28 pound "chunk gun"

[A. F Medic]

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.

Information

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[HoosierDaddy]

In a chunk gun match you lay the rifle across a "chunk" to shoot at a target. Note the flat bottom.

[A. F Medic]

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?

[Vern Humphrey]

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.