Non-steamed steampunk guns

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

This is why I'm glad to be a member of BG 

Honestly, if that's what passes for a flame war 'round here, it reflects well on the people involved.

Nicely handled, you two. 

[JosephR]

It's double-barreled, one side 20 gauge shot, the other .50 caliber ball. Designed originally for stopping tigers that would jump at hunters on top of elephants. It's like a sawed-off shotgun, PLUS a .50 cal. pistol...

I was thinking .50 cal/20 ga might be too small for tigers, but here's an original howdah pistol that's a double .52.  So given a .50 cal rifled barrel and a 20 gage smoothbore (which if you load with a round ball is around .62 cal), that makes a quite passable howdah pistol IMHO.

[JosephR]

and back too ACTUAL guns, the subject of this thread, have any of you seen the "king kong" 2-bore?
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/szihn/English%20guns/2boreSept4.jpg

or this "145 year old One and a Half bore elephant gun"?
http://www.gracelandgunclub.com/images/elephant%20gun.jpg

as bad as the mass elephant hunting was, it spawned some cool guns

Agreed, and those are SERIOUSLY cool!

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

My collection includes an original 1887 Winchester lever action 12 gauge shotgun, and an eight bore, custom made black powder underhammer rifle. Unfortunately, at this time they are in the Gun Locker of Thistlewaite Hall, behind a false wall, so no pictures at this time. Too much trouble to get to, and at the moment, I'm busy cooking dinner for myself and the missus.

Thistlewaite

[Tanuki]

It's double-barreled, one side 20 gauge shot, the other .50 caliber ball. Designed originally for stopping tigers that would jump at hunters on top of elephants. It's like a sawed-off shotgun, PLUS a .50 cal. pistol...

I was thinking .50 cal/20 ga might be too small for tigers, but here's an original howdah pistol that's a double .52.  So given a .50 cal rifled barrel and a 20 gage smoothbore (which if you load with a round ball is around .62 cal), that makes a quite passable howdah pistol IMHO.

They come in many variations, honestly. Just from that site, you can get double .50 cal. barrels, double 20 gauge barrels, or one-and-one. Shooting both a large ball and a goodly amount of shot just seems coolest to me.^^

[JosephR]

They come in many variations, honestly. Just from that site, you can get double .50 cal. barrels, double 20 gauge barrels, or one-and-one. Shooting both a large ball and a goodly amount of shot just seems coolest to me.^^

I like the double 20 - with round ball or better yet, slugs.  It's almost a guaranteed wrist-breaker but I wouldn't want to face a pissed off tiger with anything less, and preferably a whole lot more!

[maze.rodent]

My collection includes an original 1887 Winchester lever action 12 gauge shotgun, and an eight bore, custom made black powder underhammer rifle. Unfortunately, at this time they are in the Gun Locker of Thistlewaite Hall, behind a false wall, so no pictures at this time. Too much trouble to get to, and at the moment, I'm busy cooking dinner for myself and the missus.

Thistlewaite

oh, i love '87s, tell me, was the barrel shortened, like on so many, or was it left at it's original length?  and do you fire it, because i believe the 87 was BP and not nitro proofed, which was fixed in the 1901 model (i'm just saying this since i'm relatively new to this forum, and not familiar with who is or isn't knowledgeable about guns)

[Captain Lyerly]

Oh, I think you can trust the good Sgt Major on this one.  It might be good for other members to know that sort of thing, though... things like Damascus or Twist Steel barrels not really being safe to shoot - even if Nitro proofed when made. 

I have an original 1897 Winchester, made about 1901, long barrel.  Very nice, but I only shoot very light loads in it. 



This isn't mine - barrel is about the same length, but the grip is a bit more rounded.

Cheers!

Chas.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Mine is unaltered in any way, 100% original. Yes, it is a black powder gun. Black Powder shells can be obtained here:
http://www.powderinc.com

This is an excellent company with which I have done quite a bit of business. I believe you must be a US resident, and over the age of 21 in order to do business with them, though.

Thistlewaite

[maze.rodent]

Mine is unaltered in any way, 100% original.

mind posting a pic at some point?  i think that shortening kinda ruins the "look" of them, and a lot of them are.

[JosephR]

Sgt. Major, I had no idea Goex offered cartridges - thanks!  Nice to know but for now I'll stick to reloading my own.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Mine is unaltered in any way, 100% original.

mind posting a pic at some point?  i think that shortening kinda ruins the "look" of them, and a lot of them are.

Not a very good picture, but I'm holding it in this one...


The next time I take down that wall, I'll remember to get pictures of all my "Forum legal" guns, and post them.


Thistlewaite

[maze.rodent]

many thanks

[Valkyrie]

I have a small blunderbus with a wooden handle and flared brass barrel.  I was going to steampunk it, but I've had quite a few people say it would be a shame to do anything to it.  I guess it looks pretty steampunk as it is anyway.  Its a non-firer, but a good prop.

[tophatdan]

i really need to get a digi cam, i personally own 2 .50 cal percussion cap hawkens rifles, 2 .50 cal double octagon barrel pistols, 2 lever action 357 mag rifles, an authentic 1830s Damascus barrel double barrel shotgun and 2 retooled colt navy ball and cap  revolvers. all are blackpowder except the lever actions of course,

i built a set of brass optics a few years ago (for those who dint know that's the full barrel length tube gunsight you see in old west movies) for the .50  hawkens with the longer barrel (34 inches) i built that gun from a kit i did the stock in Crimean black and put a rawhide boot on it, it has a hand braided black leather gunsling and brass ramrod, i did away with the in stock patch box and instead keep a "medicinebag" dangling from the ramrod loop about midway down the barrel and that's where i keep my patches.

shooting with a monopod stick that gun will litterally pluck the top off a turkey's head at 200 yards in a stiff wind.... beauty of it (not that it isn't all beauty) is that every bit off it passes as pre-1860s gear for the strictest of reenactments....

my "persona" at many reenactments is that of a Russian Crimean war vet, a roguer (which was a Russian sharpshooter) who came to America and took up fur trapping (muskrat specifically) on the great planes in 1858...

[Utilitarian Prototype]

Due to legal restrictions I will probably never own a working one, and I'm having an annoyingly hard time getting my hands on a non-firing replica, but I do have a soft spot for the LeMat:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I do find them somewhat mad science-y with that extra 16 gauge shot in the centre of the cylinder. Good for those long treks of a gentleman adventurer  

[Phineas Lamar Alexander]

did no one post a Webly? Or did I miss it!

[JosephR]

Due to legal restrictions I will probably never own a working one, and I'm having an annoyingly hard time getting my hands on a non-firing replica, but I do have a soft spot for the LeMat:



I do find them somewhat mad science-y with that extra 16 gauge shot in the centre of the cylinder. Good for those long treks of a gentleman adventurer 

I love the Le Mat and have no problem legally owning one, my restrictions are purely financial - even "on sale" at Cabela's the $750 price tag is prohibitive.

[tophatdan]

ah the double gun tradition.... there are so many of them out there, and so cool, now adays valmet is the only company making a double gun, but back in the 19th they were everywhere...

good one, by the by, you mentioned legal restrictions, where do you live?

[JosephR]

A friend of mine has an 1876 pinfire revolver in her collection - a very Steampunky look IMHO.

[MWBailey]

The "broomhandle" Mauser C96 gets my vote, no question.  As far as I know (could very well be wrong), it was the first reliable semiautomatic pistol, and was first produced in 1896.  It's also got that menacing clunkiness about it that I just love.  (And steampunk aside, Han Solo carried the "galaxy far, far away" model, so its reliability and awesomeness are beyond question).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_C96 

Arrrgghhh no fair, thats what I was gonna say...(lol)

[Captain Lyerly]

Caught the last few minutes of a Lee Van Cleef western yesterday.  LOTS of steamy weaponry - they seem to have found every single oddball - and real - pistol from Victorian and Edwardian times.  Remington derringer, of course.  But they had the Apache knuckle-duster, the Chicago palm pistol:




Some sort of four-barrel pistol:



That also had 3 barrels hidden in the butt:



Along with much improbable Spaghetti Western shenanigans - a drum full of pistols?  What was that?

But there were some interesting weaponry, all very steamy without being altered.


Cheers


Chas.

[MWBailey]

Rifle: Colt repeater (the rifle with the colt navy action)
Pistols: Colt Paterson, Colt Navy, Colt Walker Several peppermills, especially, the many-barrelled, long-barrel -length versions; Broomhandle Mauser C96 ; Mannlicher; "Automatic" revolver (I kid you not, I think it was a german company cam eout with it just before the turn of teh century

longarms: the "boat" or "rail" guns; not electronic rail gun, but a muzzleloading, often caplock, gun with a hook on the end to catch onto the rail and reduce recoil; examples date bak as far as henry viii, but they were produced in varying designs all the way up to the early 1900s. these're the guns that look like cannons on a stock, sans dolphins. ; henry rifle; the mauser bolt action rifle; British SMLE, or rather the precursor, which had a single-shot block that coul dbe skid out of the way for magazine operation (produced in response to the lingering tradition of volley fire).

[Captain Lyerly]

Ah, yes, the vaunted Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver:



Article here

Interesting.  Like the Nagant revolver, over-engineered to answer a problem that really wasn't such a big deal.

The "SmeLEy"'s magazine cut-off wasn't just for volley fire.  Instead of fixing the problem of soldiers running out of ammunition in the logical way - by finding ways to fix logistics and ship tons and tons of cartridges quickly, they put in a magazine cut-off.  Soldiers were expected to load and fire single shots, with the magazine remaining in reserve until they were in danger of being over-run.  US rifles, such as the 1903 series, had the cut-off as well.  It didn't get used much.


Cheers! 

Chas.

[JosephR]

Interesting.  Like the Nagant revolver, over-engineered to answer a problem that really wasn't such a big deal.

Sounds like what they call "a solution in search of a problem."