Author Topic: Gunmaker W.B.C. (Read 8980 times)

Cedwards0131 · « **on:** October 13, 2016, 01:10:27 AM »

I recently acquired this antique long rifle and know very little about it. I've searched the internet high and low and finally stumbled across this place that seems to be the all knowing for this subject. I know it's a percussion half stock Penn/kentucky long rifle. It's got an Octagon barrel with a curly maple stock. It's got a unique oval shaped patched box that I have yet to see another like it. It has the initials W.B.C. on the top of the barrel and again on the lock plate. The lock plate also has some ducks and a single screw on the opposite side of the stock. I would post pictures but i have no idea how. Amy help is appreciated. Thanks

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 13, 2016, 01:20:01 AM »

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 13, 2016, 01:24:15 AM »

Hungry Horse · « **Reply #3 on:** October 13, 2016, 01:43:18 AM »

The cap box and the triggerguard are common patterns on early Leman rifles. But, the comb on your gun is too high for a Leman. The stock has a North Carolina feel to it. The lock may have been flint, or was converted to percussion before being used on this gun. It looks like it might have been either built from salvaged parts, or be a restock of a damaged gun.

Hungry Horse

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 13, 2016, 03:17:44 AM »

I'm not an expert by any means but I do tend to be a research fanatic. From what I have been able to research is that WBC was a small time gunmaker. One site said William B. Clawflin but I cannot confirm or deny that it is fact. I agree that it was a flintlock and converted but I'm not skilled enough to know other than logic tells me the W B.C. on the barrel was not done at the same time as the one on the lock plate. My assumption is that someone owned the gun and took it back to the original maker to have it changed or it belonged to the original maker. Several unconnected people have claimed to have seen these initials before but I can not find a picture or details.

Mike Brooks · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2016, 02:04:24 PM »

North Carolina. I'd have to get some books out to tell you exactly where.

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2016, 04:27:59 PM »

No rush on that but if you really have any details or facts about it I would greatly appreciate it! Or even steer me in the right direction of what books and I can go from there. I've been looking for weeks but have been limited to vague info on the internet. From what I can tell W Clewflin made excellent rifles as did his brother Daniel but I've yet to see a picture to confirm it is a Clewflin rifle. Only a quote and description on another site. rthabks for your help guys. Means a lot to me

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 13, 2016, 04:55:50 PM »

So also not sure if this sheild-like symbol is some type of identification mark or there to hold the stock together where it is cracked. Just thought I'd add it just in case. If it's there to brace the stock do I leave it or have the stock repaired? It's sturdy as is.

Levy · « **Reply #8 on:** October 14, 2016, 02:46:57 AM »

I agree with it looking like a North Carolina/Jamestown rifle. The inlays tacked on with large headed tacks is another trait as is the high comb of the stock. it's hard to tell from the photo, but if the barrel tang is long and has 3 holes in it, that is another trait of a Jamestown rifle. James Levy

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 14, 2016, 05:28:20 AM »

It does have a long barrel tang with 3 holes! Thanks! I didn't know that! So Jamestown North Carolina...ish. that's something I didn't know before!

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 14, 2016, 04:41:14 PM »

I'm still stumped on the W.B.C. Any ideas where I could find info on that?

crankshaft · « **Reply #11 on:** October 14, 2016, 10:42:39 PM »

BTW. Dixie Gun works sells that capbox, rough sand cast, a kit requiring finishing.

mbriggs · « **Reply #12 on:** October 15, 2016, 05:09:17 AM »

There were no Jamestown School gunsmiths with those initials.. Might be the owners initials. Not sure the rifle is from Jamestown. Would like to see photos of the barrel tang, side plate, and front site to know for sure.

Michael Briggs

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 18, 2016, 04:46:55 PM »

Several people have recognized the initials as proofmarks but couldn't put a finger on where they knew it from. however two said it is in books but didn't have them handy to tell me what books. You know, it's not their gun so nobody is really going to research it like the owner. I've also read about a few other similar pieces that have popped up at auctions with the same initials so even though it's not impossible to be the owner I still lean toward the maker by what I've found out so far. Could be the owner and maker is the same person. Not impossible.

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 19, 2016, 03:04:14 AM »

Michael what is the side plate? Is that the same as the lock plate? Going to take some more pics for you to help me out if you don't mind

Ky-Flinter · « **Reply #15 on:** October 19, 2016, 06:25:52 AM »

The side plate will be on the side of the stock opposite from the lock. The screws that hold the lock will go through the side plate, through the stock and thread into the lock plate.

-Ron

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 19, 2016, 06:11:39 PM »

Here's the one I have on my phone now. I'll take a pic of the front sight tonight and better of the side plate and tang if you need. Thanks again guys. I really appreciate you guys help.

Shreckmeister · « **Reply #17 on:** October 19, 2016, 07:05:05 PM »

You cut the important part of the photo off. Left of the sideplate is there another screw to the front of the panel opposite the lock?
So far nothing is definitively suggesting this was ever a flintlock. Killer hunk of wood.

Cedwards0131 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 19, 2016, 07:26:08 PM »

I'll get a better one when I get home this evening but off the top of my head I think there is only one screw. But I also haven't paid much attention cause I didn't know what I was looking for. I'll get some better ones this evening.

mbriggs · « **Reply #19 on:** October 19, 2016, 07:35:33 PM »

If W.B.C. made the rifle he did not train or work in Jamestown North Carolina, but he had seen a Jamestown rifle and liked it. The side-plate is not typical to the school. The wrist and cheek-rest are similar but not correct. I have seen and owned many Jamestown rifles with silver inlays, but not one that used the same shape inlay over and over.

The Jamestown School story is very rare. We can thank Jamestown for making the other eight schools in this state very rare as Jamestown put most of them out of business by 1840.

Jamestown is a small Quaker community that sits between the two larger but newer Cities of Greensboro and High Point. If you visited in the 1850's you would have found 50 master gunsmiths working in 40 gun shops in a three mile area, in a community that never had more than 500 souls. They mass produced thousands of rifles and sold them all over the Southern United States. They forced many gunsmiths that never lived in the County to copy their work. Henry Ledford of Davidson County last rifles, William Thompson of Alamance County, and Chordy Whiteheart of Caswell County all switched to making Jamestown rifles because it was what people wanted to buy.

My new book, "The Longrifle Makers of Guilford County," contains twenty letters written between Jehu C. "Jay" Lamb and his cousin William Lamb dating between 1859 - 1861. Jay Lamb traveled the South with a wagon full of Jamestown rifles. He stopped at every country store and took orders for Jamestown rifles. He would then write William Lamb and tell him what he had sold and where to ship the rifles. I found letters from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

Over a one hundred year period as many as 85 gunsmiths worked in this School. When the Civil War started in 1861 they formed seven Confederate gun factories making pistols, breech-loading carbines, and military rifles with as many as 6,000 total production. When the war ended they went back to making Longrifles. The last shop belonged to Solomon H. Ward and closed in 1902.