old blackpowder guns

[Mortblanc]

Thank you for the replies, I have looked at a few old BP weapons in various museums during my studies and I was surprised at how "clean" they looked. The main problem seems to be the wood that deteriorates quicker than the metal parts, and a lot of these weapons have damaged stocks.
I believe that knowledge is power, and even though I have no intention at the moment in owning one, having some information regarding safety may serve me in the future if conditions change, forewarned is forearmed. Another point is that England is stuffed with museums full of all sorts of goodies for us poor unarmed Limey'sBig Grin

TH the reason the metal on those specimens looks so "clean" is due to a coating of preservation wax. The parts are dipped in the liquid, which stabilized the crap out of them. They can sit in that museum for another 1,000 years and show zero continued aging.

One odd thing about archeological work; if you are at a dig and they uncover a barrel, lock parts and trigger guard they refer to it as a "complete gun". They seldom consider the possibility of the stock surviving.

I was at a dig once and we found a complete pistol with wood stock intact down a well we were excavating. As soon as air touched the wood it started to crumble. We were forced to bring the pistol up in a large container of water and stabilize it in a liquid bath before we could expose it to air.

Any person living under "restrictions" should acquire certain "knowledge". Even if they can not purchase a firearm they should know how to build a simple firearm. They should know how to produce propellant, or what can be used as propellant and what can be turned into projectiles. Having that knowledge is not breaking the law, and when you need the knowledge the law will not apply.

This is the 21st century, the knowledge is all over the internet and there is absolutely no excuse for not having it as part of ones survival planning.

Always remember, it was not the full auto assault rifle that made the longbow obsolete, it was the match lock musket!

And as soon as European traders made the crudest flintlocks available to the native Americans they abandoned the bow.

Yes, a few remnants clung to the bow, but those remnants are among the extinct groups. The large tribes that survived were the ones that grabbed guns asap.

I know those are fighting words to some here, but they are the facts.