Help with a pistol find...

[Superdup]

Greetings from South Louisiana. I made a heck of a find today in an area that has seen Civil War action and settlement activity dating back to the late 1700s.

Let out a big yell when this fella appeared in my hand... The site does go underwater at times so the Pistol was submerged periodically. The grip is obviously wood. How do I go about preserving and removing the scale encasing the gun without damaging what's left?

Hope y'all can help!

[outlaws15]

Good find and good luck if anything much remains after trying to get to the metal.
That is an awesome find

[clovisoid]

That's absolutely awesome! It might well preserved under all that crust.

I normally don't refer people off forum, but there is a forum of metal detectorists who handle finds like that regularly.

[Narrow Way Knapper]

The build up looks a lot like that crusader sword that was found recently.

[Sage hen jack]

Cool find my friend. You may already know— but I’d Research how best to safely Remove the encrusted mass—and bring it to a relic state. Very difficult to say—it looks to be a percussion pistol—to my eye-the angle of the wood grip doesn’t appear Colt’. That’s gonna be fun to clean up! Congrats

[Superdup]

Thanks all! I'll update when I get this baby cleaned up

[redrocks]

Nice find !

[SDhunter]

Interesting to see what you will find.

[tomclark]

careful electrolysis imhop small charger, two leads and a piece of metal.

[Superdup]

Tom, I'm looking hard at electrolysis but have read that will damage the wood and brass handle. Any thoughts on apple cider vinegar bath?

[Sage hen jack]

After Looking at it more. I think it’s possibly -a old flintlock pistol— theres a lot going on on the upper action of that gun to have so much encrusting on top that pistol—Cap and ball percussion pistols just had the hammer. Very old pistols like early colts and such had brass frames—

[Superdup]

Cleaned up the grip a bit. The wood is in darn near perfect shape. Looks like a brass fitting in there as well.

[outlaws15]

Good job

[tomf]

Exciting to imagine how the rest will clean up. It's an awesome find.

[tomf]

Grip looks like a percussion revolver.

[oldrocks2]

Looks like it might be a flintlock due to the size of the hammer area. Vinegar would be a good start, Electrolysis would be a second. It looks like hardened clay covering or build up. Might try a strong soap solution almost pure liquid soap to see if the covering softens up some. Just a guess but don't think there will be much left under that build up to ID type or maker. Also looks like some of the barrel has gone, looks awful short. If you have access to an X-ray lab a photo would be nice to see what is under there before doing anything. I have done this and not really expensive.

[Uncle Trav]

Cool find. I’d say a cap & ball pistol. I don’t remember ever seeing bolt on grip scales on a flintlock before. Plus the angle of the grip looks like a cap & ball style. I’m no gun expert though.

[oldrocks2]

After seeing the grips I don't think its a flint lock, wrong shape for the era. Probably a caplock due to the 2 piece grips. Dont think it is a colt as old colt cap and ball revolvers had 1 piece grips.