Shovelbuck
Active Member
In Blakes recent post about his latest muzzleloading shotgun turkey, he mentioned that he wished he had some history about the gun.
The more I thought about that statement, I couldn't help but think of the vast amount of history that old gun has.
Before we get on with the history part, I do want to mention that Ron states the gun as around a 1850 vintage. When I researched it months back, http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32668 I came up with it being 1830's to 1840's. Regardless, it's old.
No history about it ? Think again !!!
The gun was made in England for trade to a new nation called The United States of America. It had only been about 30 years since we had kicked the British out of this country in 1815 after the war of 1812, and already we had a great amount of commerce and trade with them. This great new country was expanding west faster than the industrial revolutions great innovations could supply us. Our country was founded with guns and we needed lot's of them. Smoothbores were the weapon of choice for it's versatility.
A gunsmith in England was probably betting his future on his shipment of guns making the long, dangerous, two month voyage across the north Atlantic ocean. Months, or years before, a store owner in America had contacted him concerning ordering a crate or two of his guns and shipping them to one of the larger ports. Could of been New York, Boston, or Charlestown. All were large ports of trade with England. He made the down payment and now the gunsmith is hoping that the ship arrives safely and that the person ordering the guns pays him the remainder of his money.
This time, all went well with the voyage and both parties are happy.
Some time later, a farmer comes to the store and wants to buy this English made gun. He's young enough that he harbors no hatred towards the British for the revolutionary war or the war of 1812 He has no money and asks to get the gun on credit and will pay when the crops come in, the shop keeper agrees. Fall comes, the crops have produced well and the store owner gets all his money. That winter, the farmer hears the tales of wealth and land to be had by moving west and packs up his family and what belongings he can, especially the shotgun and heads west.
From there we can only speculate as to what happens.
This type of story happened over and over, thousands of times in the building of this country, so you see, there is a bunch of history with that old gun. We will never know the persons name that bought it or what he hunted or if it saved his or his families lives, but it helped build a country!
Enjoy your gun Ron ! I do mine.
The more I thought about that statement, I couldn't help but think of the vast amount of history that old gun has.
Before we get on with the history part, I do want to mention that Ron states the gun as around a 1850 vintage. When I researched it months back, http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32668 I came up with it being 1830's to 1840's. Regardless, it's old.
No history about it ? Think again !!!
The gun was made in England for trade to a new nation called The United States of America. It had only been about 30 years since we had kicked the British out of this country in 1815 after the war of 1812, and already we had a great amount of commerce and trade with them. This great new country was expanding west faster than the industrial revolutions great innovations could supply us. Our country was founded with guns and we needed lot's of them. Smoothbores were the weapon of choice for it's versatility.
A gunsmith in England was probably betting his future on his shipment of guns making the long, dangerous, two month voyage across the north Atlantic ocean. Months, or years before, a store owner in America had contacted him concerning ordering a crate or two of his guns and shipping them to one of the larger ports. Could of been New York, Boston, or Charlestown. All were large ports of trade with England. He made the down payment and now the gunsmith is hoping that the ship arrives safely and that the person ordering the guns pays him the remainder of his money.
This time, all went well with the voyage and both parties are happy.
Some time later, a farmer comes to the store and wants to buy this English made gun. He's young enough that he harbors no hatred towards the British for the revolutionary war or the war of 1812 He has no money and asks to get the gun on credit and will pay when the crops come in, the shop keeper agrees. Fall comes, the crops have produced well and the store owner gets all his money. That winter, the farmer hears the tales of wealth and land to be had by moving west and packs up his family and what belongings he can, especially the shotgun and heads west.
From there we can only speculate as to what happens.
This type of story happened over and over, thousands of times in the building of this country, so you see, there is a bunch of history with that old gun. We will never know the persons name that bought it or what he hunted or if it saved his or his families lives, but it helped build a country!
Enjoy your gun Ron ! I do mine.
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