[Southpaw]

That is extroadinary. Obviously we don't know circumstances of how that pistol was found. Just guessing but gun had to of been in a very dry spot maybe in a cave with low moisture content with gun leaned up and only barrel touching the ground. Even then it is quite surprising to be in as good as shape as it is. No way it was just laying in the woods for any length of time. We will never know true story but its a cool piece. I would have thought black powder on the metal for any length of time more than a dozen years would have corroded it badly though.

Where I grew up there were caves everywhere. A lot of them have been explored with some found but then forgotten. When I was a kid met a few spelunkers that were also amatuer archealogists. Back in the 70's when scouting an old dry wash from a side draw in a small creek valley they came upon a cave entrance that was blocked with debris but could feel cool air coming out. They came back a few weeks later and cleared the debris. Once they cleared debris the entrance was actually larger than they thought and cave system was much bigger than they thought. They noted several slick type boot marks in the very dry soil and knew they were not the first to explore but then about 150 feet in they found a cache of about 10 civil war era muskets, powder, bullets, crates of rotten food. They took pictures and left everything and then they realized the footprints in the dirt they were stepping on was probably from 1860's. I saw the pictures and they never did tell where the cave was or even remotely hinted at it. The guns in picture looked intact but you could tell the wood on guns and crates had been worm eaten. Metal had a light rust in patches.

Never did find out about the cave or hear about it in the press about someone finding the stuff. Maybe they left it as time capsule or came back and quietly got the stuff, who knows. The only reason I mention it is that its possible that your pistol could have been found in a similar circumstance. That is the only way I could think it could survive in the outdoors like that.