Rusty hand gun

villagenut · Oct 8, 2016

Found this in a sifted trash pit. A bit rusty and strange looking too. Don't know why it is so short barreled I do not know at this point whether it was a stub nose or if it was cut off. I won't know if the sight is still there until it sheds some of its weight in the tank.I don't think this one is a cap gun but we will have to wait and see.

ScubaDetector · Oct 8, 2016

I really think you will find out that this is a cap gun. I have never seen a real gun rust that bad even underwater. I have found two. One from the 1800's. A small derringer.

You do have an oldie though. It looks like cast iron. I have found a bunch of them

villagenut · Oct 8, 2016

Your table looks like the result of a police raid on the home a bunch of future criminal kids :laughing7:

.Yea, I never count my chickens before they hatch...and with rusty old iron you never know for sure what you got till you expose it. This one is heavier than others I have dug but that may be the rust talkin.

geologyjohn · Oct 8, 2016

I think the fact that the hand grip is totally rusted indicate that it is an all-metal metal grip (REVOLVER) = a cap gun. Now start your cap gun collection like that cool collection by ScubaDetector. Nice find!

ScubaDetector · Oct 8, 2016

If I posted all the guns I have you would really be amazed. I actually had to turn a few over to the police because they thought they were real. The police cleaned the one circled and said it was a 1901 cap gun.

A lot of those in that picture are not pot metal. They are actually cast iron and heavy.

UnderMiner · Oct 8, 2016

To tell if it's a real gun you have to smash it on a rock, if it crumbles to dust then it's a cap gun, if a layer of rust falls off and reveals hard metal underneath then it's a real gun. Real guns are made of extremely high strength 'gun-grade' steel which takes a very long time to corrode while cap guns are made of low quality metals, even cast iron cap guns will rust away to dust much quicker than would a real gun.