Heartbreaking sight at gun show this weekend...mistreated antiques...

[benEzra]

Went to a local gun show this weekend, and there was a big table with the most amazing collection of antique arms I had ever seen in person. British Tower muskets, muzzleloading rifles dated 1862, antique Colts from the mid-1800's. At least 50 such firearms, maybe more, plus a table full of accessories (powder horns and the like).

AND ALL OF THE GUNS I LOOKED AT WERE COATED WITH RECENT SURFACE RUST!!!!!

Slap a thin coat of Boeshield T-9 on there, at least, or even (gasp) GUN OIL. How hard can it be? I wouldn't treat a Lorcin that badly, never mind an original Colt revolver, or a rifle that saw action in the Civil War...

I still can't believe it. :banghead:

 

[Pax Jordana]

And they say there's no violence at gun shows...

So goes history. Among my grandfather's things was the stock to an ancient rifle musket he bought for three dollars.. from a farmer who'd just pounded the barrel into the ground (needed a stake to tie his cow to.)


I hope you took the incentive to buy them and keep them happy.

 

[benEzra]

Sorry, couldn't from a financial standpoint. I sure thought about it, though.

OK, I officially announce the benEzra Adopt-a-Musket Rescue Fund. You all can paypal me your donations so I can rescue these deserving guns from their fate.

 

[ky_man]

You sure you weren't seeing browned barrels?

 

[benEzra]

Yes. They were blotched with orange-red powdered rust, like when you leave a piece of un-oiled steel out in the rain for a week. You could have wiped your finger across them and come away with a rust-red finger.

Sort of like this:

Coverage was similar to the bottom left photo, but not as deep; it was finely patterned like you'd get from long-term humidity exposure instead of water spray. But to see that on the sideplate of a gun marked "1862"...grrr...

It was superficial, and some gun oil and a rag would have wiped off most of it. But in 10 years, they'll be pitted.

 

[cnorman18]

painful, isn't it?

Was once visiting the parents of one of my wife's piano students, and the husband and I began talking about guns. He showed me five or six .45s that he carried regularly, and then we went in the bedroom where he had some long guns in a closet. Some shotguns, a couple of .22s, a milsurp or two, nothing very interesting--and then he pulled out an original U.S. Cavalry Sharps carbine covered with fine rust.

I'm telling you, if he hadn't been my wife's employer, twice my size, and a cop, I'd have given him one upside the head.