Theophilus Richards father of William Wesley Birmingham Musket
This is an antique Musket made By Theophilus Richards a quality English Gun maker located at the “Royal Patent Waterproof Gun Manufactory” on 33 High Street, Birmingham, England from 1818 to 1833. Theophilus Richards is recorded as the Father of the renowned Gunmaker William Wesley Richards.
This Musket is 58" overall with a 42"long steel " smooth bore barrel where the first 16 inches is octagonal and the balance is round. The muzzle measures 0.79 inches. It has a Walnut stock with a signed steel stepped engraved percussion lock plate is nicely marked “Richards“. The top of the barrel with the name 'Theophilus Richards'. The figured walnut half-stock has a checkered grip has minimum damage but the checkering is almost totally worn away. It has a “Fish” hammer design. It has a couple of areas missing in the stock along the barrel near the breech as seen in the photos. The ram rod is not original. The mechanics performs as it should. Because of the overall length the cost of shipping and insurance is $48. There are no licenses or permits required for transfer.
Muskets were the mainstay of European armies between 1660 and 1840. A musket was a muzzle-loading smoothbore long gun that was loaded with a round lead ball, but it could also be loaded with shot for hunting. For military purposes, the weapon was loaded with ball, or a mixture of ball with several large shot (called buck and ball), and had an effective range of about 75 to 100 meters. Military musketeers could not afford to take the time to clean their barrels in between shots with rifled barrels and the rifle's greater accuracy was unnecessary when tactics were based on mass volleys. Most military muskets in England during that time were therefore smoothbore.
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