POTD: Unique Flintlock Blunderbus Trap Gun – Grave Robber Gun
Sam.S 10.27.21
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have another example of a trap gun, but it is only mistaken for that. I, personally, have seen this same exact type of trap gun used as a grave robber gun. The concept is similar. The trap gun is set up near a grave of interest like a fresh one and if a grave robber shows up it is made to signal a disturbance at the very least. These were not all that unusual in the late 1700s especially in European countries like England. They eventually became outlawed due to grave robber guns discharging and hurting or killing bystanders outside of a cemetery.
“Manufactureded at an unknown time by an unknown party, this flintlock weapon is designed to serve as either a trap or alarm gun. In place of a conventional trigger is a 12 inch pull rod with a swiveling safety and three hanging rings at the end suitable for connection to trip lines, doors, hatches or other objects, and instead of a pistol grip or buttstock there is a swiveling pintle mount on the underside, a bored-through hole behind the lock suitable for suspending the weapon from a line or pole, and a pair of pre-scored grooves ahead and behind the lock suitable for lashing the gun to a stationary object. With a flared muzzle, a pair of heavy barrel bands, an unmarked lockplate and a raised portion of the stock contoured to protect the left side of the hammer and frizzen while not restricting operation.”
Lot 103: Unique Flintlock Blunderbus Trap Gun. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/58/103/unique-flintlock-blunderbus-trap-gun.
