Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-11-11
a VERY OLD GUN.
A Repeating Rine In st. Louis Niaas
Nearly Two Hundred Years Ago.

A Repeating Rifle In SC. Louis Mads
Nearly Two Hundred Years Ago.
DIR. j. w. Moore, of the Holekamp
Grady s. Moore Instrument Company,
is the possessor of rare old relic,
which he has on exhibition in ht An
flee ON Olive street, between Ni~
and Tenth. 1t is flint-lock rifle
made in 171O. The rifle is a curious
looking contrivance. Its smooth-bOre
barrel is nearly three feet long, and Is
encircled with rings which have been
dipped i'm gold, and the gold plate
still clings to the iron in scraps. The
oldest part of the gun is the cylinder.
This is composed of six chambers.
each about half an inch deep. But
the cylinder does not revolve auto
matically when the trigger is pulled.
In order to move it around the hand
Ter has to raise a sharp piece of iron
that holds the stock to the barrel
through the rings previously described,
and then with his hand twist the
cylinder into the desired position. 1t
is perhaps the first chambered gun
ever made, and is probably the origi-
nal from which has evolved the Colts
revolver and Winchester rifle. There
is no woodwork about the gun except
the butt. 1t is made entirely of coarse
primitivc-looking iron. swelght is.
therefore. something stupcndous
when compared to modern guns.
The loads were evidently placed in
the chambers without shells, and the
loading must have been done with an
improviscd ramrod, as no groove marks
the location Of the ramrod, as is al.
ways the case with old guns. DR.
Moore purchased the rifle some time
ago from a Texan who had started to
Chicago with it to sell it to curic
dealer collecting material for an cx-
hihit at the Worlds Fair. The Texan
said he had excavated it from the
ruins of an old Spanish fort on Red
River near Clarksville, Texas. The
figures "l7lO" are sunk in the barre!
just above the hammer, and these
figures are presumed to indicate the
year i'm which the gun was made. DIR.
Moore prizes it very highly, as he
thinks it is the only one in existence,
unless others be buried in the ruined
Spanish fort where this was found,
though extensive excavation has
failed to reveal them. 1t must have
been considered an exceptionally val
liable weapon in it's day and far in
advance of the guns of that time, as
it was evidently the first repeating
rifle ever made. The butt is roughly
hewn out of black walnut and is
strongly riveted to the frame with
iron bolts. 1t requires the entire
strength of one hand to cock the
hammer, and it takes a strong finger
to pull the trigger, though perhaps
the hardy pioneer who used it to kill
marauding Indians could handle the
hammer and the trigger as easily as
can the modern amateur sportsman
his delicately constructed brecch-
loader. If the gun shot ball it
must have been larger than any bull
let now made, and if the missile of
death which was forced through the
long barrel was Il load of shot or slugs
it must have swept a broad territory,
for the bore of the barrel is so large
as to cause great scattering of the
contents of the load. The rebound
of the gun must have been something
terrific, and would have doubtless
knocked the shoulder out of place of
any but the most experienced marks
man of the pioneer days.-St. Louis
Globe. Democrat.