Looking for an Antique Gun

**CheesePlease14** · March 16th, 2014, 05:31 PM

I love to collect antiques and since my boyfriend is into guns, I would like to find an old civil war musket with bayonet. I know this may be hard to come by but I was just wondering if anyone knew of a place in the pittsburgh area that would sell old antique guns.

**Dirty Boxer** · March 16th, 2014, 05:36 PM

I know of no place local - you could try GunBroker. Just type in the search Civil War.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=400900088

**pennlineman** · March 16th, 2014, 05:41 PM

ACE in Washington Pa has a couple Civil War period Colt revolvers.

**bortle** · March 16th, 2014, 07:37 PM

You could try the gun show on McNight road in a couple of weeks. Big show, lotsa old stuff. Be advised that real civil war stuff isn't cheap and may not be safe to shoot. Best of luck to you.

**Ecclectic Collector** · March 16th, 2014, 08:15 PM

There is a big antique arms show in Mansfield Ohio coming up in a few weeks. May be worth a trip.

What exactly are you looking for? You need to start doing your homework or you may get taken. Wall hangers can be had for around $500, but to have a real working Civil War Rifle musket like the 1861 Springfield you'll need at least $900 and up these days.

**AirportFF** · March 16th, 2014, 08:16 PM

Be very careful. From what I understand there are tons of fakes out there.

**Democrat Gun Owner** · March 16th, 2014, 08:26 PM

Try contacting Eric Dorr at the Gettysburg Museum of History.
(717) 337-2035

His shop/museum is in Gettysburg, so it isn't really close to Pittsburgh, but you can't get anymore US Civil War than Gettysburg.

I stop by his museum/shop everytime I am in Gettysburg. He always has something different, and the last few times I was there, he did have period rifles for sale. As other responders have mentioned, an authentic rifle from this time period will not come cheaply. His interesting stories are free...his rifles are not.

As a side note, this is the guy the American Pickers visited for an episode. He also appears on Pawn Stars every once in awhile with different items to sell That show is definitely not random people walking into the shop off the Vegas strip, but I digress from teh topic of the thread.

**CheesePlease14** · March 16th, 2014, 11:01 PM

My Great Aunt actually live in Mansfield OH. She owns her own museum out there. She's really good at telling the real thing from a fake. I might have to ask her about the gun show out there.

Thanks!

**Ecclectic Collector** · March 17th, 2014, 07:47 AM

Google, Yahoo, etc. is your friend. You might want to invest in Flayderman's Guide to Antique American firearms as well.

The Mansfield show is the next big antique arms show this year. I just finished doing the Baltimore Antique Arms show this weekend past. Let me tell you my own story since I just bought an original 1861 Musket myself.

First off there is a lot of hype and dealers who embelish stories and will cover up defects to boost prices of originals. I ended up trading a fairly rare and valuable trapdoor for a pair of guns. One was a contractor built version of the 1861 musket that looked very clean, abet dirty from over a hundred years of handling. Well I took the gun, and did a quick disassembly back at my booth. I liked what I saw even though it wasn't perfect. When I got home on Sunday however I discovered that there had been a hole drilled through the stock to mount it on a plaque at some point and the hole had been filled with wood putty and dirtied over to hide it. Did the dealer I bought the gun from do this? Maybe, maybe not. But this is something I would have turned the gun down for had I known when I agreed to the trade.

Also to muddy the waters there is a company called James River armory that now takes modern replicas and "defarbs" them by removing all incorrect markings and adding only period correct markings. I've already seen a couple of these with fake aging being passed as originals. Furthermore replicas have been around for as much as 50 years and some really look like they are originals from years of being used in the field by the reenactor community.

So do your homework, and be careful! Buy the gun, not the story. Be wary about what you are looking at, esp. if it appears to be pristine or near pristine example. There are a huge range of models of muskets that were used in the American Civil War, and prices range from very reasonable (for some of the imported guns) to multiple thousand dollars for more desirable and rare US production guns (like the 1855 Harpers Ferry or any of the Sharps).

Good luck.