Help Identify old gun?

TheGame

TheGame

Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Messages
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These pics are horrible quality, mainly because they are taken with a camera phone that my brother let me use. I am sorry for that up front :o

Anyway, it is an old black powder pistol that my grandpa gave my dad and down to me. I am not sure of how old it is, but I was wondering if anyone had something like it?

Also, I believe it is either 44 or 50 caliber. It doesn't say on it.

Pics:

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And this is the only thing stamped into the gun anywhere
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Again, sorry for the bad quality pics, but it is the best I could do with the resources at hand.
 
They had those that long ago? I never knew that. I guess you learn something new everyday.
 
CVA "kit gun".... Spanish manufactured. I built a number of these when I was a kid. Widely distributed in the 1970's -early '80's.

TR Graham
The Glocksmith
 
Kit guns have been popular for 50 or 60 years ... who knows when your grandfather acquired it....

Patina doesn't mean a thing -- I assembled a derringer kit and 15 minutes after I put it together it looked a hundred years old. It could be hard to distinguish an original 19th century pistol from a 20th century copy even with good pictures. That screw looks like a modern screw-machine made screw to me, but who knows, with those pictures.
 
Hi,

Yep, a CVA kit gun. I've got one floating around here somewhere. They cost about $20-$25 back in the '70s. I believe that model is called the ACE. The calibre is .45. Loaded with 10 to 15 grains of 3Fg power and a .440 round ball and .015" patch, you might be able to hit a man sized target somewhere on the torso. CVA also had a three barrel pistol on the same frame they called the Duckfoot. Useful for putting down those odd mutinies you might run into. If I remember, there was also a 5 shot pepperbox kit too.

dalee
 
ALso, anyone ever heard of a company called Marshal Arms Inc? I have a double barrel shotgun that says that. On the upper part of the side-by-side it says Laminated steel. Under the forum there is a couple of numbers.

I will try and get quality pics of it sometime. I am interested in this more than that one. That one was given to my dad about 15 years ago and me this year.
 
Hi,

I like old shotguns, so I'd like to see photos of it. Please take good photos of all the markings on the watertable, the flat part of the receiver under the barrel, and on the bottom side of the barrel under the chambers. Plus any other markings you might find.

The name Marshal Arms doesn't ring a bell with me. But, there were many resellers. They are often referred to as Hardware Store guns. As local hardware store chains would contract with makers to mark guns with their chains name. Some very fine shotguns can be sometimes be found camouflaged as such.

dalee
 
Just as a side note here, your little pistol was commonly called a "boot gun", due to it's slim design it would easily fit in the top of a boot with the handle keeping it from sliding down too far. I am not talking cowboy boots like the have today but rather the boots worn in the late 1700s to 1800s.
 
Tom,
You're not old enough to remember the 1970s.
I only built one of these kit guns, acquired it in '76, sits in the basement. The only use it ever got was in several performances of Carmen done by the Utah Opera Company many years ago when I loaned it to them as a static stage prop.
The "functioning" prop was a cheap Brazilian caplock rifle I bought in 1970. Loaded with old-style magnesium photographic flash powder behind a magician's flash paper wad, it put out a respectable boom and a huge ball of light on stage & got the audience every time the character fired it.
But, I digress....:)
Denis
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

I like old shotguns, so I'd like to see photos of it. Please take good photos of all the markings on the watertable, the flat part of the receiver under the barrel, and on the bottom side of the barrel under the chambers. Plus any other markings you might find.

The name Marshal Arms doesn't ring a bell with me. But, there were many resellers. They are often referred to as Hardware Store guns. As local hardware store chains would contract with makers to mark guns with their chains name. Some very fine shotguns can be sometimes be found camouflaged as such.

dalee
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I am tryin to get my sister to bring me a digi cam. Hopefully she can get here with it.
 
SIFU1A said:
why????
Click to expand...

Hi,

If you have to ask, you are not ready for enlightenment. :D:D:D

A good SxS is a dream in the hands. Light, yet strong, balanced so that it seems to seek the target of it's own accord without thought or effort. And add to that the sheer elegance and beauty that only a SxS can have.:thumbup:

The downside is the cost of them. A good new entry level SxS starts at around the $4000 mark and goes up from there. And used guns are almost as much.:eek:

The cheapie SxS by Stoeger (own import brand made in Brazil), and Bakail (Remington Sportsman made in Russia), and Huglu (CZ made in Turkey), are what they are. Mostly serviceable, but sometimes mechanically unreliable. They aren't high shooting volume guns. And they tend to only offer the general look of the SxS without providing the substance. Kind of like the driving difference between a Dodge Neon and a Dodge Viper.

Of the brands I listed, the CZ/Huglu's are closest to what a SxS should be about. But they are a bit more money too. I've shot Bakails, and they are clunky and ungainly in the hands. They do have an almost tank-like feel. I like the looks and feel of the CZs. They are reasonably slim and trim and are built on gauge appropriate frames. No .410s on 12ga frames like Bakails or Stoegers. A word of caution to lefties - Bakails and Huglus are built in the European tradition, with cast-off, (about a 1/4"), for right handed shooters. Cast refers to the fact that the stocks are bent slightly one way or the other for handedness. It allows the gun to be more naturally aligned with your dominate eye for better pointing. Us sinister types need cast-on. Stoegers follow the more US tradition of handicapping everyone equally, they are straight.

I owned a Stoeger Uplander for a while. They are inexpensive. It was in 12ga. with double triggers, extractors, and 28" tubes. It was heavy to carry and didn't point well. End the end I got rid of it because I had trouble with the safety engaging itself under recoil. It wasn't worth the price of the gun to fix. I replaced it with a Stoeger Condor O/U that has given good service as a foul weather and loaner gun.

dalee
 
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