51 - English percussion rifle, half stock, chequered wrist, muzzleloader, 1850 to 1880

English percussion rifle, half stock, chequered wrist, muzzleloader, 1850 to 1880 Iron and wood, half-stocked percussion rifle, muzzleloader, England, 1850 to 1880, calibre 18 mm. Round barrel, stock ending below the middle of the barrel, two iron barrel rings, iron ramrod below the barrel. Percussion lock with flat lock plate rounded at the rear, hammer, nipple, lock screw on the opposite side, iron trigger guard, chequered wrist, iron butt plate. Age-appropriate condition, mechanism functional. L. 125 cm The percussion lock goes back to the percussion cap system patented by Alexander John Forsyth in 1807: the hammer strikes the percussion cap on the nipple, and the spark ignites the charge in the barrel. Compared with the flintlock with flint and frizzen, this ignition was more weatherproof. From the mid-19th century, breechloaders such as the needle gun displaced percussion muzzleloaders from military use. With its iron furniture, barrel rings and chequered wrist, this rifle shows the plain execution of the muzzleloaders of that period.