Need help identifying this muzzle-loader

[The Freeholder]

A coworker is selling off firearms from her brother's estate. One of them is what appears to be a pretty old muzzle-loader. She believes that her father, a lawyer, may have accepted the gun in barter for services sometime during the mid 1900s.

Miked the bore. This gun is approximately .58 caliber.

This is a percussion cap type. Hammer of the lock will cock and the trigger will drop the hammer.

The stock shows a number of handwork marks on the wood, and is split near the lock. The metal also shows signs of handwork. The barrel shows what looks to be peening marks near the lock on top. Stock and metal are very dark. At least one screw does not appear to be original. Neither do the ramrod or the part that holds it near the muzzle.

Overall, the gun is really rough. I doubt it's worth much (but hey, who knows) and I think it'd make an interesting wall-hanger. There's also the idea that this old guy probably has some tales to tell if we could just hear them.

Here are a couple of pictures. The one of the lock isn't too clear, but the gun has gone home and I can't get another one soon.

Edited to add caliber info

 

[Jim K]

I can't tell much from the pics, but I think your assessment of its value is pretty much accurate.

Jim

 

[Vern Humphrey]

This is obviously a "sporterized" musket -- the caliber, heavy butt and lockwork and band around the barrel make that clear. I can't see markings on the lock and without them, it's impossible to get any more precise in identification.

It's probably foreign, possibly imported for the Civil War. No US .58 Caliber rifle musket was made with a drum and nipple as this one has, and those flintlocks converted to percussion by this method were .69 caliber.