Question about a lock

[ncblksmth1]

IMG_3617..jpgIMG_3618..jpgI recently purchased a box of locks and parts.
The question is what is this odd lock?

[m1ashooter]

I don't have a clue. I have never seen one before either.

[Stephan]

Either a 'pill-lock' or a 'tube-lock'...similiar to a percussian-lock but uses little explosive primer pills or copper tubes with primer stuff in it.

Did a small bit of research..and decided the odd-ball lock is probably an Austrian tube lock...used on pre-Lorenz converted muskets....you stick your primer-tube underneath the holder thing...and the lock's hammer whacks the doohicky crushing the copper tube and igniting the primer stuff...hopefully firing the musket..

[Dan Shapiro]

Very similar:

http://www.nramuseum.com/the-museum/...ion-rifle.aspx

[m1ashooter]

Wow very cool and a true piece of history.

[ncblksmth1]

Anybody know of a value on it. I'm trying to sell it and have no clue as to value

[Stephan]

Hmmm...who knows?....It ain't a flintlock....it isn't a standard percussian lock either...so that leaves out anyone just looking for a period lock for a gun building project. We don't know for sure just what model musket it came from...although I suspect it's from an early Austrian flintlock converted to a tube-lock in the 1830's or 1840's.

Some Austrian tube-lock muskets and rifled muskets were purchased and apparently saw some use in the American Civil War...which is a potential source for a customer for the lock. Civil War collectors like this sort of stuff.

I doubt you can sell the odd-ball lock for enough money to save the farm...might be able to make a few bucks off it though. I would dig around on the Civil War collector sights and see what similiar items are selling for.