Hello, I am hoping someone here can help me identify a percussion cap carbine, I got it in an auction as part of a lot and I am trying to find out some more about it. There seem to be no markings apart from what could be Persian/Arabic numbers on the barrel Can anyone shed any light on it?
Chris
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It looks odd for that type of carbine to have Arabic numerals on its barrel.
No one knows how did it get to either Arabia or Persia.

Are you sure the markings on the barrel are actual symbols or numbers? If you are talking about what is in the first picture, I would say those markings are vice marks left behind from a gunsmith.

It reminds me of a Paget carbine, but it's missing some key elements. It was probably converted to percussion, from flintlock, at some point.

I agree that it is a conversion of sorts, most likely a long gun which has been shortened to carbine length. Aside from that, I have no idea what it is. The lock plate appears to be one I have seen on a Cooper's patent rifle which was actually a breech loader but that is as far as the similarity goes. If it is a cut down long gun, it is very possible that the rest of the furniture came from other firearms and that this is just something made up from available parts. Nothing on it seems to really match. It is definitely not a Paget carbine.

Thanks for all the help, guess it will remain a mystery gun :)

I have something similar--a radically chopped trapdoor Springfield. Plains Indians sometimes did that, which is no help to you. It could also be some kind of "coach gun," which could be the idea behind your shorty. Mine, like yours, wouldn't seem to be much use beyond close range. a shotgun seems a better choice.

Yep. Tool marks rather than numbers. The chances of finding a gun with the exact serial numbers "222222...." in Arabic numerals but no other hints of a Middle Eastern provenance is vanishingly small at best.