Author Topic: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added  (Read 5582 times)

Stevenlisa_1

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Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« on: March 15, 2019, 05:35:08 PM »
I am in possession of a .45 half stock Ohio rifle that was supposedly built by Dick Ryan of Ohio. I recently learned of his passing and never had the chance of meeting him to verify he was the builder. I am hoping to run across another member in here that may have know Mr. Ryan and maybe of his rifles. The one that I have does not have his name on it anywhere. I will attach a few pictures later today.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2019, 08:06:23 PM by Stevenlisa_1 »

Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2019, 08:09:28 PM »





















Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2019, 08:16:14 PM »
This has a 32 3x4" Douglas barrel with a false muzzle(?) and I'm not sure of the maker of the rear peep sight. If I remember correctly,  the man I got this from said Dick Ryan was from Washington Court House, Ohio.

Offline smokinbuck

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2019, 12:27:37 AM »
Don't know anything about Dick Ryan but it looks like a nicely done offfhand rifle. Are you sure it has a false muzzle or is the barrel turned for a starter. Big difference.
Mark
Mark

Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2019, 04:34:50 AM »
I believe you are right. It is a starter. It's very well balanced and shoots as well as any centerfire rifle I own at 100 yards. I really hope I can run across at least one member here that knew of Mr. Ryan. Or maybe has another of his rifles.

Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2019, 04:41:14 AM »
Here's a couple pictures of the end of the barrel....








Offline Don Steele

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2019, 02:16:43 PM »
That’s a real beauty..!!!
Thanks for sharing. Hope you get it back on the offhand line.
Look at the world with a smilin' eye and laugh at the devil as his train rolls by...(Alison Krauss)

Offline Daryl

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2019, 09:15:56 PM »
Not false muzzle, but guide bullet starter for shooting cloth patched picket balls.
The old style picket balls were slightly elongated projectiles, pointy on the nose and quite rounded or rebated boat tailed base, having
a very short bearing surface in the middle to facilitate using a cloth patch.  Due to the short bearing surface on the elongated projectile
it was very difficult to load the bullet perfectly in line with the bore's axis, thus a centrally holed bullet guiding device that fit over the
barrel's muzzle was used to seat the bullet into the bore, straight. The rod could then push the bullet down the bore keeping it straight
as the end of the loading rod should fit the design of the bullet's nose. The guide starter is then removed from the muzzle, gun capped
and fired.
A false muzzle had rifling marks in it, not just a bullet guide.  The rifling in the false muzzle aligns perfectly with the barrel's rifling, thus
the bullet is rifled in the false muzzle and presented into the barrel perfectly aligned and grooved.
False muzzles generally have 4 pins sticking down, that when placed onto the muzzle, the 4 pins enter 4 holes in the muzzle. An attached
blinder (disk on a post on the short starter) sticks up in front of the front sight to warn the shooter the false muzzle is still on the gun's muzzle
 & not to fire until it is removed.
The use of a false starter allowed the muzzle of the gun to be perfectly sharp, which was thought to be the most accurate shape for a muzzle in
those days, and indeed, up until about 1990, whence an 11 degree muzzle shape was thought to be even better.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2019, 11:59:24 PM »
Daryl,  thanks for the information. I never really knew anything about false muzzle or the bullet starters. I've seen them but really didn't understand what they were for. This rifle shoots a patched roundball like nobody's business. I can't imagine it shooting better. But I'd really like to find out. Are the bullet starters universal or are they barrel specific to the indents at the end of the barrel?  And,  are the elongated bullets still to be found?
« Last Edit: March 17, 2019, 12:18:05 AM by Stevenlisa_1 »

galudwig

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2019, 05:36:23 AM »
I knew Dick Ryan as a fellow shooter at the Columbus (Ohio) Muzzle Loading Gun Club. He also started a small shoot at the Paint Creek Coonhunters Club in western Ross Co. (Ohio) and I shot with him there several times. Dick was a great shooter and shot at the National Matches at Friendship since the early 1970's. What I will always remember about Dick was how very kind and helpful he was to new competitors like me. Dick actually lived near Sinking Springs, Ohio (southeast of Hillsboro). He still has family in the Hillsboro/Peebles area. He was well known for building accurate target rifles.  He ran Fort Hill Gunstocks and shaped gunstocks from locally sourced lumber. Dick also had a booth in the sheep shed at Friendship for many years where he sold his gunstocks.  He eventually sold his gunstock business to Virgil Otto who now does business as Gunstocks Plus in Oxford, Ohio. You might want to get in touch with Virgil as I'm sure he could give you more info and/or get you in touch with the people who could give you more insight on Dick's work. Dick passed away on July 4, 2016.

Offline diamante

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2019, 05:42:59 AM »
I remember Dick Ryan as having a business that sold pre-carved muzzle loading stocks near Hillsboro OH. This was in the 1980’s. For many years I would see him at Friendship and he would shoot the small silhouettes with a full stock flinter with a Rex Maxey .29 caliber barrel if I remember correctly. He was a very nice guy.

Offline Top Jaw

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2019, 04:14:46 PM »
I also knew Dick Ryan.   I’ve seen a handful of rifles that he made through the years.  He may have signed some in later years, but without a signature, there is no way to know for certain.  Most were percussion and the flintlocks were typically later period guns, so this one falls into that category. Since he sold stocks and had access to good wood, and had his own drying kiln, his guns typically had good figured stocks, which this one does.  Dick was first and foremost a shooter, and has been said, a very good one.  So he primarily made guns to be shot at matches.  So most were plainer guns with very good components and good wood like this one.  I don’t think he had any touches he added to guns that were unique to him.  I have seen a couple that were carved and engraved flintlocks.  So this one fits the profile.  That’s about as much as can be determined.  Should be a good shooter.

Offline smokinbuck

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2019, 03:09:48 AM »
Daryl,
Read with interest your description of the "false muzzled" and ""bullet starters". I believe this rifle is a round ball rifle and the starter was just that. I have several RB rifles with starters and they are used to short start the patched ball and then removed before the the ball is seated. The starter in this case consists of a cup the fits the turned muzzle and a plunger used as a short starter would be. Can't post or would show a picture.
Mark
Mark

Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2019, 04:07:52 AM »
I sure wish I had the starter for this rifle. That would be the icing on the cake. Listen,  I just want to say "Thank You" for all the help you guys have been. And I really appreciate the compliments on the rifle.  It sounds like Mr. Ryan was a really good guy and a heck of a shot. I would love to see that .29 caliber. If he did indeed build the rifle I own, he created a rifle that shoots true and, to me, is absolutely beautiful. I wish I had the opportunity to tell him face to face. May he rest in peace. I will follow up with a few suggestions that were made by you gentlemen that knew him. Thanks again guys.... And, keep your powder dry and your sights straight.

Offline Daryl

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2019, 10:10:11 AM »
Daryl,
Read with interest your description of the "false muzzled" and ""bullet starters". I believe this rifle is a round ball rifle and the starter was just that. I have several RB rifles with starters and they are used to short start the patched ball and then removed before the the ball is seated. The starter in this case consists of a cup the fits the turned muzzle and a plunger used as a short starter would be. Can't post or would show a picture.
Mark

Exactly - I thought I wrote all that in my post, but see that I did not. I might have had too much medicine when I typed that out. :o
You guys nailed it.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Bob Roller

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2019, 04:01:03 PM »
45 caliber,guide starter.WHAT weight 45 caliber bullet or is it a BALL?IF there is a really
heavy bullet like one over 350 grains there can be a safety issue here because of the
drum and nipple I see here.I have a lot of experience with long bullet muzzle loaders
and so have others probably on this forum. I doubt if ANY of them would ever think of
using a drum and nipple on a gun using a Creedmoor load of 90+grains of black powder
and a 500+grain bullet with such a breech arrangement. The potential and maybe even
the probability of the drum blowing out is quite high if this gun is using such a load.

Bob Roller

Offline Bob Roller

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2019, 03:39:04 PM »
I was hoping for a response on this issue.Is it a round ball gun or
is it used with a heavy elongated bullet??

Bob Roller

Offline Bob Roller

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #17 on: March 24, 2019, 04:01:24 PM »
I was hoping for a response on this issue.Is it a round ball gun or
is it used with a heavy elongated bullet??

Bob Roller

I am still waiting for an answer. Is it BALL or heavy BULLET?

Bob Roller

Offline smokinbuck

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #18 on: March 28, 2019, 08:01:05 PM »
Good question Bob. I'm only guessing but from the architecture, sights and the fact that it's a light offhand rifle I'd say it's a round ball rifle. Only guessing!
Mark
Mark

Offline flinchrocket

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2019, 10:21:20 PM »
In reply #8 he says it shoots a patched round ball.

Offline Daryl

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #20 on: March 29, 2019, 09:14:05 PM »
Yes- that's what I read as well, flinchrocket.

"Daryl,  thanks for the information. I never really knew anything about false muzzle or the bullet starters. I've seen them but really didn't understand what they were for. This rifle shoots a patched roundball like nobody's business. I can't imagine it shooting better. But I'd really like to find out. Are the bullet starters universal or are they barrel specific to the indents at the end of the barrel?  And,  are the elongated bullets still to be found?"

Guide bullet starters became popular, very popular & somewhat necessary as the switch from round ball, through picket bullets, into hollow-based bullets & normal FB bullets - most of which in 1800's still called "conical balls".

Remington sold barrels, shipping them coast to coast. Back in the mid 1800's a picture was taken of the target shooting members of the San Francisco Target Rifle Club - most of those rifles had Remington (maybe others too) barrels turned for guide bullet/ball starters.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline smokinbuck

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #21 on: March 29, 2019, 09:44:42 PM »
Sorry fellas, didn't pick up on the round ball comment. Actual "false muzzles" are barrel specific as they use pins for alignment and match the barrels rifling. "Ball starters" are not necessarily barrel specific if the cup fits the muzzle and of course they are the correct caliber.
Mark
Mark

Offline Gordy

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #22 on: April 28, 2019, 03:18:10 AM »
I have one of Dick's rifles I believe. it's a full stock .32 caliber, a Douglas Barrel. It has a DGW perrcussion lock. It has a beautiful piece of curly, finished out in German Silver. Yes indeed Dick did some very nice work. Another one of the true craftsman.

Stevenlisa_1

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Re: Dick Ryan - Ohio Rifles....pics added
« Reply #23 on: October 15, 2019, 02:22:59 AM »
Gordy,  I sent you a few PM's not sure if you're getting them. I'd really like to take a look at your Dick Ryan rifle. My email is stevenlisa7406@gmail.com