AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: JBW on April 15, 2013, 05:03:05 AM
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Chandler in his book on Perry Co PA long rifle makers erroneously attributed Elwell to Perry County. Sellers misinterpreted what Hutslar said about Elweell- a lock of his import seen on a gun made c.1810-12 in Seneca Co., OH. Elwell was an importer. Examinatiom of a number of his locks lead me to conclude that he used several firms, Englsh and/or Belgian, to actually do the work. Elwell rand a large hardware store. I will not drop this crusade to misidentify makers of long rifles from lock markings. Elwell is most common name, in my experience, found on gunlocks, especially percussion locks, 2nd only to Goucher/ Golcher. There is not the tiniest shred of evidence that anyone named Elwell made long rifles in uSA. Personally I have never seen a back-action Elwell lock and VERY few Elwell flint-locks. It is far better to say "unsigned" than erroneously call the lock maker/ importer the gun's fabricator.
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Glad to see you contributing your vast knowledge to our members, again
Thank You
Hurricane
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Jim,
Been a long time, hope you are doing well. I have an unmarked fowler, parts gun, that has an Elwell percussion lock on it. Have not even begun to think he built the gun, but looking very closely you can definitely see where the lock has been converted from flint.
Mark
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Seeing longrifles attributed to a name on the lock, is a pet peeve of mine too. There are some major auction companies that do this constantly. I have a number of rifles with Elwell locks. I'll look through them and see whether any are at all unusual.