80. Auction

Percussion rifle, England, civilian version, half stock, patchbox, stamped "16/59", 1850 to 1880

Iron and wood, half-stocked percussion rifle in civilian version, muzzleloader, England, 1850 to 1880, calibre 16 mm. Long round barrel with front sight, on top of the barrel at the breech the stamped number "16/59", half stock with brass-coloured forend cap, oval brass-coloured barrel key escutcheon on both sides of the forend, iron ramrod in two pipes. Percussion lock with lock plate rounded at the rear and fine scroll engraving at both ends, hammer with scroll engraving and grooved thumb spur, nipple, on the opposite side diamond-shaped brass-coloured side plate with lock screw, brass-coloured trigger guard, in the butt a butt compartment (patchbox) with brass-coloured lid with keyhole-shaped cut-out, sling swivel on the butt. Used condition commensurate with age, mechanism working, barrel slightly pitted. L. 122 cm

The butt compartment in the stock is a feature of the more finely made muzzleloaders: patches, percussion caps or tools were stored under the lid. The scroll engraving on the lock plate and hammer shows the craftsmanship of the percussion lock, whose ignition with shock-sensitive priming powder was patented by Alexander John Forsyth in 1807; the percussion cap was added in the late 1810s. The hammer strikes the percussion cap on the nipple, which made the weapon more weather-resistant than the flintlock. Half-stocked percussion rifles of this design with round barrel and ramrod in pipes belong to the muzzleloaders of the period in which breechloaders emerged around the middle of the 19th century.