Original Danish / Norwegian Flintlock Military Blunderbuss with Safety Dog and Steel Barrel - Circa 1800

Original Item. Only One Available. This is a lovely example of a Danish / Norwegian military blunderbuss, designed for use on land by ground soldiers. It is fitted with a lovely "Doglock" style lock, which features a safety "dog" to the rear of the hammer, which would be engaged once the lock was set to half cock. While the lock design does have a true functional half-cock position, they did not want to risk accidental discharge, so the dog was fitted, and is typical of Danish, Norwegian, and other Scandinavian firearms of the time.

The blunderbuss measures 38 inches in overall length, with a 22 inch long "swamped" steel blunderbuss barrel and full length stock, probably made from Beech wood. It has sling swivels on the front and rear, a clear indication that this is a military issued arm, not something for private use. There are some worn markings on the barrel, but otherwise the gun is completely unmarked, which seems to be somewhat common for the period.

It features very nice brass fittings, including escutcheons on the left side for the lock screws, and the ramrod pipes under the stock, which still hold a brass tipped ramrod. It also is also still fitted with a brass butt plate, with two VERY large round head iron screws, which are a defining feature of Scandinavian weapons.

The blunderbuss is in very good condition considering the age, and has a lovely look. The wood stock has a lovely dark red brown color, and is for the most part still solid. There is however cracking along the wood line on both sides near the muzzle, which was repaired in the past but now shows some movement on both sides. We also noted that the trigger guard is cracked through by the upper screw. We checked the lock action, and it is fully functional, holding correctly at half cock, however it requires some effort to fully cock it, and has a strong trigger pull.

A very interesting example of a hard to find Danish / Norwegian military blunderbuss with a "Dog Lock", ready to research and display!

Specifications-

Year of Manufacture: circa 1800
Caliber: "Swamped" Blunderbuss - about 1.44" at muzzle
Cartridge Type: Ball and Powder
Barrel Length: 22 Inches
Overall Length: 38 Inches
Action type: Side action Lock with Dog Safety
Feed System: Muzzle Loading

History of the Denmark Norway firearms connection:

Denmark basically ruled Norway until 1814 however having taken the side of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Napoleonic wars which came to a temporary close in 1813. In 1814 Denmark was forced to grant Norway independence in 1814. In 1815 Napoleon raised his head again and was finally beaten at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Had the French won at Waterloo who knows what Scandinavia would look like today.

Norway had tens of thousands of old Danish produced muskets by 1814 - most of these were already at the point becoming obsolete. While Sweden started a huge production of "new and modern" flintlock long-guns in the early 1800's, the Norwegian army kept the Danish muskets for years to come. As better technology came, these old long-guns were gradually converted and modernized into a variety of models. The muskets from between the M1746 and the M1807 were all fairly similar and most of them were converted to one of the following models.

Little work was needed to convert a flintlock to percussion which was done by removing the outer flintlock parts from the lock-plate, inserting a percussion bit on the barrel and a new hammer plus the dog catch. It was a very inexpensive exercise.

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