Old rifle ?

[vindex1963]

My Brother-in-Law has this hanging on his wall. The rifle was given to his wife by her Grandfather and he said it's been in the family for a long time. What does he have here? Military? Civilian?
I know it's a percussion cap black powder rifle made by Springfield.
He was asking me if it needs to go in a safe because of value. I think so and it needs boiled linseed oil on the stock and gun oil everywhere else. Cool rifle, wish it was mine.

[82825]

I've been watching a show on the history channel called pawn stars. they get old rifles from time to time and the one thing they say is to not clean it in any way or try to treat the wood as it takes away from the value. I don't know if linseed oil would fall under either of those categories but it'd be a shame to do any damage to it.

Good luck with it.

[vindex1963]

Originally Posted by 82825

I've been watching a show on the history channel called pawn stars. they get old rifles from time to time and the one thing they say is to not clean it in any way or try to treat the wood as it takes away from the value. I don't know if linseed oil would fall under either of those categories but it'd be a shame to do any damage to it.

Good luck with it.

The stock is very dry and the steel has surface rust here and there. It's a family heirloom so preservation would be the big concern.

[Inspector 12]

oiling the stock and metal would not be considered cleaning per se. What they are referring to on the show is when folks take abrasives to the finish to remove the rust that damage occurs. I don't know about linseed, perhaps a good furniture oil for wood? As for the metal surfaces a soft cloth with some good gun oil should be fine.

As to value, while old guns are valuable sometime the true value is as vindex1963 says in the heirloom realm.

[Y2K]

I'd hold off oiling anything till you talk with those really in the know.
Here's a page on the gun you have,it's an 1873 Trapdoor.
http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/FAQ.html
The FAQ page has a lot of info and there's a forum link on the main page.

Some values here...... http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/m73.html

[vindex1963]

Thanks for the help. I'll pass it on.