Dimick St. Louis Marked Percussion Cape Gun

Western Expansion

.45 caliber & 10 gauge. 35.5" wedge-retained barrels. NSN. Browned finish, iron furniture, walnut stock with raised cheek piece. Muzzleloading double barrel percussion combination rifle shotgun. Percussion locks marked in two lines DIMICK & CO/ST. LOUIS and equipped with adjustable double set triggers. Long wasp waisted two-screw iron tang, iron double finger spur triggerguard, crescent iron buttplate, iron forend cap. Fixed semi-buckhorn rear sight 4.75" from breech with the original dovetail cut 9" from breech now filled. Dovetailed German silver front sight blade. Includes a wooden ramrod secured by two iron pipes. Acquired from Norm Flayderman as item #1432 in Catalog #116, a copy of the catalog is included with the gun.

Horace E. Dimick (1809-1874) was probably the most prolific of the famed St. Louis makers of Plains Rifles. A direct competitor with the famous Hawken shop, Dimick produced his variation of their famous plains rifle, as well as smaller caliber sporting and hunting rifles, target rifles and even delivered roughly 1,000 rifles that were used to arm Birge's Western Sharpshooters (14th Missouri Volunteer Infantry) which was later redesignated as the 66th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Those Dimick rifles did yeoman's service during the first 12-18 months of the Civil War in the Western Theater, in particular at battles like Fort Donelson and Shiloh. Dimick also imported large numbers of guns from England and Belgium and offered these guns with his retailer mark on them along with American produced guns like Metropolitan Navy percussion revolvers and derringer style pistols. Next to the Hawkens, Dimick is probably the most famous and collectible of the St. Louis Gun makers.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.