[DSS7]

I am 62 years old and my entire life a musket hung on the wall in my home. I now I am in possession of said musket. The gun was never inspected while at my home. After receiving the gun I noticed the gunsmith is Joseph Menton. On the other side of the gun is another gun Smith‘s name William Ellis. The gun has no production markings it is not a replica. My father found it in a barn when he was young. Sent an email to the Manton company in England and they said this is a very interesting and rare piece .

I am looking for someone to shed more light on the subject or guide me in the correct direction to get more information. Personally I believe it is a genuine Manton that was experimented on by Ellis

 

[jrbfishn]

I have no info on it but would love to see some pics of it.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Coalcracker]

Agreed pics would be awesome. And welcome to the forum.

 

[DSS7]

The barrels are 3/4 of an inch in diameter

 

[Andy54Hawken]

You have a very pretty percussion shotgun...not a musket.
Your shotgun has some nice locks of the English "Bar" lock variety of the percussion lock system.

Joseph Manton made firearms from 1795 - 1835.
To include muzzle loading shotguns , like the one you have.

With that said....

The name on the lock may indeed be the gun maker ...which I do think is the case with the gun in the OP....
Or the name may just the be lock maker , or inspectors names / marks , perhaps even the store that sold the gun , in some cases.....
One needs to look at the whole firearm , to make a guess or a statement about who made the firearm.

Are there any other markings on your shotgun...?
Some good places to look are on both the upper and underside of the barrel near the breech , as well as about mid -length along the barrel.
Andy

 

[DSS7]

You have two names on the gun. Joseph Manton and William Ellis . There are no production markings or identification markings whatsoever. The migration of my fathers family follows that of Ellis. As far as it being a shotgun I believe it is a musket. It is a ramrod powder wanting a ball application. My bad if it’s a shotgun. As I mentioned before the Manton company believes that is Unique situation. My father found it in a barn when he was young. He passed several years ago in his mid 90s. When cleaning out the gun a mouse nest was found in one of the barrels. There are tiny teeth marks on the bottom of the gun with no distraction other than tiny holes. My next step will be and auction house or black powder appraisal

 

[DSS7]

With the barrel being 3/4 of an inch in diameter that would fall in the range of high caliber muskets in the 1800s

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Muskets are military firearms...
You have a very nice sporting shotgun , of the 1830's to 1850's era roughly....

Not all muzzle loaders are muskets.
Muskets are generally large bore .65 - .80 caliber....and smoothbore.
Most commonly seen in flintlock and percussion...
Muskets have single barrels...not double barrels.*
Double barrels are expensive and difficult to regulate properly ....traits not wanted by the military.
(* As a general rule ..if one looks around long enough , I am sure that one can find a double barrel musket as a rare example....)

It is a ramrod powder wanting a ball application.

Not sure what this means....

Your shotgun is a muzzle loader...which means that you load it from the muzzle...
Powder , patch and ball.... If wanting to shoot a single projectile...or
Powder , over powder card , cushion wad , shot , over shot card...if wanting to shoot shot.

I have a small collection of antique muzzle loaders which I both shoot and put on display...so I know a bit about them.
Andy

 

[Coalcracker]

Wow nice Andy. Sunday i plan on taking my little flintlock out.

 

[DSS7]

Amazing what you can tell without seeing the entire gun. Very impressed

 

[DSS7]

And yes there are double barrel muskets

 

[Andy54Hawken]

And yes there are double barrel muskets

My last comments here for this thread :
I've said my piece and gave my advice....
If you wish not to heed it...then that is your affair.
Its your shotgun....call it what you like.

I wish you luck with your search on your gun.
Andy