1803 Flintlock Rifle

[roninrlm]

Looking for help identifying a old Musket I found. The lock plate is marked---G.A. Eton and in front of the Hammer is HEART with the number "4" above it and the letters (clockwise)top V--I--C--E and below it is the date 1804. There is also a Crown with the number 2 below it. Barrel length is 38 1/2 from Frizzen hole to end of barrel and the Rifle is also a Bandless barrel. Brass Ramrod fittings and Iron ramrod. Bore Dia reads .789 HELP!!! Got any ideas on who made it and where? The "Story" with the old musket was that it was used it the War between Texas and Mexico and then in the Civil War.

 

[rifleshooter2]

It sounds alot like a Brown Bess. The bore on them was about .750 but they varied and you probally have alot of muzzle wear. Everything else fits a Bess. Use in Mexico is very possable. Use in the Civil War is possable but much less likely. Pictures will help with a more positive ID.

 

[GCBurner]

The Mexican army imported a good many British weapons prior to the Mexican-American War, including the Brown Bess Tower Musket and the Baker Rifle. Pictures would help a lot.

 

[Jim K]

I don't see a gun maker or lockmaker named Eton, but the mark you describe is that of the United East India Company. (The "V" is an old fashioned way of writing "U".)

It was used as a "bale mark" and as a general property mark on East India Company goods, including weapons.

Google British East India Company for far more info than I can possibly provide here, including their establishment of private armies and their use of the regular British Army and Navy to support their commercial enterprises.

Jim

 

[GCBurner]

This is a pic of the lockplate of a East India Pattern Brown Bess made in 1776.

 

[Capt Quahog]

Will dig out my American military flintlock book and see if this one can be ID-ed. Could be a 3rd Model British Brown Bess . . .

Catch up later . . .

 

[jbrown_14105]

looks like a 3rd model

from that single picture & the markings it looks like it could be 3rd pattern short land British musket.
Can a photo of the front of the stock/barrel be shown?
Also the left hand side plate is a big indicator of model.