This is not really an appeal for legal advice, but it’s suddenly occurred to me that I don’t really know the status of the situation.
I’m not a gun owner. While I fully support 2nd Amendment rights, and I’m glad there are people that exercise them, the only gun I’ve ever owned was a sawed off shotgun I bought for $7 at a party from some scary lookin’ guys, and which I shortly thereafter turned over to the Austin Police Department because it made me nervous just to have it.
So, no appreciable gun ownership.
Except…, I now realize I’ve been a gun owner for years. A long time ago what was then described to me as an “1850s naval dueling pistol” (suspect description, but that’s what I was told) was handed down from my grandfather. Part of a matched set, my brother has the other one. It’s a double barrelled cap and ball pistol (two triggers) that looks like something you might see waved around in the Pirates of the Caribbean.
Having served for a long time as just a display piece on a bookshelf, I’ve thought little of it. But now that I think about it, it appears to be a sure enough functional firearm. What are the legal ramifications (I’m in Texas) of my having this? Should I have it disabled? Anything else I should know (I have no felony convictions)?
Don’t you dare harm that relic!!
It’s so old that it doesn’t even qualify as a firearm. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. There are no registration requirements for firearms in Texas anyway. So even if it was made late in this century, you’d still be ok by owning it. You’re good man, don’t sweat it.
It’s also black powder, so there are virtually no restrictions on it whatsoever! We have people out here who have built their own artillery. As long as it’s muzzle-loaded and black powder, the BATFE doesn’t care.
There are no legal ramifications to owning a muzzle-loading black powder gun anywhere in the united states as far as I’m aware (although IANAL and what I know about it came from dixiegunworks.com). Much less in TEXAS of all places. Hell, when I bought mine it was shipped to me UPS and nobody even had to sign for it, much less show ID or prove we were over 18.
Do not do ANYTHING to harm that gun. If you’re that worried about it, give it to me.
“There are no legal ramifications to owning a muzzle-loading black powder gun anywhere in the united states as far as I’m aware”
New Jersey for one, just so ya know commrade . Also include BB guns, sling shots, big knives, little knives, nail clippers; oh and sharp pointed sticks.
Ok, “anywhere in the united states that isn’t insane about weaponry.” Which leaves out NJ and metro NYC.
Seriously, most of the time they’re not even classified as firearms because you can’t buy ammunition for them. (Ammunition in the sense of a preloaded thing involving propellant and a bullet. A can of powder and a box of leaden balls != ammunition according to whatever definition is used for that.)
Get some photos if you can, I’d be interested to see it. 1850s indicates it is probably a percussion cap gun but I suppose it could be flintlock.
Just a little clarification, it is not a firearm as defined by the federal national firearms act/gun control act as it does not fire fixed ammunition. That doesn’t mean it can’t be legally considered to be a gun or a weapon. You won’t get very far if you try to take it on a plane in your carry on bag or into a courthouse.
After poking around the 'net a little bit today, I’ve learned that it is a percussion pistol, and the early to mid-19th century would probably be about right for its vintage. Whooee! Some of the guns like this are expensive!
I’ll try to borrow a digital camera next week and take some photos, Padeye.
You might want to have someone check it to make sure it isn’t loaded. Sounds silly I know, but every once in a while you hear of someone who had an old muzzleloader passed on to them that for some reason was stored loaded.
Berkut is correct that it may possibly be charged but don’t let it keep you up at night. Without something sending fire or sparks into the hole of the nipple you are pretty darn safe. A percussion cap looks like a tiny cup made of metal foil placed over the nipple, about 1/8" large, make sure there isn’t one. I compete with percussion pistols and in the SASS organizatio a cap and ball pistol is considered unloaded even if it has ball and powder in the chamber as long as it doesn’t have a percussion cap.
If by chance there is a ball loaded take it to someone who knows muzzle loading weapons. There are devices called ball pullers but it might be worth taking the effort to see if the ball can be removed withuot destroying it with an ugly screw hole. You have a valuable antique and regardless of your outlook on guns it would be a shame to destroy any of its value.
Interesting. At least for me, being quite naive about firearms, or, things that seem like firearms to the naive.
I’ve just inspected it, and there are no percussion caps. It’s harder than one might think to get a light down the barrel of a gun if one’s never tried that before. Both barrels are empty - one is rust colored and the other is black. My completely unqualified estimation is that the right barrel (black at the back, with impact marks on what I think must be the nipple to which Padeye refers) was fired once, and the left barrel has never been fired.
There are no clearly identifiable, to me, manufacturer’s marks, but the bottom of the left octagonal barrel has an eleven over a hexagon with a short line extending northeast off the easternmost node of the top segment, followed by a capital “C” and a one.
The metal barrel assembly appears to be cast and has much fancy engraving on the sides, and it has a burled wood handle. Any ideas about what it might be?
Some penlinghts like Pelican come with an attachment specifically for looking down barrels and they work well for looking into nooks and crannies in general. Nite Eyez makes a fiber optic attachment for a AA Maglight that is very versatle and inexpensive.
The marks you describe might be proof marks given when an arm is test fired but that’s not a specialty of mine.
