and tripped over ´my´ idea of a truely practical country riders´arm:
http://www.michaeldlong.com/Ko-Bespoke/stockd...t=69/98801

If it were a repro and cheaper I would fínd budget to buy it!

This will influence the mods I am currently making to a bought flintlock gun kit.

On the non-fir arms I am more and more convinced of the practicallity of the spear as a thrusting-parrying weapon in widely varying circumstances ranging from hunt to mounted duelling.

Anyway.... níce gun isn´t it ;)

peter

Hello Peter,

Have a look at this http://www.lehussard.fr/english/. If you check this cite weekly, you have a good chance to find some good replica. Not the very thing though, they have a very nice couple of spanish flintlock replica pistols at the moment.

Konstantin.

If a shotgun is acceptable for what you plan to hunt (I would like to know!), you might keep an eye out for "Coach style" (as in American Stage Coach) shotguns.

If cylinder choke (no choke) is intended for close in targets, a gunsmith should be able to tell you if a considerable portion of the barrel can be "sawed off" and a new sight mounted on a gun that was not originally a coach style. Any light break apart shotgun with an English style stock is a possible candidate. In the U.S., there are legal restrictions on how short the barrel can be (19" or around 482 mm, I think) due to the fact that law enforcement does not want something that lethal to be easily concealed. Modern used models of this style are sometimes sold pretty cheaply here. http://www.stoegerindustries.com/firearms/coach.tpl

Reproduction blunderbluss guns are available. http://www.militaryheritage.com/musket9.htm
If you get very particular (wheel lock, etc.) you will run into trouble getting something too specific. You will have to drill through the pan to make the one I have provided the link to functional.

Just a suggestion

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/default.aspx?lang=en

They have a wide range of replics US guns

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/ArmiCategoria...mp;lang=en

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/FuciliCategorie.aspx?lang=en

Thanks Jared,

MiddlesexVillageTrading and LoyalistArms have a wide range too. The snag for mé is that to obtain it as a functional gun I need proofing data to get it written in the book matching my permit.

I have bought a spanish made(ardesa) rifle kit that I am modifying into something a lot shorter. A blunderbuss has a trumpet but that was no must for a short gun. The aforementioned dutch inkeeper may very well have used a gun for boar hunting: short gunstock, short canon, no trumpet = a carbine. That is whta I am hoping to make.

As I want a legal gun, the shortening of the canon is the tricky bit even though there is no legal length for muzzle loader here.
It may take a while yet but I will keep you posted.

Peter

Thank you Bruno.
I have bought the kit from http://www.ardesa.com/flash2.htm
If I can get the carbine sorted out the way I want, I will order two pistol kits from them too and modify those to match.

It is a winter-project though and this week a flash flood inundated our small holding farm which added a long list of more important winter projects :mad:

The plan is to apply for a hunting permit too. I máy buy an authentic smooth (double) barreled ´shotgun´ for this as to make for a nicely rounded functional collection.

I already have the leather to custom make historically acceptable scabbards to attach them to the saddle. Even lower on the winter project list however and áfter aquiring the collection :lol:

peter

From wikipedia:

A backpacker shotgun has a short barrel (often less than 15" barrel length) and either a full-size stock or pistol grip, depending on legislation in intended markets. The overall length of these weapons is frequently less than 36 inches, with some measuring up at less than 25 inches. These weapons are typically break-action .410 "gauge" (caliber), single-barrel designs with no magazine and no automatic ejection capability. They typically employ a cylinder bore, but infrequently are available in modified choke as well. One example of a backpacker shotgun is the Verney-Carron Snake Charmer or the pistol grip Snake Charmer II. Backpacker shotguns are popular for "home defense" purposes and as "survival" weapons.

I guess the ´market´ for a travellers gun has not changed over the five centuries between the first blunderbuss and the latest backpacker shotgun. Not that much between them either ;)

peter

Looking at shotguns, smooth bore guns realy, I came on the issue of calibers.
I was amazed about the method of ´sizing´ shot guns: the amount of tube diameter size balls to fill a pound :eek:

As one can load a smooth bore wih ´shot´, the dimensional caliber does not realy matter on a muzzle loader for short range fire power does it?!
The bigger the bore, the heavier load you can shove down but the actual size does not matter all that much as long as you can get it down. The main criterium being the expelling power of the powder load the gun was designed to take.

This opposed to a rifled gun that was rifled to add accuracy in the first place hence more accurate calibrating in actual síze dimensions?!

peter