Buck Conner1
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
- Messages
- 4,592
- Reaction score
- 558
I'm always looking and sometimes trading antiques for other antiques that are unusual like these I found that are currently available. They range from $6K to $200K (not cheap and more than I can afford unless I can do some trading of two for one and so on). Like most it's fun to dream. What engineering and inventors they had throughout the years with developing what we have today.
.50 caliber, 32.625" round barrel, microgroove rifling with a twist. Seven shot with an automatic priming magazine, hammer engraved with a border design. The barrel has front blade sight no rear barrel sight but a shallow flat on the top of the barrel was used as a sighting groove. Dark walnut straight grip stock with checkering in the wrist with small cheek piece on the left side. steel buttplate and triggerguard. Marked inside the lock mortise "3", meaning this was gun number 3. Matting mark on the top.
This the first revolving rifle with automatic priming system made in America; a total of four were made consisting of two rifles and two pepperbox carbines. All models were subsequently purchased by the U.S. Navy for trials. Of the four known to exist, three are currently in the Smithsonian and VMI museums, making this example the only one in private hands, and therefore the only one available for purchase anywhere. It was purchased by Mark Aziz from Colonel Berkley Lewis, long time collector author of many books and articles.
While Willard Cousin's four-part April through July 1978 article in "The Gun Report" magazine on Captain Wheeler claims that two muskets were manufactured, the standards for musket barrel length at the time was 42". As both Wheeler rifles have 32.5" barrels, such a classification would be inconsistent using the nomenclature of the time. The "musket" classification also fails to take into account the Wheeler's rifled barrels, which would also place them well without the "musket" classification in the military parlance of the period, where "musket" and "rifle" were clearly distinct terms.
The Wheeler rifle is the rarest and most desirable Revolving American flintlock rifle as well as the rarest American martial flintlock arm. After its development, Elisha Collier reworked Wheeler's patent and took his design to England where he patented and manufactured his famous Collier revolving arms. The historical importance of Wheeler's four revolvers to Collier and the later Samuel Colt cannot be overstated. For years gun collectors have been giving Collier, an American, credit for inventing the revolving guns he devised. Poor Captain Wheeler!
Est: $150,000 - $200,000
<h2 class="post-content">Colt Paterson Revolving Carbine</h2>.525 caliber smoothbore, 24" seven-sided to round barrel, all matching S/N 643, markings on the right side of the barrel lug partially obscured by the loading lever, they were marked before the factory added the loading levers. Cylinder matches, 2.5' length, with rounded corners on the face, six shot with six locking holes on face. Correct untouched original percussion nipples. The face of the cylinder is chamfered around each chamber. The front sight is a pin, rear sight is notched. Wedge has two grooves on top of the wedge and one on the bottom numbered 643 as is recoil shield. The cylinder roll engraved with lion hunting, naval engagement, and Indian scene. Marked Patent Arms Man'y between the scenes and Paterson New Jersey, Colt's Patent, W.L. Ormsby, numbered on the face of the cylinder. Walnut stock with steel triggerguard and buttplate. The barrel is mostly a smooth patina with some light staining and extremely minor pitting.
Est: $25,000 - $40,000
Miller Patent "Billinghurst Type" Revolving Pill Lock Rifle
.40 caliber, 30" octagon to round barrel with full under lug, no SN. Bright finish, brass mounted walnut stock with circular patchbox in butt and German silver pellet storage area along comb. Half-length forend with pewter nose cap. Seven-shot, manually rotated cylinder with pellet primer recesses and Miller patent stop mechanism at rear of forend, forward of cylinder. Lightly engrave commercial back action lock marked Ashmore, lightly engraved breech plug tang. No other markings present. Elevation adjustable rear sight, dovetailed front sight blade. Wooden "ramrod" with brass band at end. An attractive and solid example of an unmarked Miller patent revolving rifle made in a style typical of Billinghurst and other New York gunmakers.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000 [maybe interested]
<h2 class="post-content">H.S. North Engraved Revolving Shotgun</h2>20 gauge, 23.5" octagon to hexadecagon to round barrel with beaded baluster turned rings the transition to round, no S/N. Blued finish, smooth walnut stock with shotgun butt. 6-shot cylinder. Top flat of barrel stamped: H.S. NORTH, MIDDLETOWN, CONN in two different gang stamps. Angled flats stamped CAST-STEEL and PATENTED JUNE 12, 1852. The only visible "serial number" is stamped on the right wrist of the stock, which is the US Cartridge Company collection number 1391. No serial numbers are present in the usual expected places on the exterior and further disassembly was not performed due to the delicate and complicated nature of the mechanism. Bead front sight. Rather than the attached loading lever found on the rifles, the shotguns had a removable tamper in the same location, as does this example. Shotgun is period engraved on the frame, flash guard, upper and lower tangs, buttplate tang and loading tamper with flowing foliate scrolls, with a game scene in the center of the flash guard of a leaping stag. The hammer and many of the screw heads are engraved as well. Only about 600 of the North and Savage revolving long arms, based on the North and Skinner 1852 patent, were produced ca1856-1859; with shotgun production only a small part of that. Like the later and more numerous Savage "Navy" revolvers, the most intriguing feature of the mechanism was the gas seal system that reduced gas leakage from the cylinder gap. Engraved examples of the North and Savage long arms are extremely scarce and this is a lovely example of an early American repeating shotgun.
Est: $15,000 - $27,000
3rd Model Porter Turret Carbine
.48 caliber, 22" round barrel, S/N 7. Blued finish, straight gripped smooth walnut stock with shotgun butt. Serial number 7 on most parts, no barrel markings present. 8-shot turret, offset sights, sling swivels. The construction and use of sling swivels suggests potential offering as a military arm and possibly for use in a trials. Per Flayderman's, 3rd Model Porter Turret rifles are serial numbered in the approximate range of 680-1250. The single number serial number suggests this gun was part of a small run of experimental or trials arms. Further research could prove fruitful.
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
___________________________________
U.S. Artemus Wheeler Rifle.50 caliber, 32.625" round barrel, microgroove rifling with a twist. Seven shot with an automatic priming magazine, hammer engraved with a border design. The barrel has front blade sight no rear barrel sight but a shallow flat on the top of the barrel was used as a sighting groove. Dark walnut straight grip stock with checkering in the wrist with small cheek piece on the left side. steel buttplate and triggerguard. Marked inside the lock mortise "3", meaning this was gun number 3. Matting mark on the top.
This the first revolving rifle with automatic priming system made in America; a total of four were made consisting of two rifles and two pepperbox carbines. All models were subsequently purchased by the U.S. Navy for trials. Of the four known to exist, three are currently in the Smithsonian and VMI museums, making this example the only one in private hands, and therefore the only one available for purchase anywhere. It was purchased by Mark Aziz from Colonel Berkley Lewis, long time collector author of many books and articles.
While Willard Cousin's four-part April through July 1978 article in "The Gun Report" magazine on Captain Wheeler claims that two muskets were manufactured, the standards for musket barrel length at the time was 42". As both Wheeler rifles have 32.5" barrels, such a classification would be inconsistent using the nomenclature of the time. The "musket" classification also fails to take into account the Wheeler's rifled barrels, which would also place them well without the "musket" classification in the military parlance of the period, where "musket" and "rifle" were clearly distinct terms.
The Wheeler rifle is the rarest and most desirable Revolving American flintlock rifle as well as the rarest American martial flintlock arm. After its development, Elisha Collier reworked Wheeler's patent and took his design to England where he patented and manufactured his famous Collier revolving arms. The historical importance of Wheeler's four revolvers to Collier and the later Samuel Colt cannot be overstated. For years gun collectors have been giving Collier, an American, credit for inventing the revolving guns he devised. Poor Captain Wheeler!
Est: $150,000 - $200,000
Est: $25,000 - $40,000
Miller Patent "Billinghurst Type" Revolving Pill Lock Rifle
.40 caliber, 30" octagon to round barrel with full under lug, no SN. Bright finish, brass mounted walnut stock with circular patchbox in butt and German silver pellet storage area along comb. Half-length forend with pewter nose cap. Seven-shot, manually rotated cylinder with pellet primer recesses and Miller patent stop mechanism at rear of forend, forward of cylinder. Lightly engrave commercial back action lock marked Ashmore, lightly engraved breech plug tang. No other markings present. Elevation adjustable rear sight, dovetailed front sight blade. Wooden "ramrod" with brass band at end. An attractive and solid example of an unmarked Miller patent revolving rifle made in a style typical of Billinghurst and other New York gunmakers.
Est: $5,000 - $7,000 [maybe interested]
Est: $15,000 - $27,000
.48 caliber, 22" round barrel, S/N 7. Blued finish, straight gripped smooth walnut stock with shotgun butt. Serial number 7 on most parts, no barrel markings present. 8-shot turret, offset sights, sling swivels. The construction and use of sling swivels suggests potential offering as a military arm and possibly for use in a trials. Per Flayderman's, 3rd Model Porter Turret rifles are serial numbered in the approximate range of 680-1250. The single number serial number suggests this gun was part of a small run of experimental or trials arms. Further research could prove fruitful.
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
