New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Merry Christmas to you to Shane and may many good things come your way - I have wished a nice half sovereign to you so head for behind the tote at a race course or an old show ground!

The best pistols of all for self defense were the Adams and Tranters. The Adams of 1851 was a double action pistol only which basically meant that you could not hand cock it like the Colt - the advantage of course was that if you were attacked then you just pulled the trigger and it cocked itself and fired whereas the Colt had to be hand cocked to fire. Both had their advantages - the Adams and Tranter were fast but the Colt was better for a timed and accurate shot.

This is the standard 1851 Adams - it is in .44 Caliber - These revolvers would have been carried by a man with a Military background who knew the best pistol to choose or a man who had the money to buy the very best available - this gun was owned by Edward H Cameron, manager of a sheep station for the Studholmes of Waimate - they owned land in Gold fields country as well as South Canterbury and in the North Island. He dated his holster 1862 so I can only assume that he either purchased the holster in 1862 or purchased the gun or was presented it in 1862 as the gun itself was made prior to Lieutenant Beaumont's patent of 1854.

If you saw a miner carrying one of these top of the line pistols on the goldfields then you could immediately assume that he was British in origin, had seen Military Service or came from a 'well to do' family - in all likelihood not on the goldfields out of necessity but out of a sense of adventure. Quite often a person from a well to do background might have been presented with a pistol like this by his father or friends prior to leaving home (England) bound for the gold fields however by the time the New Zealand Goldfields were discovered this particular pistol had been improved on and the improved model manufactured from 1854 onward so it is also possible that a miner with a good knowledge of firearms purchased a pistol such as this second hand and therefore at a reduced price.

Edited by user Wednesday, 28 December 2011 9:16:44 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks Chris - I like looking at the things you guys find as well and also admire the enthusiasm you and Shane have for detectoring - I have got a fetish for silver so when you guys find silver you get me all inspired and I am out in the park behind my house looking for goodies but I dont have the success with coins and rings and things like you guys do.

I often wonder at some of the historic places up your way and whats there - there must be places up there with some real old coins from the late 1700s sorta up around Kerikeri and Russel and other goodies up around Ahipara.
A lot of you guys seem to head down Coromandel but I am not reading of finds up north of Auckland where it was all happening in the whaling days before the mining of the Coromandel?

Hi Shane - you have answered my question to perfection as I have seen many photos from up that way and they seemed to show lots of areas where there must be some real goodies and not a soul in sight - I always wanted to go up there but when I did my Big OE I wandered as far as Rotorua then came back home so still havent been up your way.

I would also have thought that where the whalers supped rum, caroused, chased the Maori Maidens, got drunk, the old tavern and pub sites must all be treasure troves of good things, not to mention old races tracks and show grounds for more modern things.

I have heard stories of ancient sites turning up after wind storms in the sandhills of the Ninety Mile Beach area and so on...in places like that where Maori and European got together to trade there must be things...I know that detectors dont find old bottles but I find them good things to pick up as well.

That would be a good way to break your wrist if they had a decent charge behind them.

I heard of a person who had a .410 modeled into a pistol like thing. That also was a veritable flame thrower when testing different charges. From memory it was about three times the standard charge and twice the lead that was deemed to be the optimum load. It was even possible at ten paces to hit the side of a barn on a good day.

Dam i love your stories graham..and the pistol collection is fantastic...as well as the rifles you have shown...I am a working man now so some time in the new year i might be able to arrange aweekend trip down with robert, i have been looking forward to coming down..just a matter of money...but will keep in touch and see if we can make a plan.

This gun is also one of the Dragoon pistols in .50 calibre - we know that it was carried by a fellow who achieved the rank of Major and served in the Maori wars. He also went tot he Otago Goldrushes and latter lived on the Taieri Plains. It was known by his family that he owned the pistol but they could never find it. Long after his deatha nd the demolition of his quaint little cottage the builders found it when they were digging the foundations for a new house.

This pistol has seen the Maori Wars and the Otago Goldfields.

It is a Beaumont Adams and is a direct improvement on the 1851 Adams - Lieutenant Beaumont worked out and took out a Patent for a mechanism to fire the gun single action like a Colt or Double action the same as the original 1851 Adams. From 1854 onwards the Adams used the new Beaumont Patent. This gun was made by the London Armoury COmpany in which Adams had an interest.

I used to cart it to school! I once told a teacher that I was going to shoot him - he just had enough time to say "Put that rusty thing away - it wouldnt go off anyway" - when the cracker stuffed into the chamber did indeed go off! Part of the cracker hit him! He took it all as the joke it was meant to be...it was a different day and age...today it would be the Armed Offenders squad, expulsion, Youth Aid, CYF, OSH, a lengthy Court case costing the Tax payer a hundred thousand or so, National News and Counselling for the teacher. I also once fired it at a bully in the school train on the way home when he threatened me - this time loaded with blasting powder and a wad of toilet paper. I never had trouble with him after that.

When it was dug up the back part of the trigger guard had rusted off and the handle fell off but as a school boy at the time I made a new handle that is still on it. It also had no hinged ramrod so at school it was a case of making sure no one was looking then monstoring a chair to get a length of bar steel off the footrest and shaping it accordingly...I have a funny suspicion that I was a demonic little hooligan at school.

Edited by user Wednesday, 4 January 2012 12:00:53 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

now THAT is a nice looking bottle!!

Good to see ya got some on last day and hope you washed it clean in some kind of "nice old spirit"...whiskey for example lol!

I just spent 2 days jet boating lake benmore and fishing etc but all I could do on the water was look at the hills and wonder....there MUST be gold up there.

All the best for 2012 and be sure to keep this thread going. If theres a date set for a mass spray off of gorse then I'm in given a couple weeks notice I can usually sneak away no probs. Can get me hands on couple of back back sprayers too.

Dan

Prior to departing from their homeland many of the 'well to do' miners were presented by their families with some form of defence. In the case of the 'Landed Gentry' the oldest son would likely take over the Estate and younger sons were expected to find their own way in the world and these fellows were often 'Remittance men' - sometimes the 'Black Sheep of the Family' and at others merely a younger son. The younger son or sons might come to the gold fields either on his own account or as a Remittance man - in other words receiving an income from home in which case these were the lucky miners whose income was not dependent on Gold.

These men often carried the very, very best in personal defence and in the case of the British it would often be an Adams or a Tranter once again but in many cases these guns came complete with presentation case plus all accessories.

This particular gun is an early post 1854 Adams with the Beaumont improved action plus Braziers Patent ramrod - Brazier was paid by the number of ramrods fitted to guns so each ramrod was allocated its own number - this is the highest number currently known - just over 1000.

This gun and the Tranter were considered far superior to any other as they were extremely strong and could be cocked manually like the Colt so that an aimed and timed shot could be fired or in a hot situation could be fired extremely rapidly just by pulling the trigger so that it was both single and double action.

This gun turned up in Otago and came from one of Otagos first firearm collections pre import days so it is an early Otago gun and will invariably have a colonial past here and in all likelihood was carried on the goldfields.

It comes complete with powder flask, bullet mold, screw driver and nipple wrench, cleaning rod, percussion caps, oil bottle and grease.

This set was presented by 'I.T.' to 'H.H' as both the brass escutcheon on the lid and the silver shield on the handle of the gun are engraved I.T. to H.H. many of these sets today are made up by collectors matching guns to cases but this is totally original as indicated by the presentation plates.

This Adams revolver is engraved on the top strap over the cylinder 'Mortimer & Son, Edinburgh' - this is not the maker - it is the retailer who sold the gun.

The second photograph also shows two 'bullets' consisting of a paper shell encasing a skin membrane which holds the powder and the skin and paper cases tied to the projectile so all complete except for the percussion cap which goes on the nipple on the back of the gun. Today these bullets sell fro around $65 each on the collector market - these ones were made by 'Eley' so are original commercial ones.

Edited by user Thursday, 5 January 2012 2:03:24 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified