them now. I used to see them in DGW catalogs. They seemed to be a neat thing, but I'd rather carry a Colt's pocket pistol. All in all an interesting little arm.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

After I made my above post it kept bugging me that I might even have one laying around in my shop that someone had given me in the past because they did not want it in their house or some such reason. I found it but had forgotten he had given me 3 kits in one box:

 

[Jobe Holiday]

Yep, that's the one, well done!
J.