Gun Case mystery

[Jack Wagon]

A friend of mine retrieved an iron strapped oak gun case from his family home. Unfortunately there was no gun inside, only an unmarked percussion cap tin, but he was wondering what type of firearm it once held. What we do know is the case was built like a strong box, iron strapped, felt lined with several locking devices. Its dimensions are 32 ¾" L X 9 ¼" W X 6" H. The only markings I can find besides some remnants of old railroad shipping labels are C. Liebrich Patented 1854 Phidada. We also know the owner, Felix Reville Brunot, who went west in 1869 to study the condition of the Indians and do some hunting, he was gone about 5 years and went as far west as Calif.,Wash., and Oregon. To me, it looked like it held two breakdown guns, the cut out of one looks a little strange in the lock area. I'm no expert on gun cases, if someone has an educated guess on what type of firearms it contained it would be much appreciated. I will post some pics.  JW

[St. George]

Regrettably, many different firearms can fit into various cases, so unless one discovers a dated maker's marking of some sort, it's all a guessing game.

I'd hazard that it was built for a single break-open, double-barrelled shotgun, though - with perhaps a space left for a powder/shotbag, and is of later construction than you might think.

The '1854' patent is likely the date that the case maker (C.E. Liebrich) started his business, or figured out his locking system, and not indicative of the time the case was built for the weapon.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Jack Wagon]

Thanks St. George, I value your opinion. The reason I thought the case contained two firearms is that there are retaining devices at the left side of the case that would hold in the stock and barrel when the case was opened.  JW

[St. George]

No one in the friend's family remembers anything?

Families always seem to remember their ancestor's guns - and these would've been in a case, making them even more exotic than usual...

A pity.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Jack Wagon]

St George,  The Brunot family has an interesting history. His family members were present when Meriweather Lewis stopped on Brunot Island after picking up the keel boat. They were witness to the accidental shooting of a woman with the famous Lewis air rifle. My friend has a interesting take on the shooting I had not heard before and is trying to authenticate this story with research. Anyway, back to the gun case. The case was found in an abandoned house the family owned and no living family members could remember its original contents.   JW

[GunClick Rick]

 Did ya bring my Greeners? John Wayne

[GunClick Rick]

http://www.gun-vault.com/Beat450.htm

http://www.gun-vault.com/Hammerguns.htm

[Jack Wagon]

Thanks Rick, very interesting  JW

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I usually defer to St George' opinon, and I agree with him that the case could have been made for many types of takedown rifles ....
But if I was going out west and did not want to carry an armory with me, a Maynard with several different barrels would cover everything from buffalo to prairie dogs ....

[JimBob]

An interesting gun case.Liebrich was a lock manufacturer who had several patents for locks,he was not a trunk manufacturer.He was in business from 1836-1869.The case was most likely custom built for the owner.

Looking at the compartments design gives some clues to what it might have held.The way the bottom compartment in the picture is designed looks to be for a side by side gun,possibly a shotgun.The top compartment could very possibly be for a Maynard rifle from the picture.Not a lot of takedown rifles in that period and looking at the compartment design it looks like a Maynard stock/receiver might fit.The other compartments may have held shells or reloading tools and other accoutrements that went with the guns.It's the kind of case you see used on safaris for guns where you're going to be a long way from anywhere to get anything and all the accessories are with it.Built to withstand extremely rough handling.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi again,

Larry Romano still makes Maynards one at a time for the price of a used car (it almost makes most of the Sharps builders seem reasonable *S*). It might answer the mystery to send him an email  ... his site is:

http://www.romanorifle.com/html/maynard.html

Wikipedia has a good site on Maynards ...

[Jack Wagon]

That's good information about Liebrich and the Maynard. Thanks Guys! I found a little bit about the owner on the net.
(see link below) If I research Brunot, I might get lucky and find some mention of his firearms.  JW
http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?Farrell::pa::48797.html