The Wood Looks Pretty Good? Might Be Sad News for Value.

Photo 27 Left side of stock. The reason the wood looks pretty good is that it has been sanded and refinished. Bad news for value. Almost terminal. You can tell by the poor fit of the metal butt plate to the wood. There is a gap at the upper inside curve and the wood is short of the end of the plate at the bottom.

Photo 39 Right side of stock. Same problem with the inside upper curve. In addition, the wood is sanded lower than the metal at the upper end of the steel butt plate. The wood should actually be just a bit higher than the metal edge.

Look for Wood Replacements

Photo 30 Left side of fore end. Obvious wood replacement at left upper corner. Rear sight elevator is not original. That is the vertical triangular metal piece on the sight.

Look for Other Non Original Parts

Photo 29 Left side of receiver. Upper screw is not original. End of stock wood fits poorly at metal. And as you mentioned it is missing the dust cover.

Photo 59 Bottom of lever and stock. You can see just how poorly the wood fit to the receiver is on the upper side.

Look for Re-Bluing Jobs

Photo 31 Left side of barrel. From this photo and others of the metal it is obvious that the rifle has had a poor re-bluing job sometime long ago. The high edges of the octagon barrel are almost the same color as the flats and they should show much more wear on them. In addition, the lever is blued. They were originally case colored and should be much more grey than they are. One other problem is that Winchester receivers almost always have less blue on them than the barrels. On this rifle the receiver has the same coverage as the barrel. A sure sign of something not original.

Here is the original post - http://www.gunvaluesboard.com/hi.-i-have-a-model-1873-winchester-.32-20-serial-number-is-2…-240204.html

Zig-Zag Derringer Production 1961-1862, less then 1000 produced.

This is the Remington Zig-Zag derringer which was obviously named for the zig-zag groves in the breech end of the rotating barrel which is a key part of the revolving mechanism.  This is the first Remington firearm designed for the then new metallic cartridge.  This 22 short in a six-shot rotating barrel ring trigger type double action with a concealed hammer which extends into the grip.  The firearm is loaded through a port in the frame at the breech and actually fires from the bottom barrel.  In my research I have located nearly 150 examples from around the world with serials from no 2 to 987,   Do to is complicated mechanism they are quite delicate and expensive to produce.  The new Remington-Elliot 5 barrel (fixed barrel) was designed and in production before all the previously manufactured parts we assembled into firearms.  During that period of production no parts were ever wasted!  This is again one of the cases where the survival rates of boxes makes the box actually more valueable then the firearm.  This box (one of two that exists) has a card which were commonly handed out on the street in the days surounding the civil war.  This card has become one with the box and interesting enough has 34 stars which represents Kansas the 34th state in 1861 which dates exactly to the production date of the firearm.

PARLOR PISTOL A NOVELTY IN THE LINE OF FIREARMS! Percussion Caps and Shot the only Ammunition Required.

The Remington-Rider Parlor is among the rarest and sought of all Remington handguns. This little single-shot percussion pistol has always been a bit of a conundrum. Little is known as to the reason for its manufacture and its demise while contemplated as possibly just unpopular for its discontinuation it can most assuredly be attributed in some part to Remington’s shift in priorities due to the start of the civil war.

On September 13, 1859 Joseph Rider was issued patent 25,470 for the Remington-Rider Pistol. The two line “RIDER’S PT. SEPT 13, 1859″ is marked (gang stamped) on the left side of the barrel with the total production at estimated 200 from c. 1860-1863. The frame, grips, and 3 inch barrel were of integral sand cast construction of brass. Known examples are found in natural bronze or silver plated finish with few engraved examples They are .17 caliber and predominately smooth bore with only one known to be rifled. This one example being most profusely engraved, inscribed, and dated a probable one of a kind.

These little pistols were intended to be a parlor target pistol and not a defensive weapon. They are designed to use only the pressure generated from the fulminate of a percussion cap and lead shot as the only form of ammunition. There are two types of breech-pieces with no apparent predominance and some debate over their precedence of their manufacture however subsequent discovery of several prototype models all have displayed the one piece design. The one piece design provides no cover to enclose the cap and the locking lever is quite short. The two piece design there is a cone to hold the cap and a cover providing protection from the exploding cap and has a longer lever.

The majority of these pistols were sold in a tight-fitting cardboard box with the loading and cleaning directions on a label pasted inside the top lid. However at least one such pistol has been found with an instruction sheet in an unlabeled box.

It is estimated that no more then 30 of the original specimens exist one of the few in a class of firearms where spurious examples out number the known original that exist.

Thought I would add an engraved example w/ box

Hello everybody out there in blogville! I figured I’d write a comment for gun owners with some sensible information in it,,Mabey you’ve herd it before and mabey you haven’t..When you own guns of any kind.. Rule #1.. is know what you have..what I’m trying to say is this,,With the crazyness going on in this world with home breakins happining  every day and guns being a target of criminals theives ,,It’s a good idea to take an hour of your time to write down on a peice of paper the following::Make+ Model,,serial number and any special features the firearm has,,Then put this paper in a safe place so if your one of the targets of criminal breakins you have some good information to supply the law enforcement officers and insurance companys with!!This is especially true when someone has passed away and theres guns involved they owned ,,many times when a husband or father passes away who was a avid hunter or collector a wife or relitive may not even know what he had ..,,there just guns to them,, most of the time they may never have even seen the guns but know they had them!You may be surprised how many people own guns but don’t have any records or information about what they actually own because they never recorded the serial numbers of there guns ..Sure You may know your gun but without some kinda information on it how do you prove it’s yours from  someone elses. ,,there were many many guns made exactly the same and the chances of just stumbling across the one that was stolen from you are almost impossible without some kinda information on yours..Guns bought  before the crime bill of 68 didn’t have a manditory regrestration of serial numbers and when you think of the amount of  firearms made before 1968 it’s mind boggling,,When or if it happens to you ..you look kinda stupid trying to explain that you lost your “hunting gun”or it was your “dads gun” but don’t know what the serial numbers or model numbers were … ,,yea ya know the makes MOST of the time,,, but most firearm companys made alot of rifles ,pistol ,,or shotguns and finding your “one in nice shape “is a tough job without a detailed list with serial numbers and model numbers,,and special features ..so take a word for the wise and record what ya have ,,it won’t take all day to do in most cases and just may help when it comes to getting your property back IF it gets found !!Now alot of people proably will read this and say I know that info.. but I would imagine there are way more people who don’t ..and if that day comes when you go home and find your weapons stolen then you will wish you had something more than just a “nice remington rifle or a “old colt pistol” to give insurance companys or law enforcement  personel while your trying to explain about not knowing other info on them!!,,just some food for thought  for ALL GUN OWNERS!

bigcurt  

I don’t DIY my own ammo, but I know that a lot of you do. Like any other type of minuscule tasks the agronomy of this can make or break your ability to do it, as well as the enjoyment involved.

I found this great video on Anthroblogogy. Dirtcrashr, the auther of anthroblogogy makes his own cases, and has run into all kinds of difficulties that he expands on in this post. He recons that this video fixes them all. So if you are into making your own  ammo - hop over and read.