What is this cheaply made over/under cap and ball pistol

1898guns

1898guns

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I have had this for years. Basically it looks cheap perhaps fake, crudely made. Would it fire.... I have not even looked to see if the cap holes go to chambers........ Looks like something that would have come out of Afghanistan or similar situation, but if it did it would have been some time before the 1980s according to the story of where I got it from. Any input would be appreciated.


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Somebody in the past dry fired that poor thing a LOT! I'm thinking that some kid back when parents would not worry about such things so much used it as a toy. Those nipples have seen literally many hundreds of hammer falls onto them with no protection.

The triggers look odd too. There's no way to pull one without pulling the other too. I'm guessing again that some quickie repair was done to let Jr make it go CLICK. I'd expect one to be well back sort of like the double triggers on a double barrel shotgun. An indeed your close up of the triggers shows the one on the left side to be very crudely made compared to the shaping of the one on the right side.

The top strap and tang looks like it may also be home made. And the fit is so poor that I almost wonder if it's a repair done to cover up a broken tang. If you take it apart and look under that thin plate I would not be surprised if you find a broken tang acting as a spacer for the screw.

It's hard to say if it's a crudely made recent gun or a reasonable antique that's seen much abuse and crude repair. The shaping of the right side trigger and the main receiver makes me think that this was a decent looking and decently made two shot pistol in its day. But that it saw a lot of active abuse and bubba repairs from then to now.
 
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my guess would be made in Belgium and the proof marks rusted off. It looks like it has lead a pretty hard life. Re a stage gun; possible but unlikely in my opinion. One thing that would indicate a stage gun is if the nipples are cast in place or if they screw in. It is pretty hard to tell on your gun, but it looks like the nipples could screw in. Also if the nipples have a hole through to the inside, it is probably a shooter rather than a stage gun. I have a single barrel stage gun that I bought by mistake, thinking it was real. What should have tipped me off was that the nipple could not possible screw in or out because the base of it could not rotate past the breach end of the gun. What fooled me was that it carried a belgian proof mark

cheers mooncoon
 
I saw a lot of those pistols in Brazil during the mid seventies. Most of them looked exactly like yours and were unmarked. They were being sold in the community markets on a regular basis. Most were in similar condition to yours.

There was another Brazilian maker by the name of "Sanab" that made up a better grade of similar pistols. All of them were sold openly. No restrictions on them. They also made side by side pistols that accepted a special cartridge. They were very common down there at that time. Some were of very high quality and up to 16 inches long.

To show you what things were like back in those days I brought one home openly in my luggage. The bore and chambers are rusted out and the piece is not shootable. The customs inspector never even blinked an eye at it. He was more concerned with the gem stones and coffee I was bringing in.

I don't have a clue as to who made that pistol or when but everything I have seen come out of Belgium has always had an inspection stamp on its barrels.
 
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