BLUE PAINTED FLINTLOCKS

[RobD]

Solid blue, red, yellow, etc. - not the best camouflage for game or war.

[Keb]

I remember the 1st one I painted. It took courage. That uneasy feeling goes away after a few but comes back quickly when painting one yellow. I painted a few red & blue but only one yellow.

[Butler Ford 40]

Some of you think it cheapens the look, but painted guns probably held up to handling and weather better. One is also a lot less likely to lose it leaning it against a tree in the woods.

True enough but if kinda feels like packin' the fatest, ugliest squaw you can find cause you think no one will try and take her from you.  Still functions the same, cook, skin and tan your hides, keep you warm at night.  But you still have to wait till the fire has burned out in the teepee before ya can look at her.   

[JB67]

Solid blue, red, yellow, etc. - not the best camouflage for game or war.

Camouflage was not a concern, for either guns or uniforms.

[RobD]

Solid blue, red, yellow, etc. - not the best camouflage for game or war.

Camouflage was not a concern, for either guns or uniforms.

I think the natives would beg to differ a bit, they were masters at the game of hide 'n' seek, much to the distress of the outlandishly robed redcoats. 

[Oldetexian]

Some of you think it cheapens the look, but painted guns probably held up to handling and weather better. One is also a lot less likely to lose it leaning it against a tree in the woods.

Totally agree that the paint helped the stock against rain & snow...sure didn't do much for the working parts I'm guessing...and then there's the thought that if ya had to paint your gun blue to keep from losing it in the woods...well, ya might just better keep it in your pants...just sayin'

[Doc Nock]

Some of you think it cheapens the look, but painted guns probably held up to handling and weather better. One is also a lot less likely to lose it leaning it against a tree in the woods.

Totally agree that the paint helped the stock against rain & snow...sure didn't do much for the working parts I'm guessing...and then there's the thought that if ya had to paint your gun blue to keep from losing it in the woods...well, ya might just better keep it in your pants...just sayin'

YOU guys crack me up, which is much enjoyed these days!

[JB67]

Solid blue, red, yellow, etc. - not the best camouflage for game or war.

Camouflage was not a concern, for either guns or uniforms.

I think the natives would beg to differ a bit, they were masters at the game of hide 'n' seek, much to the distress of the outlandishly robed redcoats. 

Yet those brightly painted stocks appealed to the natives...

[RobD]

Solid blue, red, yellow, etc. - not the best camouflage for game or war.

Camouflage was not a concern, for either guns or uniforms.

I think the natives would beg to differ a bit, they were masters at the game of hide 'n' seek, much to the distress of the outlandishly robed redcoats. 

Yet those brightly painted stocks appealed to the natives...

Yeah, the bling did at least a few in, perhaps. 

The bottom line is ... it's all aesthetic subjectivity, no more or less.  There's form and there's function.  No reason a painted pony couldn't be a fine spirited ride. 

To each their own.   It's all good.   

[Puffer]

 

[Hanshi]

Certainly not what one usually envisions when talking about flintlocks.  While I'd prefer a nice stain on the wood there is something sort of "appealing" about a painted one.  Just me, but I dismiss the "ugly" appellation.

[Ironhand]

I saw a couple of these at Colonial Williamsburg years ago. They don't look that bad in person.

I asked the gunsmith about it, he basically said that the traders were just giving the customer what they wanted.
Considering the popularity of glass beads and trade silver I would say that the locals had a thing for bling.

IronHand

[Sir Michael]

The only color I've seen in HBC records regarding paint were for Brown.  I've never figured out if it was brown paint as we think of it or brown stain.  The only hint in that regard were a load guns shipped to York Factory that were returned when the Indians brought them back with broken stocks and the gunsmith determined that the guns broke as result of glue failure in finger joints that connected several lengths of wood together to make the stock.  The letter accompanying the returned guns demanded that in the future only guns stocked with a "single" piece of wood would be accepted.  I concluded from that the joints were hidden from the inspector prior to shipment by the brown paint.

I also never saw any references to staining or varnishing the stocks.  That may be because these tasks were so inherent in completing a gun that it was never mentioned.

Where did you find the Blue painted stock references.

[Puffer]

https://claysmithguns.com/Blue_Trade_Gun.htm

[Watchmaker]

Just my thinking so no historical reference here but the natives worship of all things nature. I can see a stock being blue would be appealing for both the blue sky and turquoise, the mineral used for jewelry making.  Yellow might reference the sun or wildflowers. Red- blood (an enemies or food) or sunset or wildflowers.

Not to mention human nature to want something no one else had. The latest fashion as it were.