It’s a Northwest Trade Gun that has a ‘shortened’ 24¼" long oct-round barrel in 20 gauge. it’s marked ‘london' on the top flat and has a fox in a circle stamp just forward of the tang. There is a rear sight mounted on the tang as well.
The stock is cherry wood stained to a nice dark color. The hardware is brass. All of the steel parts have been deeply browned.
Homage to my grandfathers...
I’m sure it’s a replica made during the 20th century as it has no makers name, but who knows for sure.
THE NORTHWEST TRADE GUN IS THE CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF THE INDIAN TRADE GUN
They were available from about 1760 to the end of the 19th century.
The Northwest gun was used extensively by the French Canadians and was a favorite gun of the Indians. It was sold by trading companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Northwest Company, the Mackinaw Company, and the American Fur Company.
French makers traded fusils (Charleville and Tulle muskets) from the 1680s on.
French makers traded fusils (Charleville and Tulle muskets) from the 1680s on.
By 1742, beaver pelts were valued at: one pelt for one pound of shot or three flints; four pelts for one pound of powder; ten pelts for a pistol; twenty pelts for a trade gun.
English made Northwest guns were very common between 1770 and 1860. It has been estimated that as many as 2.5 million trade guns were imported into North America. They were readily available at forts, trading posts, and rendezvous.
The Northwest Trade Gun had a single trigger with an oversize trigger guard designed for use while wearing heavy mittens.
The most distinctive feature of these guns was the serpent (or dragon) shaped brass side plate.
Indians learned to recognize and demand London proof marks... a sitting fox or tombstone logo on the lock and barrel.
Guns and horses were being traded at the Missouri River Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara villages long before Lewis and Clark reached the Mandan Village in 1804.
Being a smoothbore, like a shotgun, they weren't as accurate as a rifle, but they were prefered by many as they are a good hunting weapon capable of shooting either shot or ball.
White men who hunted buffalo to feed trading posts used trade guns because they were easier to load while riding a horse.
The large .60 caliber ball fired from a Northwest Trade Gun is capable of killing the biggest animals in North America if the distance is kept close.
Northwest Trade Guns were popular for hunting buffalo from horseback. Often the barrels were shortened to facilitate loading from the back of a horse or from the confines of a canoe.
These modified smoothbores were called “canoe guns” or “pony guns”.
EVERYTHING NEEDED FOR A DAY IN THE FOREST...
HUNTER'S TOOLS (Photo Left to right)
Forged screwdriver
Whisk & pick (for touch hole cleaning)
Canvas bag of flax roving (make a small ball & use instead of patches, above powder, and above shot or ball)
Rawhide shot pouch (4 x 7/8 oz loads #6 shot)
Deerskin musket ball pouch (6 x .60 caliper balls)
Brass pan primer (applies small amount of powder to pan)
Deer antler shot measure (7/8 oz loads #6 shot)
Deer antler powder measure (62 grains of black powder)
HUNTER'S LOADS
7/8 oz #6 shot over 62 grains of black powder… good for squirrels, rabbits, grouse and turkeys
.60 caliper musket ball over 62 grains of black powder… good for 'enemies,' elk, deer, wild boar, ‘close’ black bear, and 'close' buffalo.
GUNSMITH ANCESTORS
I come by my interest in guns honestly...
JAMES BABCOCK AND HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS TO OUR SECOND AMENDMENT
Cousin Jean Baptiste was Michilimackinac's Blacksmith
Uncle Jean Tavernier dit Laforest — Killed in the Battle of Long Sault
British Legacy -- Born 1826 in Newfoundland
(SEE: Thomas Wilkie, Armory Sergeant at the fort on Signal Hill in St. Johns.)
Another newly discovered Gunsmith ancestor was Ichabod Hawes (1719–1777) 6th great-grandfather
BIRTH 18 SEP 1719 • Wrentham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH 18 DEC 1777 • Medway, Norfolk, MA
Ichabod was a gunsmith and had a forge and trip-hammer worked by water power just west of the Bent sawmill. He served in the French Indian War and the Revolutionary War for Massachusetts.
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