Part Number: AAQ-652
This Wilson's Trade gun is stocked in maple and has a great well used historical look. Fitted with a correct mix of brass and steel hardware, this .24 gauge smooth bore flint fowling gun was assembled by Danny Caywood.
The heart of this trade gun is its 32" octagon-to-round barrel with double wedding bands. The 24 gauge (.58 caliber) barrel has an aged silvery gray finish. The top flat of the barrel is marked LONDON and the side flat is marked just above the stock in small script Black Powder Only, Read Instructions Before Use. Internally the bore is bright and clean, well maintained it is ready to shoot. This smoothbore does not have a rear sight, allowing use in the NMLRA Trade Gun match. A very small brass blade sight is soldered 2-1/2" behind the muzzle.
Weighing in at 6.8 pounds the trade musket has a trigger reach of 14" making it well suited for today's taller size shooter.
The buttplate is not the plain flat brass buttplate found on common trade guns. Instead a fowler style buttplate is fitted. This more elaborate buttplate has two oval head wood screws to retain it in the stock. Such curved buttplates were a bit more expensive and difficult to inlet, and so they were reserved for use on the higher grade trade guns. The comb of the buttplate has some stylized cast-in engraving, as well as a bow and quiver engraved in the traditional style. The buttplate stands proud of the wood, due to wood shrinkage. This view also shows the tang bolt which is correctly mounted from the underside into the tang of the barrel. The traditional beaver-tail finial carving surrounds and extends behind the tang.
Used the stock does have many scattered handling marks. The maple stock has some figure through the comb of the buttstock and the forearm. We note a 5" repaired crack along the top of the forearm near the muzzle on the right side of the stock. The left side has a 2" repaired crack in the forearm, also near the muzzle end. The stock has many well worn areas in the finish, particularly along the wrist and top of the comb from handling and shouldering the gun.
This bottom view shows the surface mounted steel triggerguard, made with rounded end finials, often found on English made North West Trade Guns. The tang screw is correctly installed in the unique style of the North West Trade Gun, upside down, entering the tang from below. This is not an error, but a correct feature. No ramrod entry pipe is fitted, another correct feature. The two forward pipes are thin brass, with embossed grooves, much like the corrugations in cardboard, to give the pipes maximum strength against crushing or denting in hard use. The ramrod is fitted with a brass loading tip with 10-32 threads to accept loading and cleaning accessories.
The large round faced Caywood flint lock is engraved with a simple double line border on the plate and cock. A bow and quiver is also engraved on the rear of the lock panel to compliment the engraving on the buttplate. This lock has the same aged silvery gray finish as the barrel.
A stainless steel vent liner is positioned well above the bottom of the pan, centered on the heat of the flash. If your flint longrifle suffers from that infamous slow whoosh-bang ignition delay, study the work of today's best gun makers, and position your vent well centered on the pan, high above the bottom, to serve as a window on the center of the flash.
The brass sideplate is the traditional serpent, with an extra third screw to retain the tail. Notice the long sweeping ballister wrist, which extends from the lock panels to the toe. The arch of the comb is an identifying feature of a Wilson's Trade Gun.
Used with a great historical feel, this trade gun will be a joy to carry in the woods or at your next reenactment. Order it for a ten day visual inspection. You will be delighted. Else if it does not fit you, return it in unfired condition for same-day refund. Postage is your only risk, when you order any one-of-a-kind gun from Track, whether new, used, or antique.