Anyone familiar with the Bob Tingle line of BP pistols??

[toplot trapper]

New to this forum, glad I found you all, I just bought a Bob Tingle sgl shot pistol <a href='/tags/636' rel='nofollow' title='See all tagged subjects with: #636'>#636</a> and wondering when it was mfg. Definitely not a later Navy Arms or T/C copy. I did enough research to justify the purchase for a shooter, But would like a little more history. Thanx for any input...Sierra Madre Muzzle Loaders.

 

[hawkthrower]

This may help a little if you've not  read it yet -

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/bob-tingle-guns-of-the-50s.358509/

There are images of his work out on the web in several odd places too.....

 

[Jotjackson1]

Welcome to the forum Trapper!

 

[toplot trapper]

Thanx for the info Hawkthrower, it led to other resources! I too am a hawkthrower, just not much of a card cutter LOL. Jackson, I appreciate the warm welcome. I've been a member of the blk pwdr club here for years, but never fired a shot!, Just throw the hawk and help with events. We have a lot of kids competition and some wonderful sponsors. I've been a member of the 4000 FPS club and I've endured a huge amount of heckling long enough. IT"S TIME. :sunny:

 

[hawkthrower]

Glad to help!! Anytime!!

Just for fun, My kids like to warn "new comers" not to get within throwing distance if I've got something pointy handy...... Most don't get it! Then after a small demonstration they "really get it"! 

 

[toplot trapper]

tingle pistol

I bought my Tingle online ( inline/online ) 10" oct 40 cal. Should be here today, HOORAY! I'll try to figure out how to send pics. The reason I became interested in blk pwdr is: I live @ 7,300' just above the Encampment river, an area with a ton of history. The Sierra Madre rendezvous is held each year 7-21 thru 23rd a block from my house! I would listen to all of the shooting and revelry and had to check it out. I trap winters here and work summers ,can't afford to retire with all of my bad habits :lol:  hot rod pickups, guns etc. So trapping, guns, friends, competition, it was a natural. A big plus is my grandsons love it !!!

 

[toplot trapper]

tingle 10" 40 cal pictures

Gentlemen I hope I can figure out how to send pics. After receiving the pistol last Sat I was very surprised at the good condition! Possibly unfired? 100% blue, even around the grip frame and trigger opening. 100% case colors on the hammer and trigger, perfect shiny bore, clean nipple area, no marks on the grips, etc, etc. I'm currently building a loading stand like the one pictured on this site with a 7 1/2"bbl. Also a adjustable ramrod. My ROA is pictured also, had it for years and never fired it, used but nice. Made the holster. Probably won't need one for the "shooting event" pistol. Members of the "Sierra Madre" muzzle loaders are helping me out with my project so if 71 yr old eyes and muscles hold out I'll be shooting soon. Trapper... PS Guess I'll hafta wait until my computer tech gets home from work to show me how to downsize my pictures so I can post.

 

[toplot trapper]

 

[toplot trapper]

 

[hawkthrower]

Nice !!

 

[patocazador]

I don't know anything about Tingle pistols but that Ruger Old Army sure looks nice. :Red tup:

 

[Gramps]

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/671519336

Found this ^^ today.

A rifle and bid is up to $450.00.

Appears they are nice weapons.

If I didn't have so many I'd bid on this one.

 

[Buck Conner1]

Bob Tingle was from Shelbyville, Indiana. Many of today's front stuffers may recognize the Tingle name from a copy which came out of Italy after Bob's death a few decades ago. Use to see Bob's guns at the different shooting competition events, good shooters (better competition gun than the holder).

 

[Randy Johnson]

I'm a little late on this, sorry.
Tingle was best known for the single shot pistol like you have and a halfstock offhand rifle that was one of if not THE first to have a coil mainspring. In addition to these, he also offered single barrel and over/under shotguns with side slapped locks. He made at least one bench rifle that had much better stock architecture than was the norm. I have heard it said but do not know if it's true, that Thompson Center borrowed from his lock design when they produced the Hawken.
I have one of his halfstock rifles that I now own for the second time. (Long story) When I bought it the second time I could have bought one of his pistols in the box he shipped it in and very likely unfired. And a longer barrel to boot. I really kick myself on that one.
Bob was one of the fatalities of the infamous "Blizzard of 78". I've heard a couple of different versions of exactly what happened, but he was mentioned on the Indianapolis stations and his death was blamed on the storm. 
Today, many black powder shooters have never heard of Bob Tingle, but at least one part of his business is still going.
Before he died he had started making wads for all of the oddball shotgun gauges around. When his estate went to auction, Gary Butler of Lawrenceburg, Indiana bought all the dies and continued the production under the name Circle Fly. Gary has since sold the business but it continues under new ownership. So, the next time you are browsing at Track of the Wolf or Dixie Gun Works and see Circle Fly shoutgun wads just remember. They wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Bob Tingle.

 

[DakotaElkSlayer]

I have a Tingle 45cal. rifle . Don't know anything about it except I think it was the first coil spring lock.

 

[Buck Conner1]

The Reverend Alexander Forsyth's 1808 patent was the first for a muzzleloading in-line action in which the cock of the sidelock was replaced by a cylindrical hammer driven by a coil spring.
---------------------------------------------------------

A History Of Muzzle Loading  By Doc White
Last revision Nov. 2015

The Reverend Alexander Forsyth, looking far less imposing as he squatted in his seaside blind than he  did when preaching from his pulpit, was a frustrated man. Not that he didn’t understand the need for the  Good Lord to wet down the lands roundabout with a good stiff rain. Still, it didn’t seem fair that what  caused other men’s fortunes to prosper could cause such mayhem with his duck hunting. After all, he  had paid a goodly sum for the fine London made flintlock fowling piece now resting uselessly in his  hands, it’s priming wet and gummy. The Black Powder he was using was the best, but the best still  didn’t shed rain. In fact, it attracted it.

The good Reverend gave up his duck hunt in disgust. But he didn’t give up thinking about the  problem of wet priming and spoiled hunts. He was an experimenter, an independent thinker interested  in keeping up with the latest scientific knowledge. He loved to tinker in the small shop in back of his parish  home.

He patented the device and the percussion principle in England on 4 July, 1807, the most significant development in the history of shooting other than the invention of gunpowder… His 1808 patent was the first for a muzzleloading in-line action in which the cock of the sidelock was replaced by a cylindrical hammer driven by a coil spring.

He was aware that Samuel Pepys had noted the explosive properties of certain metallic salts in the 1600’s. Others had experimented with mixing the salts, (called fulminates), with gunpowder, but the combination was deadly and blew up guns right and left. It had been successful only when mixed with fine black powder and used for flintlock priming.

​

Forsythe’s Scent-Bottle percussion lock. Rotating the device deposited a pinch of fulminate under the peg hit by the hammer.

The usefulness of the fulminate-black powder priming mix stimulated his thinking. He knew that he could explode the fulminates. He had tried it with hammer and anvil. He also knew it wouldn’t ignite with the sparks from his flintlock, he’d tried that, too. The solution was to modify the hammer, replacing the flint with a blunt device that fitted the contours of the pan closely.

He was delighted to find that the resulting explosion would ignite the main charge. But he also realized that he had not solved the whole problem. Fulminates were every bit as hygroscopic as gunpowder and would not explode when wet. He had to seek further for a more complete solution.

He found it in the “scent bottle” lock, a rotating device that resembled the common perfume bottle. It deposited a bit of loose mercuric fulminate under an enclosed blunt peg which would explode when the hammer struck the peg a sharp blow. He patented the device and the percussion principle in England on 4 July, 1807, the most significant development in the history of shooting other than the invention of gunpowder.

Small Arms

Nobody knows quite when or how, but black powder showed up in Europe sometimes before the 13th century. It was said to have come from China. The inventive Europeans immediately adapted it to the incessant warfare of the times with the invention of the cannon. These cannon were originally large-bored, wheel-less, rock-throwing monsters that used huge quantities of the crudely mixed meal powder then available. It was usually mixed on the spot, just before the shot.

​

Bronze German “hand cannon” of the 1500’s, meant to be fired with a ‘match’ at very close range. A ’tiller’ was held under the arm for stability in aiming.

By the 15th century, smaller shoulder-fired arms had been developed. Bores were relatively large and most always smooth. Accuracy, as we understand it, was nil, but was good enough to be extremely effective on the battlefield as they were powerful enough to pierce the common mail and plate armor worn by the men-at-arms and knights. That, and the ease with which a neophyte could become a practiced marksman, guaranteed the demise of archery and armor on the battlefield as well as in sporting use.

Locks

The first “handgonnes” were fired with a match applied to a touchhole. This “match” was a piece of cotton or hemp rope or cord soaked in saltpeter, which the shooter carried lit at both ends. The oldest known handgun, excavated from a German castle destroyed in the early 1300’s, was fired in this fashion. The clumsiness of this arrangement soon led to a lock with ‘match’ clamped in iron jaws actuated by a trigger. The shooter could actually aim the piece while he pulled the trigger. But any matchlock was dangerous, witness Miles Standish, who blew off his breeches with a lighted match and a pocketful of loose powder.

However, by the 15th century, smaller shoulder fired arms had been developed. Bores were… large and…always smooth. Accuracy, as we understand it, was nil…

The risk, plus the stink and easily visible firelight at night, stimulated the development of the wheellock by 1525, perhaps influenced by Leonardo da Vinci. The wheellock was relatively large, difficult and expensive to make but almost always worked.

​

This matchlock has all parts of a modern firearm, making aimed fire possible. It revolutionized the European battlefield and guaranteed the demise of the heavily armored knight.

The functional excellence of the wheellock resulted in the invention of the traditional shooting sports as we know them today, as well as initiating the tradition of high art in sporting arms that persists even now. There remained a need for a small, light, and inexpensive lock for the common shooter. By 1600 a variety of locks had been developed in many countries, all of which featured a cocking piece with jaws grasping a chunk of easily available flint. The flint would strike what we now call a “frizzen”, causing a shower of sparks to fall into priming held in a conveniently located pan. The conflagrating powder would then flash through the touchhole and fire the main charge.

​

A fine quality modern ‘French’ flintlock. A truly good one will cost as much as the barrel of a fine rifle and rain sparks in fiery splendor on the priming in the pan, with near instant ignition. You can call your shots with a good one.

There were Spanish miquillets, Danish pecking locks, English dog-locks, Mediterranean snap-haunces and others. In around 1625, the classic flintlock, an amalgamation of the best features of all the others, was developed by Marin be Bougeois, then gunmaker to the French king. This is the flintlock that we are all familiar with now. It quickly caught on and remained the standard until the invention of the percussion system 200 years later.

The PERCUSSION SYSTEM

The flintlock became the pre-dominant sporting and military arm for over 200 years, persisting until the middle 1800’s, when the percussion system became commercially successful. Remember Pepys, who noted the percussive qualities of metallic fulminates. No one put this knowledge to good use until Forsyth used fulminates for percussion rather than mixing it with the main or priming charge of a flintlock.

…By 1625, the classic flintlock, an amalgamation of all the others, was developed by Marin de Borgeois, then gun maker to the French king…

Within just a few years, many inventors had improved on Forsyth’s percussion lock. Gunmakers of the early 1800’s vied arduously with one another, and new locks and percussion systems abounded.

The effort was transformational.