AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: Dennis Glazener on August 22, 2011, 08:38:53 PM
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At the CLA show Ed Rayl has a 12-14 inch piece of barrel on display. There is a write-up telling where it was dug up. My memory is terrible but it was at a known encampment during the F & I war. It was found by a metal detector along with other relics of the same period. I was talking with Ed about it when a man that he knew that was familiar with the find walked by. Ed called him over. The man was familiar with the site and I think he was there when the barrel piece was found. His theory was that an Indian found the rifle and proceeded to shorten the barrel using a knife! Dropping the excess length there which was found later by the metal detector (shows how soft those wrought iron barrels were). Of course the forearm would also have been cut off but it could have rotted away. You could look at the end of the piece of barrel and see that it was cut on an angle similar to a bluntly sharpened pencil. You could still see the barrel was rifled, it was around .54 caliber if I remember correctly. Just a very interesting piece. I am sure Ed will have it on his table at future shows and its worth seeing and reading the info about it.
Dennis
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This barrel piece was dug at site of Dunbar's Camp (Braddock expedition), Jumonville, Pa. in the 1960's by
Howard McMurray, Washington, Pa. He sold it to Les Zimmerman of same city, and Les traded it to Rick
Rosenberger. Rick sold it to me, with the understanding that if I ever parted with it, would go back to him,
which is exactly what occured when I moved two years ago. Rick recently sold it to Ed. Both Rick and
myself are of the opinion it was filed off, and examination would seem to verify this. Whether done by
an Indian or a whiteman, it is nontheless a very interesting and rare item. The swamp of the muzzle is
one of the most pronounced I have ever seen. American?....foreign?....we"ll probably never know.
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Rick recently sold it to Ed. Both Rick and
myself are of the opinion it was filed off, and examination would seem to verify this
Thanks for the info. Ed was saying it had been filed off also. The gentleman that stopped by that was the relic hunter is the one that had the theory that an Indian probably cut it off with his knife. Guess an Indian with a file didn't fit his theory. I have no idea. It looks like a file but why would someone file it off at a remote camp. Guess we will never know. And yes it had a very pronounced swell (swamp) at the muzzle, much more than I would have expected.
Dennis
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Files were often listed in NA trade goods.
Barrel fragments from other sites show evidence of being filed off -- ncluding barrels from Point of Forks Armory in VA. I think we are spoiled by inexpensive hacksaw blades and the use of a file for many tasks was more logical in the period.
Gary
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At KRA this June, Ed and I compared it (and measured it with a micrometer) against the barrel of an early Virginia rifle and found the dimensions virtually identical. Both the extant rifle and the relic barrel are .54 caliber, rifled. An interesting artifact.