Can you identify maker?

[Gene Carrell]

I recently purchased  this rifle, thought  to be an "Ohio". I later was told that it  may be a West Virginia rifle. It is unsigned. As to specifics, curly maple,  38" 3/4otf 28cal barrel with six narrow grooves. Indications are that the barrel has been cut and reduced by about 2" at the breech.  Somewhat eclectic in its decoration, but very well cared  for. The bore may have been freshed, because it shines like new. I would be interested if anyone has a clue who made it.

[msmith]

Kinda reminds you of some of Bensons guns from Fairmont West Virginia.He liked lots of aluminum inlays

[BGC]

Benson ?? Possible.
It has some characteristics of a Benson rifle. Color, flute on the nose cap, triggers, and amount of inlays. Other features such as lock mortise, the type of inlays, comb and cheek piece lead in other directions. Hard one to call. I think more research is needed and more comparisons made against the reference books out there.

[RobertS]

Aluminum inlays?  I would have thought nickel or german silver, but you learn something every day. 

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

The Benson in the Museum is quite similar. It also has aluminum inlays that match in style but not form. The trigger guard is identical and both have ebonized wood. Of perhaps much less significance, the locks are the same.

[BGC]

Although brass or German silver was the norm, aluminum was used especially by M. M. Benson. Back in the day, aluminum was an expensive and fairly rare metal most prized by some gunsmiths.

[Gene Carrell]

I tried to ask the question without 'leading'  the answer. An aquaintance told me that he  had a nearly  identical  rifle, w/o all the inlays, that  was signed Benson. Yes, the inlays are aluminum. and may be pinned with aluminum nails. I had not noticed the  material  before. It seems that  attribution to Benson of WV would not be too  much of a stretch then.  Incidently, it will still take a squirrel at 30yds with a 15gr load  of 3Fg pushing  a tightly patched .283 rb. Kind of neat being  in the woods with a rifle that old and using  it  for the purpose that  it was  built.  What a rush!

[Curt J]

Neat old rifle! I think it's safe to say that it is a Benson.  I have a "JAMES DONN CANTON ILLs" rifle that has a mixture of German silver and aluminum inlays. Aluminum was indeed considered a semi-precious metal in those times. Still being able to shoot a few squirrels with this rifle is like icing on a cake.  It may have been freshed out, but certainly couldn't have started out very much smaller than it is now.  Thanks for letting us see it.

[Dave C]

This is interesting. I had a rifle virtually identical to this, It even had the aluminum inlays. I never could figure out who made it but this was back in the 80's and no internet. The caliber is what really interests me. Mine had a 1-1/4 inch across the flats barrel and was only 25 caliber! I thought it odd to have that heavy of a barrel for a 25 caliber rifle. It was a tiny bore. It was also very heavy.
The lock was marked Goulcher like yours but on the underside of the barrel was stamped "Remington" which confused me even more.
It otherwise looked a lot like this rifle however.
Someone later told me that Remington made barrels for sale much like Golcher made locks and that the gun was somewhat similar to an 1850's version of what we do today meaning buy pre made parts (barrels. locks, etc) and assemble them.
I still never figured out the purpose of that huge heavy barrel for such a tiny caliber.
I should have kept that rifle but someone with enough money wanted it more than I did.