NM Cowboys

[THE PILGRIM]

Take a look at these Rowdy’s.
What is that long gun the Dude on the Left is holding?

 

[2152hq]

Looks like a percussion 3 bbl..the large trigger guard to house 3 triggers makes it look like a lever action at first glance.

Bottom bbl uses an 'underhammer' arrangement.
You can see 2 ramrods if you look closely.

Neat firearm,,neat picture.

 

[SAFireman]

I was going to guess a Drillings, but 3 barrel shotgun works too.....

 

[DWalt]

Probably a frontloader Drilling and at least two ramrods. Can't really tell if the barrels are rifle or shotgun or both.

 

[Absalom]

Interesting concept.

Even four-barrel combination guns (Vierlings) generally made do with no more than two triggers.

This is likely some gunsmith's project gun. Certainly didn't make it into serial production

 

[SG-688]

Studio prop

One thing to consider is that the photo was taken in a studio. The guns, the holsters and even the clothing may all be studio props - even in the 19th century.

 

[BearBio]

Savage made a shotgun with three triggers. Kurt Russell used one in Tombstone. You can see it in the scene where Curly Bill is killed (complete fabrication. There was a Curly Bill but he fled to New Mexico and was killed later, I think)

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to bring up the Studio Prop Possibility. (SPP)
Reported after the Gunfight at the OK Corral which actually occurred in the vacant lot next to the C S Fly Photo Studio/Boarding House,
C S ran out carrying an inert Prop Gun.
This picture certainly looks it was taken indoors in a studio.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I t looks like an over & under percussion rifle but I don’t know how the hammers would work on such a thing. It doesn’t look like a swivel barrel with that hammer on the left side. Guy on left is also carrying an 1878 Colt DA. Guy on right has a Winchester 1873 (not an 1876) but the cartridges look too big for it in that extra belt. The biggest clue to me that guns are props is when there’s no cartridges in the loops, unlike this picture. But if that long gun on left is percussion post 1878, it seems most likely a prop.

 

[jimmyj]

I was thinking a over/under muzzle loading rifle like the one a young Nevada Smith used before His Parents were murdered.

 

[Absalom]

Yes, the guns in these kinds of photos are pretty much always props; that almost goes without saying.

But I don’t think some photographer assembled this solely as a prop and glued a third trigger into an enlarged trigger guard just for fun. I still think it likely that this is or was a legitimate gun of some type.

 

[cowboy4evr]

Those 2 look just like the same 2 guys that did windmill work for me on the ranch I worked on in NM , Seriously ! ! Regards Paul

 

[Smoke]

Savage made a shotgun with three triggers. Kurt Russell used one in Tombstone. You can see it in the scene where Curly Bill is killed (complete fabrication. There was a Curly Bill but he fled to New Mexico and was killed later, I think)

There were at least a dozen witnesses (on both sides) who saw Wyatt Earp kill William Brocius at Iron Springs (Now Mescal Springs) on March 24 1882.

 

[andy52]

Look similar to a swivel-breech rifle but I have no idea what a third trigger would be for.

 

[OFT II]

Look similar to a swivel-breech rifle but I have no idea what a third trigger would be for.

It might be the latch that unlocks the barrels so they can be swiveled.