Old dueling pistols.

[winetoad]

Have a chance to buy a couple of percussion dueling pistols. What should I look for?

[Crunch130]

Notches carved in the grips.

Crunch

[6mmintl]

New mfg. or old? Bore condition, trigger/half cock notch function, nipples rusted/banged up? accessories?

Are you collecting them or going to shoot them?

Run some proper sized cleaning rod/patches and bore butter down them to see if rusted/pitted.

Broken springs? nipples? rods? rod pipes? cracked stocks?

[James Bond]

Have a chance to buy a couple of percussion dueling pistols. What should I look for?

Well, genuine duelling pistols are generally pretty pricey. Make sure someone hasn't just paired up a set of matching percussion pistols, put them in a presentation case, and called them "duelling pistols". There is a fair amount of info available on the Internet so get some pictures from the seller and do some research. Here is an interesting link on the history of dueling: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/0...onor-the-duel/

[sealocan]

I'm no expert but I can share what little I do know.
the "nipples",basically small metal tubes where the percussion caps sit take abuse every time the hammer is dropped whether it be dry firing or actual firing and after a while they need to be replaced.
also if the guns I have been used you may be dealing with the affects of corrosive black powder which is only an issue if they've not been cleaned and maintained. look inside the barrels with a bright flash light. worn rifling means it's been fired a lot and rusty barrels means its not been cleaned a lot.

lastly and maybe most importantly it's not so easy to tell if older black powder guns are loaded or not so be very careful when handling them until you can decide that they are completely empty and safe before you go looking down the barrel. One way you may be able to get an idea about this is with the cleaning rod / ramming rod ...measure to where the breech plug/ back of the barrel should be from the outside of the barrel and THEN slowly lower the same cleaning rod / ramming rod (that you have marked with electrical tape to know how long it should go down.) if it doesn't go down as far as you think it should you may have a loaded firearm.

[pitfighter]

Are you looking for a pair of cased, original flint of percussion dueling pistols?

If so, GB, AA, Gunsamerica or an auction house is your best bet - if these are in a store they will be overly expensive, Rock Island Auction is good.
One Caveat with RIA - and all auctions, read the description really carefully, they occasionally have flexible grammar, that they use for things that are altered, reproduction or modern made fakes -
"...cannot verify make..." "...may have been restored..." etc.,

Do your research on the maker, do your research on the locks, on the screw heads, on the proof marks, on the metals used, the wood, or metal; brass or gilt, silver or iron - there are many "parts" guns, or non-matching boxed and accessory sets. Look at the way the velvet or felt has been indented by the firearm over time, it's like archeology - disappointing most of the time.

It is an awesome area of collecting, but, also know nothing much sells quickly - unless you're giving it away, the collectors are finicky, educated and there isn't the layman interest in original BP weapons like there is in cheap C&R rifles or WW2 items.
The pirate collector or Colonial war reenactor has a massive array of replicas to satiate his desires.

A beautiful flintlock that's worth $3K may sit for a year at $2K - one thing I noticed of the multiple auctions/sellers I follow on GB, was that they just keep turning over, and over, with no drop in price - some items have been for sale for years there.

So, buy it if you want to keep it, not if you're thinking of "flipping" it.

That's about all I can think of - good luck, post pics when you turn something up.

[Whiterabbit]

"I've been told"...

that true dueling pistols had no rear sights. That was considered ungentlemanly. No idea if that is true or not.

[JustEd]

Screws replaced with modern counterparts
Serial numbers should be very close
Have they been refinished
And who made them, when?

[gun toting monkeyboy]

"I've been told"...

that true dueling pistols had no rear sights. That was considered ungentlemanly. No idea if that is true or not.

Nope. Not true. There was no set rule for dueling pistols. Though in some of the older essays on the topic, smoothbore was considered to be required, as it was considered to be more "sporting" than a rifled barrel. Meaning that the duelists had a slightly better chance of survival. Also, in the early 1800s, using caplocks instead of flintlocks had to be agreed upon in advance, for the same reason. However, most of these conventions were not set in stone. They also varied greatly from region to region.

-Mb

[redcliff]

Screws replaced with modern counterparts
Serial numbers should be very close
Have they been refinished
And who made them, when?

The pair of dueling pistols I have do not have serial numbers. I'll have to post a picture sometime; they're on display at another location atm.

[winetoad]

Well, they were sold before I could see them. Thanks for all the info.

[2761377]

Nope. Not true. There was no set rule for dueling pistols. Though in some of the older essays on the topic, smoothbore was considered to be required, as it was considered to be more "sporting" than a rifled barrel. Meaning that the duelists had a slightly better chance of survival. Also, in the early 1800s, using caplocks instead of flintlocks had to be agreed upon in advance, for the same reason. However, most of these conventions were not set in stone. They also varied greatly from region to region.

-Mb

an antique arms dealer in OC whom I greatly respect will not describe cased, paired pistols as "dueling" if they have rifled barrels. such sets are described as "target" pistols.

FWIW