Printable View
I understand that this type of weapon was used to shoot at "chunks" of wood at fairs. If you hit the marked area or close to it you could win a ham or a turkey. Saw it at an auction but the starting price was $2,300! No takers.
Has the name of Walker on the side of the lock. Possibly 1830.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_1612-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_1615-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_1620-1.jpg
In a chunk gun match you lay the rifle across a "chunk" to shoot at a target. Note the flat bottom.
I have never seen one and the auctioneer seemed a little uncertain about what it was. Unknown caliber but had a hexagonal bore.
I like the long sun shade on it. Early scope?
Chunk guns originated in the southern Applachians. As stated, the flat on the stock was laid across the chunk (a split log.) The target was a piece of paper tacked to a charred board, with a V cut in it. The idea was to shoot as close to the bottom of the V as possible without cutting the paper.
The sunshade is normal for such a gun.
Normally, a quarter of beef was the prize. A beeve was slaughtered and divided into quarters, with the hide and tallow making a fifth prize. The target was placed in front of a thick section of log, which acted as a backstop. So the sixth prize was "the balls in the butt." The winner of that prize split the log and recovered the lead to recast as bullets.
Shooting on a chunk persisted into at least the 1950s, and one of the more famous competitors was Alvin York (Sergeant York) who won a beef shoot at Jimtown, Tennesee about that time.