Bavarian Pistol Set

[Philip]

Originally Posted by bvieira

They seem prepared to be used, have you tried to shoot any of your firearms ?

Regards,

BV

Bruno, I should hope he doesn't plan to. Another post on this thread commented that these guns look like they are unfired. The thing about flintlocks is that each and every time the cock (bearing a flint in its jaws) rakes against the frizzen as it snaps forward, tiny little incandescent particles of steel are scraped off the frizzen's surface. These hot specks of metal are the sparks that ignite the priming. Contact with the flint leaves gouge marks on the frizzen face, something you won't see on an unfired gun. Most collectors put a high premium on all aspects of a gun's state of preservation, so you can imagine what such signs of wear would do to its desirability and thus market value of an otherwise excellently-preserved example.

Fortunately for those of us who like to shoot, some good quality reproductions of antique flintlocks and other types of guns are made, and for the most part affordably priced, at least quite a bit less than an original in pristine original condition.