AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: bcowern on December 11, 2010, 11:48:12 PM
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I have an American percussion longrifle about 40 calibre, that is 56" long overall with a 41" swamped barrel and weighs 9 lbs. The barrel is unmarked and the lockplate is marked H. ELWELL / WARRENTED. Over the years I have seen other longrifles with similar if not identical cheekpiece inlays.
I would appreciate any thoughts as to who might have made the rifle, when it was made, and where it might have been made. Thanks.
Regards,
Bradford
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It will be interesting to see the opinions regarding this fine rifle...which will probably include Pennsylvania and Ohio. The horse head patchbox was most often seen on PA and NY guns. I would speculate that this is probably a New York rifle. There are no clear cut identifiers, but the horse head patchbox was used there, as were similar silver cutout animal inlays. The small square forestock inlays and double rear spur on the guard also seem to be a little more in keeping with NY guns than PA or OH. Regardless, it's an interesting rifle with a great piece of wood in the stock. Shelby Gallien
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The patchbox and the inlays could have all been bought from a supplier ready to install. Some big hardware companies had pages of such stuff in catalogs after the Civil War and probably before.
Dan
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Looks to me like Shelby pretty well nailed this one down. It has a lot of NY state about it to my eye, too. The gingerbread, notwithstanding, the architecture and the marked lock pretty well underscore that it is an NY gun.
Some things about it that are out of the ordinary: super heavy duty architecture, and the unusually sturdy construction; An oddity is that the lock plate is oriented on a rather acute angle to the usual horizontal plane that most makers seemed to observe. The very short, thick wrist may account for this.
Wouldn't be at all surprised if this gun were not built as a western trail rifle. It would stand up admirably to the rigors of such use. Whether it made the trip or not we won't know, but it would have served well. It may have stayed closer to home and saw use as a heavy duty hunting gun; bears, moose and deer.
Not all Western guns had big bores tho legend says they did. In truth, the largest bored guns were the California Rifles which were made to bring down the CA grizzley bear. The calibers ran from .50 to .65 on the ones I have seen.
Have to remember, too, that eastern gun makers had not been out west and did not necessarily see anything bigger than a .45 as having utility, so they made smaller bored guns. Of course, in St. Louis, they saw things differently.
As to age, this one looks like it could have been made during the period of western expansion and the northern trail began up in NY state running west along the lakes.
Heck of an interesting gun and thanks for bringing it out for us to see.
Regards-Dick
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I agree it's a very nice gun. I have seen some Ohio guns where the lock seems to slant down to accommodate a short thick wrist but what caught my eye is that the lock seems to fit the mortise perfectly at the back, top, and bottom but is very short at the front. I wonder if it is the original? Seems like if it was replaced with such good work of fitting the lock why the front mortise was not filled in? Or it could be my 65 year old eyes are playing tricks on me. Great gun. Thanks for sharing. Jack
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GrampaJack
The lock fits just as nice at the front what you are seeing is a piece of surface wood flaked out, probably when somebody removed, as you said, a very nice fitting lock. Unfortunately this does not show up so well in the picture.
Regards,
Bradford
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I too would tend to think it is a New York rifle, or at least that it was made by someone who started out in New York, and moved west. Certain makers commonly tipped their locks like that, in order to make the triggers match up with wrist architecture that was different than most. This is especially true if the lock was on the small side. In any event, it's a nice rifle, thanks for posting it.
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The forearm inlays are also tipped. Does anyone have any thoughts on the cheekpiece inlay?
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Regards,
Bradford
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Here is the same commercial inlay on a rifle I posted a few weeks ago. I called it a turkey gun because I think the inlay is a turkey.
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