Antique - French Tabatiere "Zulu Shotgun", Tulle Conversion

ALL ANTIQUES SOLD AS-IS. NEVER ATTEMPT TO FIRE AN ANTIQUE WEAPON WITHOUT CONSULTING A GUNSMITH. SEE PICTURES FOR CONDITION AND DETAILS. These are sold as collectible antiques.

This is a French Tabatiere conversion of a smooth-bore .69 caliber (17.8mm) 1842 Tulle musket. In the mid to late 1860s these were converted to fire a 18mm single-projectile cartridge similar in construction to a shotgun shell.
 
Originally these weapons were meant to supplement the Chassepot rifles by being issued to rear-echelon troops in the Garde Mobile. By 1870, however, they were pressed into front-line service in the Franco-Prussian war and were used extensively in the Battle of Sedan. By the end of France's Second Empire, units were formed with basically any warm bodies, and basically any weapons left in France's arsenals.

In the 1870s through the 1880s these guns were surplussed to Belgium where many were converted to 12 ga. shotguns and sold on the export market to the U.S., South America, and Africa. Many were sent to the Belgian Congo.

Perhaps because of the latter association, or perhaps as a marketing scheme, these guns were advertised in the United States as "Zulu Shotguns" - Zulu being a catch-all phrase for anything African. 

This Zulu shotgun is in 12-ga., but is not suitable with modern ammunition. It originally used a paper-hulled black powder cartridge. There are no maker marks of any kind, but the brass breech door does feature Belgian proofs, and a serial number of 1167B is stamped on the inside of the breech. The brass breech block is well-made with a spring-loaded striker. The bore is in good shape and would be called "slightly frosty" if it were rifled. There are no major pits. There is a tiny crack in the stock next to the lock. 


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