Here's a couple of pics of an English sporting rifle that has been in my family since at least 1891, maybe longer.
My grandfather brought this rifle with him from England when he emigrated in 1891. I have no idea if the family owned it prior to that. The maker was Wm. A Beckwith, of Skinner Street, London. The bullet mould is stamped "Registered 1 March, 1852". Google doesn't have a lot of information about Mr. Beckwith or his business. The rifle is .58 cal, the mould is a hollow based conical bullet, approximately 450 grains. The bore is poor, brown and pitted. Rifling is quite good at the muzzle, fairly slow twist. As shown in the picture, I have the original matching mould, cleaning rod, and powder measure. The trigger is single set, amazingly crisp and light. The lock also is of very high quality, functions perfectly after 160 years! The open sights are very fine, with the rear one adjustable by means of a stepped ramp.
My grandfather was a pragmatic guy, and shortly after he got to Canada, he almost immediately acquired a more modern weapon. Fortunately, he never threw anything out, either. My dad often talked about himself and his brothers using the "old muzzleloader" as a toy. The played "cowboys and aboriginal persons" (apologies to the political correctness police) with it, and as they grew up, they treated it as a shotgun, shooting pebbles, fencing staples, shingle nails, whatever was handy, out of it. Sometime in the '60's, a family friend who was an army Staff Sgt at Camp Shilo took it with him to clean it up. He was some sort of armourer or gunsmith. I don't remember what work he did to it, but he did clean it up, and pronounced it "unsafe to fire" because of barrel corrosion. He identified the wood as "kokabola", or some such. Remember, I was in early grade school, and while I was intensely interested, I don't remember accurately. Aside from the obvious, it is lovely! OBTW, some of you hawkeyed observers will undoubtedly notice that the nipple is missing. My dad was always afraid that I would load it up and fire it, killing myself and wrecking the rifle, so he broke it off flush with the breech plug. He was a shrewd judge of character.
Anyone with knowledge, I would appreciate your sharing. I am having tech difficulties tonight, but I will post more pics soon, including proof marks.
I have been very gratified by the interest all of you have shown in my other posts and pics. I offer these with respect, and hope you find them interesting.
My grandfather brought this rifle with him from England when he emigrated in 1891. I have no idea if the family owned it prior to that. The maker was Wm. A Beckwith, of Skinner Street, London. The bullet mould is stamped "Registered 1 March, 1852". Google doesn't have a lot of information about Mr. Beckwith or his business. The rifle is .58 cal, the mould is a hollow based conical bullet, approximately 450 grains. The bore is poor, brown and pitted. Rifling is quite good at the muzzle, fairly slow twist. As shown in the picture, I have the original matching mould, cleaning rod, and powder measure. The trigger is single set, amazingly crisp and light. The lock also is of very high quality, functions perfectly after 160 years! The open sights are very fine, with the rear one adjustable by means of a stepped ramp.
My grandfather was a pragmatic guy, and shortly after he got to Canada, he almost immediately acquired a more modern weapon. Fortunately, he never threw anything out, either. My dad often talked about himself and his brothers using the "old muzzleloader" as a toy. The played "cowboys and aboriginal persons" (apologies to the political correctness police) with it, and as they grew up, they treated it as a shotgun, shooting pebbles, fencing staples, shingle nails, whatever was handy, out of it. Sometime in the '60's, a family friend who was an army Staff Sgt at Camp Shilo took it with him to clean it up. He was some sort of armourer or gunsmith. I don't remember what work he did to it, but he did clean it up, and pronounced it "unsafe to fire" because of barrel corrosion. He identified the wood as "kokabola", or some such. Remember, I was in early grade school, and while I was intensely interested, I don't remember accurately. Aside from the obvious, it is lovely! OBTW, some of you hawkeyed observers will undoubtedly notice that the nipple is missing. My dad was always afraid that I would load it up and fire it, killing myself and wrecking the rifle, so he broke it off flush with the breech plug. He was a shrewd judge of character.
Anyone with knowledge, I would appreciate your sharing. I am having tech difficulties tonight, but I will post more pics soon, including proof marks.
I have been very gratified by the interest all of you have shown in my other posts and pics. I offer these with respect, and hope you find them interesting.
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they are the most precious guns in my collection. As 9.3 mauser says don,t give up on the idea of firing it if you can get the nipple replaced and really checked out, to me just from your pics it looks to be in pretty fine shape yet. Very nice. Cheers
