Anyone has idea what this could be?

 

Looks like a flare gun to me...

 

Seems like a good guess to me

 

Is it worth restoring? Not in finacial manner but for fun? I'm not into guns at all, but my father has large collection of ww2 guns that he keeps in our weekend house. Maybe I should suprise him and gift it to him.

 

It doesn't look like it would take much to get it functional. I would take it to a gunsmith and see what they think. Perhaps an old-timer will recognize it and be able to offer you some info. There's got to be markings someplace on or in it

 

With the big hand grip out on the muzzle I'm going to surmise that's a line-throwing gun, possibly a dual purpose line-throwing/flare gun.

 

This ^ ^ ^ reminded me of this -

 

What ever it is it looks simplified for use by those not proficient with firearms, and sturdy enough to be left in a tool chest on a boat for years without being used.
Another possibility is a gun for training bird dogs. A blank cartridge projecting a bean bag with feathers to accustom the dog to the report of a shotgun and the fall of a bird to be fetched.
The chamber wall looks too thin to be safe with live shot shells. The extractor doesn't look like it would hold up to extracting hulls swollen by the pressure of a substantial charge.

Also a teargas projector is a possibility. A shot shell loaded with CS dust.
Such projectors were phased out due to incidents of people being blinded if the gun were fired directly at the face.

 

Here are some better photos. No markings anywhere to be found. Looks like homemade
It had vertical grip but it fell off.

 

Oh, I don't know. The extractor looks pretty sturdy for the purpose to me and the chamber wall thickness looks about like a lot of cheap 12 gauge single shot chambers observed through the years. Now whether or not Zapata's gun was proofed for sporting 12 gauge shot shells is open to conjecture barring positive identification of the piece.

The opened breech of a Harrington & Richardson Model 176 10 gauge Magnum shotgun I've had since the mid 1970s when I bought it at 18 years old thinking I was going to mimic Elmer Keith's tales of 100 yard pass shooting of ducks with his Ithaca Magnum 10 gauge double gun on the Salmon River in Idaho. Zapata's gun's extractor appears more substantial then the H&R's extractor.

 

It doesn't look homemade. The machining certainly doesn't look home grown.

 

I've made better using only hand tools.

I suspect the grip is not original to this piece. It may in fact be a factory made tear gas projector that was damaged, most likely in a fire, salvaged and rebuilt by a guy handy with hand tools.

In Bing images I found an old police equipment catalog with a tear gas gun that may have had identical internals but very different externals.

Depends on which part of the breech you are looking at. The barrel wall is much thinner on one side and at the top.
The extractor is a joke. It appears to have broken away and been rewelded at least once. Its so poorly cut for the rim I doubt it catches the rim even half the time.

 

This, or something very similar, is what I believe it is.

 

Have we identified a bore diameter?

 

Wanted to share a new acquisition....a Colt Single Action Army(SAA) commercial from early 1874. All serial numbers match. Ivory grips are age appropriate and every bit the construction of what colt produced in that era but unfortunately colt records are thin for much of the 1870s, so it can not be confirmed officially by Colt. BUT, I have read in an expert book (Kopec)that in early 1874 commercial SAAs had a run of ivory gripped examples so I'm fairly confident that since the rest of the revolver is original, it's very likely the grips are as well, especially given that the condition of the grips matches the overall state of the gun. It was also stated in the book that later examples with ivory grips were almost exclusively reserved for engraved or custom models, so these made in 1874 are pretty special indeed.

I cannot stress enough my excitement at finding an original colt from this era. It is the proverbial unicorn, the unobtanium. The likelihood of this revolver surviving almost 150yrs is low to begin with. Without replaced parts, almost impossible.

I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it is hard to look at this and not see an amazing, gorgeous rich history unfold before your eyes. I can only imagine the life it has led. Magnificent.

 

Only an 18yr old shoulder can survive a 10ga 5lb shotgun......

 

That'll really nice after a good polish on the buffing wheel and a few coats of this.











Jokin' of course. It's beautiful.

 

Why not go the whole hog and nickel plate it?

Seriously, it is refreshing to see this old workhorse just as it has aged with use. There is a lot of holster wear, which means its original blue has worn away instead of rusting away. A nice old piece indeed.

 

That's the kind of gun that "floats my boat" Wryfox.

The common remark is: "if they could only talk, but the vintage guns from quality makers that are the survivors really do come close to speaking to me.


I always keep several books going at one time and currently one of them is "The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde." Hamer's 1968 biography "I"m Frank Hamer" paints him a bit more larger than life, a sort of Hollywood portrayal. This biography delves into the person Hamer was. He was both tougher and less glamorous than other accounts render him.





Hamer's Colt "Old Lucky."

 

Dunno but many will say nice patina