Anyone who has watched Pawn Stars has seen Sean Rich from Tortuga Trading Company come in and tell the guys about firearms and simular antiques that come into the shop. It's the best part of the show for me. It will come as no surprise that Tortuga Trading Company has a website. I visit it a lot! Someday I need to see if Pawn Stars has one.
About a week ago I was looking at their firearms listing and found one I would love to own.
The folks at Tortuga describe her as a percussion Axe gun. The barrel is 28.5 inches. The weapons overall length is 45 inches. She takes a .75 Caliber ball. The butt stock ends in a very functional axe head.
We have all seen museum displays and photographs of firearms with axes as part of the design intended as weapons. I have no doubt this could put a world of hurt on somebody, but its main function seems to be as a tool.
This is no pampered show piece. The stock has the polish that only comes from years of handling. The beastie shows countless repairs, speaking both to the fact it saw hard use and was considered worth the effort to repair and keep in service.
Not really sure how you would hold it to chop wood, but I think the axe head would lend its self quite well to a shoulder stock.
The best part is the folks at Tortuga consider it to be in working order.
In every collection there is that one piece you wish you could make talk for an evening to learn its story.
This is one of them.
That's a kicker, for sure! I liked the gun-desk they ran into.
ReplyDeleteAstounding, all right. Will you be modifying any of your collection, dear?
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