But now its finished what you see is largely original! Here are the before and after photos! I had to find a cock, make a tumbler and sear etc and sliding safety, plus top jaw and cock and side screw. The second pistol stock was a complete wreck and almost looked beyond repair, but in fact only needed three bits of wood let in and it is as good as new – in fact its difficult to distinguish it from the other. Anyway when I came to sort out the pile of bits it was clear that only some were related, but I got enough parts to make most of the Post Office one – minus the sear, mainspring and sliding safety parts – there was one small part of the wood missing at the muzzle but apart from making a few new parts it is original, althought the cock is an old (1969) replacement and I had to re-adjust the square fit. The differences between the two are subtle – slightly different butt shape and barrel shape, and slightly different lock size and action parts. The names indicate that the Post Office pistol was post 1834, the other earlier. There were bits for two pistols, they were not identical- the Post Office stamped one was by J Harding and Son and the other was just Harding, both of Borough in London. J Harding was the official contractor to the Post Office and made many brass barrelled blunderbusses and brass barreled coach pistols for the mail coaches, plus it would seem, a very (?) few pocket pistols for Postmen on foot. One stock, barrel and lock plate were fine – fortunately the one with the Post Office stamps as that is a very rare pistol. I bought a pile of bits at a Bonham’s Auction for a pretty exorbitant price and they sat in the tin box they came in for a year or so.
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