Man, that's awesome. Will you please post pictures of you finds? It would be really neat to see all that you have found.

I consider myself lucky to find my wallet some mornings.

I have friends who have found many interesting artifacts of various kinds in the mountains and plains of Wyoming and Montana. Complete buffalo skulls are occassionaly located althugh I have never been so lucky myself. One skull that a rancher friend spotted in a creek bed on his ranch in eastern Montana turned out to be a pre-historic monster bison. The skull was much larger than those normally encountered. It is in a museum in Ekala, MT. Tipi rings are especially wonderful to examine particularily if they are located in an area that is not heavily traveled. The BBHC in Cody has several guns of various types that have been found in strange and obscure locations but most are in very poor condition due to being exposed to soil and elements for decades.

Ish,

A friend of mine found a 1873 Winchester in pretty good condition hanging on the wall in a very old Western Kansas barn. I understand the barn was abandoned and about to fall down.

What a great find. Sounds like something that would be a lot of fun. I am not sure if I would have enough patience for that.

I read this article with great interest. It came to my attention through a post on a Muzzle Loader Magazine’s online forum, which my husband belongs to. In the interest of seeing the original article, we looked it up.

After reading the article and viewing the photos, we have come to the conclusion that the muzzleloader pictured is a 3-band Enfield rifled musket or variation of such.

We have based this theory from comparing the photos in the article with the Parker-Hale Enfield owned by my husband and comparing it to the photos in the book “Springfield Armory Shoulder Weapons 1795-1968” by Robert W.D. Ball. (see page 68)

The Springfield lock has obvious differences from the Enfield, in particular the hammer shape, lock plate and bolster area. The rear sight of the Enfield is a ladder type similar to that in the article photos. A Springfield sight, by comparison, is a leaf type system.

The furniture on the Enfield is a mixture of iron and brass such as pictured in the article, where as the Springfield of the period would be all iron mounted.

We would be very interested in seeing further research on this firearm, preferably by an expert at the Cody firearms museum, the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA) or perhaps even the Smithsonian.

dang
I have to start checking trees for guns
I wonder who put it there

That would be awesome to find something like that.

that guy is lucky!

My Grandad found a gun in the exact same fashion - just in a different state... I hope he went and bought a lottery or Power Ball ticket after he found that rifle!!! Great find.

Man that guy is lucky!! Sounds like a very humble person.

Not to malign Mr. Brophy, and maybe trees grow different there, but in the rest of the world its all the same. If a rifle was hidden in a tree and sat there 75 or more years, the rifle would not rise because trees do not rise with growth. As a tree grows, it grows from the top; all below stays at approximately the same height There are 2 documented proofs: 1) many firearms from the Civil War are found throughout the South stashed in tree forks; 20 many times fencing makes use of trees along the line to be fenced and the wire will be nailed to the tree and remain at that height as long as the tree lives.

I have no reason to doubt the man's story, however it seems odd to me that a rifle of that period would not be eaten by the termites and rusted into a piece of rebar if left in the elements that long. I'm sure it was stored someplace other than in the tree fork for most of those years. More than likely was stolen from some rancher's place sometime in the past and placed where he found it. Something is fishy here, my bull$h1t alarm just went off....

In reference to the comments about the height of the tree. they are correct the tree grows from the top. the other thing, however, is that anything placed in the crook of the tree would have been grown over by the bark. the tree would have had to be cut if the gun had been there for any long period of time.

nice find. im lucky to find my car keys in the morning.

Look at the length! Maybe 5 1/2 feet long, sitting in a tree? Still don't believe it. Show me the tree he "found" this artifact in, Field and Stream, otherwise don't print such incredulous material! Or at least perform some due diligence to confirm the guy is telling the truth! He says: "I find alot of stuff"! Yeah right, a tree? Not believable.

The more I think about it, the more incredulous the story sounds. More than likely, it came from someone's house, barn, shed, etc. not very long before the "finder" reported the find. "biscuit1' is on to something. The Bull$h1t Alarm is now in full wail....

Lots of the old cottonwood trees in the West are hollow and could easily hold a gun that long. Combine that with the dry air and a little bear grease and you might get a combination of factors that would preserve a firearm like the one in the story. Plus the guy doesn't seem to care if anyone believes him or not. Great find!

My dad was walking across a field a few years ago and picked up a rock, just something we do to minimize wear and tear on farm equipment. Only this rock was shaped somewhat like a bulky ax head and had an obvious groove dug out where you would expect a handle to have been. A friend of ours who works with artifacts took it to someone who dated it's previous life as being over 2000 years ago. Now we both walk around that field staring at the ground and have never found anything else. A little success can sometimes be a pain in the ass.

Dear hal herring<

If he doesn't care what people think why would he go thru the effort to have his story published and pictures taken? (HINT: maybe he really does like what people think). He certainly isn't hiding from the limelight. Also, I heard that same dude being interviewed on tv and he said "I find alot of stuff, but I lose stuff, too. Why, come to think of it, of all the stuff I've lost in my life, I think losing my mind was the hardest. I lost my mind a long time ago, ya kno"

Hey biscuit1, why are you so doubtful. So what if the story is a little off of the truth. It's a great piece of history. Let it go man!

This is definitely an Enfield. You can buy one very similar to this, an original, for about $300 covered with grease and all. A large cache of 19th century British weapons was recently, in the past several years, "discovered", purchased and imported from Nepal to the US. These are now available for purchase on the internet by the public. This one looks VERY similar.

Congratulation's to Maxx Martel, Mother Earth is like a history book,one just needs to take the time to turn the pages. We could use more eyes on the ground,like Martel's. The past, is where we also will be some day. Take a lesson , and also leave your mark, or a symbol of your self. Man kinds life is all to short, we can only hope to live on through our works and deeds. A lot of us live in the past, that is okay to appreciate our for fathers and mothers. But we should then too be fruit full to be remembered way into the future ages.

I like to think that I am living History, not only looking back, but living it now. Back in 1985,that year was a awakening for me .Moved to the center of the big country of Alaska , and homesteaded not to dream, but live history by doing, it full time. There is a reward of self to build a home of logs, to carve out a life for ones self from virgin wilderness. To make some thing out of nothing. No I chose to live history.

Like that old gun in the tree, I too have items in hiding, for the ones that fallow ,can by chance find them. We can only hope there will be more people like Mr. Martel .

I am a Civil War artifact collector & have been for over 40 years now, have published a book on the relics, Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns, 1861-1865, contributed to nearly 20 other Civil war books, & write the Questions and Answers column for the American Digger Magazine, www.AmericanDigger.com., Also being a gun collector I do know a little of what I am talking about.

I do not know who your gun experts actually are, but this rifle is definitely not a knockoff or one of the sub-contracted rifles of any of the US manufactured Springfield 1861 Model rifles. There were over 20 different subcontractors of the Springfield Model 1861 rifle & I know on none that were not marked plainly on the lockplate by the individual subcontractor with his name and place of business.

I cannot see how even a non-expert could possibly confuse this example with the Springfield Model 1855. They do not look anything alike, since the Model 1855 uses the Maynard Tape Priming Lock. The Model 1855 was not even remotely the mainstay of the Union Army during the Civil War. The mainstay was the Model 1861 & later the updated Model 1863, supplanted by thousands of the imported British Enfield 1856 & 1858, loved by soldiers of both the North & the South.

What you actually have here is an Enfield Model 1853 Rifle. From the distant photograph of Mr Martel holding the rifle I can see the wide upper barrel band (about twice the width of the other bands). The other features definitely point to the British manufactured Enfield rifle, not smoothbore musket. If somebody takes the time to look down the barrel with a bore light the rifling will be apparent, unless the rifling was reamed out during its time of use to make into a shotgun.

My personal opinion & that of our magazine publisher & a couple other friends of mine is that this is one of the Enfield Model 1853 rifles that was manufactured for the Nepalize Army in the country of Nepal along the northern border of India. In recent years a company by the name of International Military Antiques (IMA) bought out the 150 year old Nepalize Armory (over 200 tons of armaments) & is now retailing them to American customers. I bought one, our publisher bought 2 & other friends have purchased them for $275.00 each. The condition looks identical to the tree recovered rifle that Mr. Martel is holding. If one were to look carefully at the bottom of the brass trigger guard, the side of the rear sight & possibly on the face of the lock plate & hammer, you may very well see what appear to be Arabic type markings. These markings may look no different than handling damage because of their style.

I don't doubt Mr. Martel's other finds in the least. I do know that the temptation is overly great to pass off one of these rifles as what Mr. Martel has done. They look just like they could have been found in a tree. I have been collecting with dug artifacts & guns for more than 2 decades and easily recognize the differences and variations of what is and can be found under different conditions. I greatly approve of Mr. Martel's documentation of the history of each of his finds --- a great contribution to history and archaeology.

Keep your powder dry,
Charles S. Harris

cool find!

No, I take it back. We found a purse and had the Cops called on us when we returned it with all of the contents. Teach me a lesson....

Strange things have been found no doubt, but I DO DOUBT this story. With every step into Mr Martels story it gets harder and harder to believe. I agree that trees grow OUT and not UP. He states that it was wrapped in Bear grease in the hollow of a tree. FIRST - the bear grease would have LONG ago decomposed as it was exposed to air and humidity and varying temperatures. Thats not even a good beginning. THEN you have the statement that it was found in the HOLLOW of a tree. IF this tree had a "Hollow" in it 160 years ago, the odds that the tree would not have deteriorated into dust is almost 1 in million. That this tree would be a "legacy" tree would have to be established. I would LOVE for Mr. Martell to provide pictures of the location it was found. That would PROVE the story.. however, I dont think we will be seeing any of those photo's very soon, or documentation that this tree is even possibly that old and STILL existing. Its hard enough for a tree to make it to 100 years old.. much less already having damage to its structure by a non- natural opening "splitting". If Mr. Martell has possibly fabricated THIS story, what others are possible fabrications. He should know that when you put something out thats almost unbelievable - it USUALLY IS (not believable). I for one do not put substance in this...especially after Relicnut "Exposed" the most plausible explanation. He was a little nicer saying he doesnt doubt the other finds.. but with a liar.. there is often more than ONE lie.

I find lots of Native American Artifacts here in SC.