Who was J.C. Petmecky ????????

[Double Trouble]

I just bought a neat old cleaning rod at an antique shop in Canada. It's ebony, with brass fittings. Three pieces, each 12 inches long. Really nice shape...

The question is in regards to a "fitting" attached to the business end of the rod. It appears to be a brass 2 7/8" 10 gauge shell with a large hole in the head (as if they greatly enlarged the primer hole). Inside this shell is a brass cleaning attachment that (on one end) threads into the rod, and on the other end, it sports numerous thin brass "fingers". When contained within this "shell" - the shell can be inserted into a 10 gauge chamber & the once the rod is pushed into the gun, these fingers spread open and can be used to clean/scrape loose fouling/plastic residue or any other sort of crud from within the bore. The "shell" also acts as a chamber/bore guide - keeping the rod centered within the bore as it's worked back and forth.
Stamped onto the "shell" is "J. C. Petmecky Austin Texas - Patented - November 27, 1883"

Have any of you guys ever seen such a cleaning device ??????

I bought the rod and this "device" for $ 95.00. Did I get a fair deal ?


Please let me know...

Many thanks, and best wishes for a happy new year to all !!!!!

John

[Rod N. Gunn]

Joe Petmecky, a Hungarian émigré who opened up a gunsmith shop in Austin in the middle of the nineteenth century. Petmecky gained recognition in the American West after inventing the spring-shank steel spur, which would automatically dislodge from a rider's boots should he be thrown from his horse, thereby avoiding possible broken ankles.

[Bindlestiff]

check out http://cartridgecollectors.org/samplejournal.pdf and look on page 14...... is this it?

[Double Trouble]

Robin:

I'm at my work computer right now, and the website you mentioned is blocked. (Who knows why they let me on this site !)

Could you copy a picture from that site & post it ?

Thanks !!!!!

John

[Bindlestiff]

Here you go.

[Double Trouble]

That's it !!!!!

Thanks a lot ! What a simple yet effective little device !

Does anyone have a feel for the value of one of these things in 10 gauge (and the ebony/brass cleaning rod, too) ?

I wasn't sure that $ 95 was a good price, but my better half talked me into it.

That was might nice of her !

[Bill Murphy]

Something similar to this is in an old Parker catalog, maybe the 1882??

[Autumn Daze]

I have an ebony three piece cleaning rod and it is identicle to the ones in a Parker catalog. The rod came out of a case that a Parker was in. To bad these things were not marked by the Brothers P.

I saw one of those bore brush's on Ebay a while back but forgot to bid on it.. They are very cool!

[Jeff K.]

Actually I have one that is marked Parker bros. I will take a picture later today. It was described in a PP article back in the Kirby days. I believe I gave $100 for it alone.
Jeff

[MarketHunter]

I've had a couple different varieties of them over the years, I think $95 for it and the rod was more than fair. The original name for them was the Budd - Petmecky and I believe the Budd end of it was Charlie Budd who was a famous shooter back in the day.

Destry