Possible Indiana / Ohio rifle?

[mstriebel]

Hello Gents,

I have been came across this old rifle from a seller in Ohio.  For no other reason than that, I am thinking it may have been made by an Ohio or Indiana gunmaker.  Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, but that is the best I could get.  There is a marking on the top of the barrel, but it is so faint that I cannot make it out.  I played around with the color and contrast on the photo and the best guess I could make out -- and this is only a wild guess -- is H,J, F o H.  

I imagine its a long shot of determining the maker of this old rifle.  However, I have seen some of the experts on the forum figure out the maker of the rifle with less, so I thought I would give it a shot.  

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

***** I removed the links to the photos due to Spam being contained in the links - Dennis*****

[Curt J]

Interesting rifle.  I'm guessing that the "Fo_" is "For"  and that the letters before that is the maker, and after the "For" is the customer's name or initials. The overall appearance of the rifle suggests that it very well could be Ohio or Indiana.  The right person might recognize that signature.

[mstriebel]

To follow up on Curt's idea that the H,J is most likely the maker's initials, I looked at Lindert's Gunmaker's of Indiana and the Association of Ohio Long Rifle Collectors website for any clues.  Lindert's book showed no Indiana gunmakers with the initials H.J.  However, the Ohio Long Rifle site showed an H.E. Jones, Jr. out of Erie.

**** Dennis -- I am not quite sure what caused the problem with the previous photo posting.  I used postimage.org, which is the same service I have always used to post pictures.  The first time I posted the photos as thumbnails.  This second time I have posted the photos as hotlinks. If postimage.org is not accepted now to post pictures and there is another service that is preferred, please advise.

[Buck]

Nice looking rifle.
Buck

[Shreckmeister]

Nice wood on that rifle.  What is the length and caliber of the barrel?  Condition looks like
somebody cared for that rifle it's whole life.

[Shreckmeister]

Hey, thanks for sharing that postimage site.  Looks quicker and simpler than photobucket.
Dennis, can we use that on ALR?

[Paul E. Wog]

Russ Harriger in " Longrifles of Pennsylvania; Vol. 1: Jefferson, Clarion, and Elk Counties. "; lists Horace Fox active from 1835-1870 in PA and NY  ( Foxburg PA and Frewsburg NY )
Signature sorta looks like H,J,Fox to me
            Shreck ( NOT Meister )

[Dennis Glazener]

**** Dennis -- I am not quite sure what caused the problem with the previous photo posting.  I used postimage.org, which is the same service I have always used to post pictures.  The first time I posted the photos as thumbnails.  This second time I have posted the photos as hotlinks. If postimage.org is not accepted now to post pictures and there is another service that is preferred, please advise.

The photo's as they now appear (the hotlinks) are fine. The problem was the "SPAM" that came along with the thumbnails. Plus the photos now appear much larger than they did on the postimage.org site when accessed via the thumbnails.

Hey, thanks for sharing that postimage site.  Looks quicker and simpler than photobucket.
Dennis, can we use that on ALR?

Not a problem as long as you use the URL to the actual image and not the thumbnail. Some of you mentioned not using the "hotlink" method of posting photos (as opposed to just using a URL link to the photo on another site" There is no difference in the amount of website space used for a hotlink and a standard URL link to a photo so its fine to allow the photo to display. Of course it probably drives those with dial-up modem to go crazy unless they can select "no photos".
Dennis
 

[JTR]

Dial up? 

John

[Dennis Glazener]

Dial up? 

John

Sure, many still have them, some areas thats all you have access to.
Dennis