Field (Museum) finds its old guns loaded

Chicago Sun Times ^ | 10-21-02 | NANCY MOFFETT

[SJackson]

They were loaded.

When the Field Museum decided to clean its firearms collection of 300 to 400 weapons, a dicey--but small--sample of explosives turned up.

Black powder with the power of six or seven sticks of dynamite was lurking in 15 powder horns, a rifle, one pistol and two cannons.

"They were all muzzle-loading black powder weapons,'' said William Pestle, collections manager in the department of anthropology.

And their powder was more than ready: Its volatility spikes over time.

A bump could have set it off, said Pestle, who launched the cleanup in summer 2001. "They could have done a fair deal of damage had something horrible happened.''

None of the loaded weapons was on public display.

The museum is building a special collection of guns and other weapons such as whaling spears to explore colonialism and human mistreatment of the environment.

"We're interested in the issue of Western domination, the rise of Western political hegemony over nature and other cultures in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, said Bennet Bronson, curator of Asian archeology and ethnography.

Al Potyen, a gun expert who works with the Cantigny Museum in Wheaton, was hired to go over the collection. "I was surprised at how few of them were loaded,'' he said.

Before they were antiques-- when the weapons were in use--they had to be kept ready to shoot. "It took time to load,'' Potyen said.

If a family gun was passed on, often whoever inherited it didn't know it was loaded, he said.

Potyen checked the guns, measuring gingerly. He ran a wooden dowel down the barrels. Obstruction within the last six inches indicated a charge inside, he said.

He destroyed the powder, sometimes 200 years old, by breaking it down in warm soapy water.

One of the guns, "you would almost believe it was a toy,'' Potyen said. It was a matchlock less than 6 inches long with less than a 1.4-inch bore. It was no toy--but "fully functioning.''

The Field's guns, from as early as the 16th century, also include other matchlocks, a hand cannon from China and:

**A small four-barrel flintlock pistol that could shoot all at once or one at a time;

*"The gun that won the West,'' a mass-produced Winchester lever-action rifle from the mid-19th century.

*Horse pistols--a pair of identical guns once romantically thought to be dueling pistols. But Potyen said they weren't accurate enough for duels and instead were the kind carried by upper-class horseback riders to fend off attacks by highwaymen.

**A "punt gun'' collected in China in 1925 but made in Europe, probably in the mid-1800s, and used in America. It is a 9-foot-long, 75-pound, iron-barreled piece named for the flat-bottomed boat it armed for "market-hunting''--now banned. Market hunters packed their barrels with shot, nails, pellets--anything. They propped the gun in the boat's prow, rowed into the water with flocks in range, rousted the birds into the air with a boom and collected them when they rained into the water.

A "crude but effective technique--it would decimate the flock,'' Pestle said.

Field anthropologists use the weapons to document the way people waged war or hunted or defended themselves. "They're material culture,'' Pestle said.

Pestle's wish list includes a Sharp's buffalo rifle, used to help wipe out buffalo in the United States--"an important event in human interaction with nature.''

They also helped commercial hunters wipe out passenger pigeons in the East.

[SJackson]

The museum is building a special collection of guns and other weapons such as whaling spears to explore colonialism and human mistreatment of the environment.

At least they'll get displayed.

[Intimidator]

Left wing wack jobs, should've known

[Junior]

Pestle's wish list includes a Sharp's buffalo rifle, used to help wipe out buffalo in the United States--"an important event in human interaction with nature.''

They also helped commercial hunters wipe out passenger pigeons in the East.

That's a hell of a big gun to use on a little pigeon!

[Constitution Day]

Pestle's wish list includes a Sharp's buffalo rifle, used to help wipe out buffalo in the United States--"an important event in human interaction with nature.''

They also helped commercial hunters wipe out passenger pigeons in the East.

Do I understand this to read that the Sharp's buffalo rifle was used to kill passenger pigeons?
Who would go bird hunting with a rifle, especially one that must have been a pretty large caliber?

[dd5339]

"The museum is building a special collection of guns and other weapons such as whaling spears to explore colonialism and human mistreatment of the environment."

More revisionist history I see.

Semper Fi

[dd5339]

"The museum is building a special collection of guns and other weapons such as whaling spears to explore colonialism and human mistreatment of the environment."

More revisionist history I see.

Semper Fi

[Constitution Day]

Glad someone else noticed that too!

[jjm2111]

"The museum is building a special collection of guns and other weapons such as whaling spears to explore colonialism and human mistreatment of the environment. " I just puked on my keyboard.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It might be hard to see into the barrel of a pistol, but how could they have not noticed a filled powder horn?

[Robe]

I was involved in the restoration and "safeing" of four 10 LB Confederate "Parrot" guns in Chester SC.
The cannons were found beside an old RR bed, and had the "Cabals" and Trungons" knocked off. We discovered that they all had up to Six live shells inserted back to front. It took 10 yr. to disarm 'em.
The “end" shells had been corroded and the powder long ago washed out, But after removing the inner two shells along with their wooden fuses, we placed a few teaspoons
of the blackpowder on a shallow pan and ignited it, it was as good as the day they were loaded.
We were able to restore three, two on "iron carriages" can be seen downtown Chester, at the Square and the court house. The other we had sleeved placed on a Reproduction
wooden carriage/ with limber. She currently can be seen in the reenactment venues.
Our only caveat in reenactments is she will never portray a “Yankee”gun

[Doctor Stochastic]

William Pestle? I wonder if he had a mortar in the collection.

[HiTech RedNeck]

We discovered that they all had up to Six live shells inserted back to front. It took 10 yr. to disarm 'em.

Ten years? What kind of process takes ten years? I could understand pulling the shells out slowly but this is ridiculous :-)

[SJackson]

Illinois firearms ping list. If you'd like to be added or removed, please FRMail me.

[SW6906]

I can't believe the bias in this article!!:

The museum is building a special collection of guns and other weapons such as whaling spears to explore colonialism and human mistreatment of the environment.

"We're interested in the issue of Western domination, the rise of Western political hegemony over nature and other cultures in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, said Bennet Bronson, curator of Asian archeology and ethnography.

Pestle's wish list includes a Sharp's buffalo rifle, used to help wipe out buffalo in the United States--"an important event in human interaction with nature.''

They also helped commercial hunters wipe out passenger pigeons in the East.

Classic example of liberal bias seeping into what is supposed to be a news article.

Buffalo were "wiped out"? Funny, I thought there are still plenty around.....

[Mark Felton]

""We're interested in the issue of Western domination, the rise of Western political hegemony over nature and other cultures in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, said Bennet Bronson, curator of Asian archeology and ethnography. "

This person is an America hater. There is no doubt. His mindest in clearly anti-Western. He is obviously pro-Asian.

For instance, why is Western Domination an "issue"?

[Robe]

All the guns were submerged in fresh water for quite a long time to try to "dampen" the powder. We then devised a plan and a jig in which we drilled into the first shell ( it was pointing inward)tap the hole, thread a rod into it, with a plate in which a pair of hydrlic jacks was used.
It was a VERY slow process, wew were learning as we went along, not wanting to destroy the "tubes" by being "ham fisted" or blowing ourselves up in the process.
The "evacuation process consisted of one of us going over after work each day and giving the jack a few pumps and measuring the rod for movement.
I arrived one day to find the rod, jacks, plate, chains laying on the floor. The shell came out easy as pie...it took three months !!!

[AdA$tra]

I spent the weekend shooting black powder and throwing tomahawks at a rendevouz here in Kansas. What a hoot. I think I am going to purchase a black powder rifle soon.

[RicocheT]

Today's academics have been brainwashed by revisionism and bias against Western culture.

They ignore reality. Back when these firearms were used the natural resources were almost limitless and few could believe any level of harvesting could cause depletion. Also, whale oil was the best and brightest lamp oil available. Wasn't it better to burn it to allow evening reading and working than going to bed with the sun?

Today's preoccupation with "saving' the environment has gone to the point of making foolish decisions not based on science and practicality. There is plenty of oil which can be safely extracted. Mining can be done without excessive runoff or land destruction.

[Graewoulf]

This 100+ year old, loaded gun collection is proof positive that loaded guns are not dangerous. The danger the PC need to worry about is the PEOPLE that pull the triggers.