A combined flint and percussion gun.

[Raf]

I recently had the opportunity to examine in detail this extremely rare combined flint and percussion gun. The lock is marked Jones, which is assumed to be Charles Jones of 26 St James Street London. His known patents include a waterproof percussion lock and a 10 shot percussion pistol of eccentric design. As can be seen from the illustrations the flint cocks have percussion hammers to the inside face of the cock with conventional percussion nipples to the breech block. What is not immediately apparent are the small bolt like cut offs interposed between the lock and the platinum lined touch holes which are manually operated to switch between flint or percussion ignition.
Another obvious eccentricity is the brass reinforce to the stock, which forms the receiver for the locks. Something one might consider useful in so far as it prevents damage to the stock when removing the locks but which I have not personally seen before.

Which raises the interesting question of date. Although the later to become ubiquitous percussion cap system was proposed as early as 1815 it does not become common until much later. We could argue that a combined flint and percussion system might have been considered desirable for someone whose business took them abroad where the supply of percussion caps was uncertain . But one could also argue, on the evidence of the flintlocks, that this was an experimental gun using a very early example of the percussion cap that was not as yet commonly available; hence the combined system. There are other relatively minor oddities that suggest an experimental design in anticipation of a patent, such as the concentric ribbing on the percussion nipples, presumably to help the cap stay in place. An escutcheon on the stock has the initials C. J so the possibility that this maybe Charles Jones personal gun cannot be entirely discounted.