Belgian Musket conversian?

[xd shooter]

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn101/Angeliablackwell/Cinderella017.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn101/Angeliablackwell/Cinderella013.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn101/Angeliablackwell/Cinderella014.jpg

Just lookin for a little info on this one.
Thanks

[Red River Rick]

xdshooter:

It almost looks like a "Snider" conversion of some type. What's the bore diameter? The .577 Snider round is .58 cal.

RRR

[waksupi]

Wonder why these are turning up now? I posted a thread a month or so ago, asking the same thing, on the same gun. Do a search on my handle, and you should be able to find the thread. There were a couple links given.

[Buckshot]

.............It's a Tabatière. A play on the Snider type side swing breechblock. Used on converted French ML muskets. I believe it remains the largest caliber (bore wise) cartridge rifle issued to troops. Ammo CAN be made. You're a lucky person to own it if it has a bore of any shootable condition.

...............Buckshot

[fourarmed]

It's a Zulu 12 ga. shotgun. The French converted a number of their ML muskets to breechloaders at the same time the British did the Snider and we did the Allin (that became the trapdoor). They were a stopgap that nobody used very long. The French sold theirs to the Belgians, who bored them out and sold them as shotguns. They were the cheapest breechloading shotgun you could buy back in the late 1800's. I have one that is just about exactly like yours, but I have seen variations. The oddest one I ever saw was in a pawnshop back in the 60s. Somebody had inlet a high comb into the stock, built up the forend, and soldered on a vent rib. It was probably the only Zulu trapgun ever in existence.

[xd shooter]

With what I have gathered you are correct. Looks like a French action with Belgian proof mark on the barrel & a Zulu conversion to a 12ga.

I think it is pretty cool.

[oldhickory]

I remember seeing those things in flea markets and antique shops a few decades ago for around $25.00-$30.00 then they vanished all of the sudden, just like the 98 Mauser 16ga shotguns, ain't seen one of those in a coon's age.

[xd shooter]

I know what you mean. I got a type 38 Arisaka at a flea market years ago for $20.