I have this old rifle that has no marks at all anywhere. Any ideas as to what it is and how old. It has an octogon shaped barrel and breaks over to the side.

WOW!! Thats a cool gun for sure. I am gonna watch this thread, I am curious as well.

I've never seen anything break like that one does. Cool lookin' gun. Good Luck

Is it rifled or smooth bore? Does it have any green black powder residue at the breach?

Interesting.

This one was over my head. With the help of a good friend and gun collector mentor of mine(not on the forum), this is all we came up with so far.

Not an unheard of type of breech. Called "parallel pivot" in that
the action locks/unlocks parallel with the barrel. It's closely
related to a parallel pivot actions like the Snider or Jenks.

Patent database category: 42/13 also see 42/32.

Patent Link

well thats pretty cool... any way you could measure the bore and get a geustament on the caliber?

I think it is going to be a Jacob Rupertus Breechloading Rifle. You called it a rifle so I am assuming it has rifling. I could not find a picture of one just like it, but there are pictures here and there online of ones very similar. Jacob Rupertus was the inventor of the Pepperbox. Neat find. Where did you get it? Family gun? Any history behind it that you know of?

My dad got it and serveral other guns years ago at a garage sale. He has one that has model 1917 stamped on it that shoots 30.06, a Japanese Arisaka with the chrysanthemum still on it and old german pistol with the wooden holster that makes a stock 2 old double barrel shotguns with the hammers a few others and this one. We didnt have any way to measure the bore but were thinkin .45 or .50. I will check the barrel tomorrow and verify rifling or smooth.

Also if you look at the last picture you can see a notch right above the chamber, that is where the hammer locks the barrel in place when it is down.

You really need to take a close look at that pistol, PM me if it has wood grips on it that look like red "9"s.

Yep, the pistol is the one you should be posting pictures and asking about. Definately a Broomhandle Mauser. With the stock it is going to be very valuable. Depending on the variant could be extremely valuable!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_C96#M1916_Prussian_.22Red_9.22

They made wood stocks for Lugers as well, but yes, it's likely to be a Broomhandle aka "Han Solo's gun" in Star Wars.


The 1917 is a M1917 Enfield, made during WW1. Good shooters.

Do you know if Han's gun was intentionally modeled after this gun, or just coincidence? Looks exactly like it, so I'm guessing no coincidence.

(closet Star Wars geek)

Also appears there was also a shotgun based on his patent idea? All very interesting. Love the oldies. Another co-worker brought in some more oldies the other day, so it's fun to think of what is still out there!

http://www.american-firearms.com/american-firearms/z-html/company-R/Rupertus,%20Jacob/Rupertus,%20Jacob.html

"Han's gun" actually was a C96 Broomhandle, they added a scope, flash suppressor and some dials.

All the original Star Wars guns were real working guns, the Stormtroopers had Sterling SMG's with scopes, or Lewis guns and MG34's used as big "rifles".

In the first Star Wars movie, if you watch the originals, when they escape on the Millenium Falcon from Tatooine you can see the muzzle-flash and gas blast of the blanks Harrison Ford is firing to give the ancient-and-old-CGI tech guys a time mark to put in the 'laser'. There's a spot just before the swing-on-a-rope on the Death Star too when Carrie Fisher's shooting a Sterling.