Armed robbery with musket. Please help ID it.

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4v50 Gary

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In Newfoundland, there was an armed robbery with a musket. See the video here at this: Link.

I watched it and suspect it isn't a real. Opinions please?
 
Just my opinion... but it doesn't look 'heavy' enough (from the way he carries it and swings it) to me. My guess, (albeit without having to stare down the muzzle of the thing) is that it's a fake, one of those decorative pieces for wall hanging.
 
I also think it's fake. Weight was the hint for me as well. It looks too light, and too crude. I suspect they made it at home from thin pipe and other scraps.

Also note it was an "attempted robbery." they were given nothing, and left.
 
Personally I think it could be very real. Even most non firing replicas are made out of the same material as a functioning ones, and it certainly doesnt look like plastic to me.
 
I call BS on the whole tape,, :scrutiny:

Couldn't see anything where the lock should have been, and, what were those three silver "barrel bands?" duct tape?

The boys didn't seem very agressive and left like their time was up after about 10 seconds.

The whole thing looked like a lame tryout for youtube. :barf:
 
Thanks guys. I looked at the barrel bands that look brass like. It just doesn't look right with a blued barrel. Also, look at the nose. It's flat without a nosecap. Now, some early Brown Bess didn't have nosecaps, but this looks so square that it doesn't look real.

Also, it doesn't look like it has a lock. Could it be a breechloader? Still, I know of no breech loading musket that looks like the one used in the robbery.

Like yourselves, I think it is a replica toy.
 
When I was about 12 years old my best friend and I built at least a dozen variations of muskets with pieces of 3/4 inch pipe and various other parts over one exciting summer The powder was laboriously unrolled from firecrackers. The slugs were marbles wrapped in tinfoil to fit the bore. The "musket" was fired with firecracker fuse ignited with Marlboros and L&M's stolen from out parents.

We got ranges up to at least 200 yards. The targets were ducks in the lake behind our houses - not that we ever hit any...

So, even if this is some cobbled together firearm, it's still a dangerous weapon, even though it's debatable whether it was more dangerous to the shooter than the shootee.

At any rate, I would I guess that a even a teenager-built homemade "musket" is quite capable of inflicting death or injury on somebody, given the right circumstances.

We were at least smart enough not to charge it with smokeless powder taken from our dads shotgun shells - shotgun powder was relegated to home-made grenades made of baby food jars wrapped in numerous layers of electrical tape which also held the shot to the outside of the jar. The hand grenades were generally fused with waterproof "cannon fuse" (from M80's) and dropped down into muskrat houses which were turning our lake into a marsh. It didn't seem to bother the muskrats which seemed prone to evacuating the premises when we tore a hole in the top and dropped a burning grenade in.

Then there was the wheelbarrow mounted heavy crossbow using a dandelion sticker as a heavy projectile. With that we actually killed a muskrat lured into the kill zone with sour apples. But that's a different story...
 
I've seen decorator muskets very similar to that one in tourist traps out here. They are probably East Indian imitations of a Italian replica of a half baked copy of an old caplock rifle of some sort.:rolleyes:
The wide brass bands were the main give away.

Did any of you notice if he was carrying it OWB or IWB?:evil:
 
Armed robbery, rule #1.

Do not use a gun that is taller than you are.

Jim
 
Oh, great. I can see it now- a big push to regulate antique arms:rolleyes:

We were at least smart enough not to charge it with smokeless powder taken from our dads shotgun shells

Good. Flash powder from fire crackers is much safer!;)
 
I have one that's real and is about a dead ringer for the one in the vid. I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow. It's a .45 cal marked Firearms International Wash, DC. made in Italy in the 70's. The marking is so lite I didn't see it for 25 years. Took a magnifying glass to find it. It is really lite too.
 
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