✅ SOLVED Spanish/Mexican Gun Flint From Arizona?

Old Pueblo

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Found this in the desert near my home several ago when I lived just to the south of Tucson, Arizona. I always thought it might be an old gun flint, and Tucson is one of the oldest towns in Arizona, founded back in 1775 or so by the Spanish, and there was lots of fighting with Indians here back in colonial times. Anyway, my old house is along the Santa Cruz River, which runs north through Tucson and then some. Upriver, to the South, are other old Spanish towns and so forth, such as Tubac and Tumacacori. All that said, this thing was found where there used to be old trails and later a wagon road, running in between the Spanish settlements along the river, and as I said above, not far south of Tucson. And if you look at the top right corner of the stone, in the first photo, it was more squared when I originally found it, but at some point I dropped it on my tile floor and a little chunk came off there. The bottom is nice and flat and you can see near the supposed striking end, those rounded cracks that appear when the stone has been struck by something else, and I think they would be consistent with a strike in a downward motion, like from a gun flint hammer, or whatever that thing is called.

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Charlie P. (NY)

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Gun flint, yes. The shape is British (or French) and Bess (Long Land Pattern) size. Which would be consistent with what the Mexicans used in the late 18th and early 19th Century. (Remember the Alamo!)

flints_1.jpg
 

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relic lover

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Definitely a well used gun Flint

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Old Pueblo

Old Pueblo

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Thanks everyone. I dont know about era or anything, I just assumed Spanish or Mexican, or simply pre-American (1853), although it could have been from the very first American settlers in Arizona, since they still used muskets and so forth a lot back then. Its probably a long shot, but I think theres a chance it could have been from the Mexican Army, which hastily retreated from Tucson south to Tubac in 1846 or so, when the Mormon Battalion took control of the town.
 

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BosnMate

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Agree with Charlie.
 

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Charlie P. (NY)

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Note that I still use identical flints to hunt deer and grouse with my flintlocks. Flint is all ancient whether used in the last 60 years or 60,000 years by humans.

Where it is found is more important than what it is.
 

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Old Pueblo

Old Pueblo

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Note that I still use identical flints to hunt deer and grouse with my flintlocks. Flint is all ancient whether used in the last 60 years or 60,000 years by humans.

Where it is found is more important than what it is.

Definitely, Im always reminding people to write it down, so they always remember where their stuff was found. Thats where the real history is at. Thanks again
 

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