Canadian B/Ps
- Thread starter Newf
- Start date
I think you need to be a bit more specific; muzzle loading or cartridge or both? Also civilian or military or both. There is a museum book/pamphlet called "Military Arms of Canada" which goes through the military guns. Also a book titled "Canadian Gunsmiths" or something similar which lists Canadian makers whose names you can watch for. Beyond this you will find a number of guns with Canadian addresses on them which are actually european manufacture but sold through Canadian stores or dealers and with their names engraved on the rib or barrel.
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
I guess what I'm asking is: If one were to begin collecting early Canadiana, period appropriate firearms, what would be on the list? Given our proximity to the States, and our relationship to Europe this list may be quite long, but I am trying to get the jist of what the average hunter/trapper/trader would be carrying when the country was new.
Before 1800 you are probably looking primarily at smoothbores and particularly HBC trade guns (northwest guns) and their french equivalent the fusil. Also I would expect a fair number of brown besses and perhaps charlevilles.
After that time I would expect a continued presence of trade guns but a trend towards rifled guns of both US and British manufacture.
In a sense, unless you are uncommonly wealthy , in practical terms it is more a question of checking out the gunshows and auction for guns that fit your field of interest and are within your budget. To a large extent this also means a lot of reading of books on cultural history and on firearms history and working from there.
Some questions are comparitively easy to answer such as "what guns did the British army use?" but your question covers such a range of possibilities as to be pretty difficult to answer very specifically. They carried what was available, what was convenient to carry and economical to shoot and which killed whatever they were hunting.
cheers mooncoon
After that time I would expect a continued presence of trade guns but a trend towards rifled guns of both US and British manufacture.
In a sense, unless you are uncommonly wealthy , in practical terms it is more a question of checking out the gunshows and auction for guns that fit your field of interest and are within your budget. To a large extent this also means a lot of reading of books on cultural history and on firearms history and working from there.
Some questions are comparitively easy to answer such as "what guns did the British army use?" but your question covers such a range of possibilities as to be pretty difficult to answer very specifically. They carried what was available, what was convenient to carry and economical to shoot and which killed whatever they were hunting.
cheers mooncoon
