Civil War gun found in Gettysburg Walmart trash

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/01/29/civil-war-gun-in-trash.html

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“Gettysburg Walmart trash.”

That’s a good name for cheap white supremacists.

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Not to be a pendant, but there’s replicas of revolvers from that period being manufactured currently. “Pietta” is the name of the manufacturer of the replica.

For reasons known only to lawmakers, it’s not technically considered a firearm because it uses black powder and not modern ammunition. (It’ll still kill you dead, though.)

Or a band? /silly

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Most likely a stolen gun that was discarded by someone that changed their mind on dealing with it.

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Possibilities:

  1. Replica: The owner thought he/she had purchased a genuine CW weapon. With the seller/swindler vanished, the owner tossed the weapon in disgust.
  2. Replica or Genuine: A loved one worried about having the item “in the house” and so tossed it.
  3. Replica or Genuine: Owner simply got tired of it.
  4. Replica or Genuine: Tossed by accident (accidently mixed with items meant for trash).

My main question: Why the Walmart trash and not at home? Tossed by a Walmart employee (?) in which case See no. 2, loved one wanting to make sure owner didn’t check home trash receptacle.)

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Sometimes the loved one is the owner. There’s the remains of a Luger at the bottom of Ullswater in England*, because my grandad freaked when he found my dad and uncle playing with the items he brought back from WW2.

* Maybe it’s rusted and rotted away to nothing, it was over 60 years ago.

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Notes (including some repeats):

Very likely this is a replica. It is a muzzle loading black powder pistol, so it isn’t considered a firearm. In the past I have seen black powder replicas like that for sale at Walmart, but I honestly don’t know if they still do. (They do sell black powder muzzle loading rifles at some stores.) The reason I bring that up is someone could have been shop lifting, thought they might get caught, and dumped it.

Otherwise - yeah, really weird to throw away one in one of the smaller trash cans out side. Weird.

If it turns out to be authentic I suspect it is a cursed item owned by a g-g-g-g-host.

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“The South will rise again!”

But first, I gotta stop at Walmart and pick up a few things for the missus…

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Or - someone realized there are too many firearms in the US and tossed it out as a public service.
/S
Edited - thx @Mindysan33

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Does Walmart routinely inspect their trash?

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My money is on a reenactor who broke his sub $300 replica, or had a bad event at Gettysburg and decided to give up their hobby in frustration while in their RV parked at the nearest Walmart.

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Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania…

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Maybe it was a Confederate hold-out who finally heard that the war was over? /s

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“What the hell is a Walmart? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I have died and gone to heaven. I won’t be needing this anymore.”

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I also suspect that is is more than likely a replica.

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Stolen and dumped? Thought they could sell them, doesn’t know what black powder is.

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Just a reminder - THIS type of firearm is what that 2nd amendment was envisioned around, yet today some folks think their personal laser-powered nukes count as well.

Mass shootings have less carnage when you need to pack powder.

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Their website offers a .50 cal shotgun! What!!! How is this legal? Sure it is black-powder, but it’s a .50cal!

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I assume you meant a .50 cal rifle, as shotguns are measured in gauges. (Though if you used a slug in a 12 gauge that would be .72 caliber.)

.50 and .54cal are the most common black powder rifle bullet size, but they get up to .75 cal… While it is big in diameter and heavy, it isn’t any where near the same ball park of a .50bmg in terms of muzzle energy, or “power”.

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“Ready the banjo music, letter reading and slow pans of still images”. - Ken Burns (probably)

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