Percussion long rifle with interesting cheek piece.

[Brent English]

Bought this gun from an older fellow wandering around a local gun show last weekend. He'd been using it for squirrel hunting, and the replacement nipple, clean bore and a few replacement screws bore witness to its recent use.  Looks like the hammer was replaced at some point too.

The gun is unsigned, but what caught my eye was the interesting but simple treatments around the cheek piece, lock mortise and ramrod pipes.  I also really liked the period wrist repair, somebody put some thought into that and it's a real nice job. 

The seller had bought it at an estate sale in southern Wisconsin, but that does not make it from there.  Philadelphia marked locked.  Any thoughts?  Thanks in advance.

[Bob Roller]

Whatever it is or where ever it's from I like it. The work of a professional or a talented amateur
and a good piece.

Bob Roller

[Avlrc]

I like it.  I had a signed Z Sheetz,  fullstock percussion rifle , that was made by Zebulon Sheetz , while he was in In Monticello Indiana. Similar cheek.  Here is a pic.

[Shreckmeister]

I really like the unusual transition on the lock mortised forearm area in front of the trigger guard

[smokinbuck]

That's a Bodenheimer rifle from Fairfield County, Lancaster, Ohio. No mistaking that cheekpiece. He sometimes put that cheekpiece on both sides of the stock and sometimes he didn't use it at all. Very prolific and quality builder. There was a Sr. and Jr. and between them they were active from around 1824 to 1882. They also made spinning wheels. Nice find. Also a very nice wrist repair.
Mark

[Mike Brooks]

I had an Ohio rifle buttstock like that. The circular cheek piece finial ended with a piece of MOP about the size of a quarter. Never could figure out what happened to that buttstock, haven't been able to find it in years...

[Brent English]

Thanks for the replies and info.  A little googling of the Bodenheimer's came up with this info extracted from genealogy.com:

... Mr. Bodenheimer was a wheelwright (History of Fairfield County, Ohio p239 and Centennial History of Lancaster p72); Came to Lancaster in 1817 as a wheelwright - Changed to gunsmithing in 1837 - Introduced the first long range rifle and globe sights seen in Lancaster -died sometime in the fifties (Centennial History of Lancaster p340 -341); Was engaged in making spinning wheels at an early day (History of Fairfield and Perry Counties p192)....The 1859 Circleville and Lancaster (Ohio) Directory lists William and his son William as living on Mulberry between Columbus and Canal and the Northeast Corner of Columbus and Wheeling...

Other internet research says there was also a second son John that was a gunsmith. 

I also see there was what looks like an earlier Bodenheimer rifle posted on these pages back in November: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=37925.0

Found this about the lockmaker on justanswer.com:  Robert Biddle and William Canby Biddle were brothers who founded "R. & W. C. Biddle" in Philadelphia around 1837. The company later became the Biddle Hardware Company. They were, at least for a time, located on Market street in Philadelphia. R. & W. C. Biddle were importers and dealers in foreign and domestic hardware, cutlery, guns, and "heavy goods." The company made gun locks from 1847 to 1861.

Any sense from you fellows if this might have been made in the time period of Sr. or one of the Jr.s?  Stylistically to me it falls right in the 1840-1860 time period confirmed by the lock so it could go either way.

[Avlrc]

I had an Ohio rifle buttstock like that. The circular cheek piece finial ended with a piece of MOP about the size of a quarter. Never could figure out what happened to that buttstock, haven't been able to find it in years...

Maybe the termites ate it and traded the quarter coin size Mother of pearl for another piece of wood.

[smokinbuck]

Brent,
I'm guessing senior due to its being a full stock.typically the later rifles were almost all half stocks.
Mark

[homerifle]

I like it.  I had a signed Z Sheetz,  fullstock percussion rifle , that was made by Zebulon Sheetz , while he was in In Monticello Indiana. Similar cheek. 

AVLRC,  I thought about that Sheetz as soon as I saw the photo.

Someone was selling something  very similar a couple of years ago at a show I was attending. It had some mother of pearl on the cheek piece but the lines were close to this gun. 



 

[longrifle]

Pretty rifle I agree somebody made a nice repair to the wrist.

[Big Wolf]

That cheek piece is very interesting, what a pleasing feature.

[JCKelly]

Brent, I have that (attributed) Bodenheimer you referenced.

RIA sold a much fancier one recently:
http://www.rockislandauction.com/photos/59/p_standard/XQH46-S-CU2-L.jpg   

As did Cowans:   Lot 625, DeLuxe lady's squirrel rifle

 http://www.cowansauctions.com/auctions/item-unsold.aspx?id=173119       

All I know about the Wm B's I got from those auctions, the census, this forum and the Ohio Long Rifle guys Vol-iv-no-1-feb-1982         

So far I am just going through life ass-u-ming that every rifle I see with that swirly cheek piece is Wm B. Sr or Jr.

[Brent English]

I'm leaning toward the assumption that Sr made the relatively plain full stock I have and Jr made the much more refined half stocks.  As a side note, I'll walk around dozen or more normal gun shows basically wasting my time, and then something like this old rifle comes down the aisle and makes it all worth it.

[Mike Brooks]

I had an Ohio rifle buttstock like that. The circular cheek piece finial ended with a piece of MOP about the size of a quarter. Never could figure out what happened to that buttstock, haven't been able to find it in years...

Maybe the termites ate it and traded the quarter coin size Mother of pearl for another piece of wood.

My wife probably "put it away". I wish I could find where that was because I would find 1/2 of everything I own....

[JCKelly]

I suppose the next logical step is to figure out the source of this particular cheekpiece design. Was it an element of furniture design at that time? Are there Virginia Furniture guys here who would know?
Did Sheetz & Bodenheimer work together or apprentice to the same guy (Virginia?)
Looked through Albert Lindert's book, 4th edition, found no mention of Sheetz.
See no Indiana rifles in the gallery.
Avlrc do you mind saying what was your source of info regarding Sheetz? Any other interesting carving or features to your rifle? Sellers lists him as Hampshire County, Virginia, citing as his source Bowers, Gunsmiths of Pen-Mar-VA Which book I do not have. Whisker has some paragraphs in Gunsmiths of Virginia, 2nd ed
That is as far as I've looked.

One may do a bit of research on these relatively plain rifles. I like long dark rifles.