AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: Dr. Tim-Boone on February 21, 2012, 06:32:57 PM
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Over in the Antiques section Curt J posted some information about a builder from NY named J Caswell;
THE NEW YORK STATE FIREARMS TRADE,, by H. J. Swinney/Tom Rowe, has 22 pages devoted to John M. Caswell. It states that the most important gunsmith shop in Upstate New York, during the 1820' & 1830's, was that of John M. Caswell, in Lansingburgh. It steadily employed 20 to 25 men, and produced, in 1833, "from twenty-five to thirty rifles...and sometimes thirty-six" per week. Caswell was previously in Albany, 1814-1816, and probably in Troy, around 1819. John M. Caswell was born in Connecticut in 1777, the son of Thomas Caswell, also a gunsmith. There were other family members, including at least one brother, Solomon Caswell, and two nephews, Hiram and Eli, who were also involved in the business. John M. Caswell died on Sept. 4, 1857. There was also a son, John M. Caswell, Jr., who was for a time involved in the business, but there is little information on him. The New York book contains pictures of a number of J. M. Caswell firearms of all types, including several pairs of pistols.
"It steadily employed 20 to 25 men, and produced, in 1833, "from twenty-five to thirty rifles...and sometimes thirty-six" per week."
Even at 30 that's more than one rifle per person, per week!!
You think he had the process down???
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Not me.
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Read the terms of service for the the apprentices of the day, no trouble making a rifle in a week if you got a helper with 3 years experience working 16 hours/day with no complaints. LOL.
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Great set of books. A must read/see for anyone who enjoys early firearms and/or building. Must agree on the apprentice bit but was there only one???maybe more
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Did he import locks and barrels? if he had a production line which I'm sure he did they would still be busy fellows
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I think there must have been specialization.
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I wonder what the customer base was. I'm guessing the lion's share was a military or commercial contract which kept most of the employees at labor with just a few working on high end and custom orders. I can't imagine a local market absorbing that kind of production volume. but Its still pretty amazing.
I don't know the geography but they must have been on a major transportation hub to get supplies in and product out at reasonable cost. Let's see Erie Canal opened in 1825 as I recall and that opened a huge flow of settlers westward like a dam burst and really cheapened freight raes westward into the Great Lakes basin. maybe that had something to do with it
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I'm not sure when Remington set for making barrels, but they were a MAJOR supplier. Many NYS makers bought reamed tubes from Rem and did their own rifling. The afore mentioned canal system opened the Empire State up for business from the the inside out and back again.
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I don't know If I've ever seen a remington flintlock, (probably a few late ones out there though, maybe rebarrels) but in the percussion era they were Brownells and Track all rolled into one, barrels furniture, etc etc., then they got into gun building . . . . . . . . .
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Must agree on the apprentice bit but was there only one???maybe more
If I had to guess there would have been as many as could lay on the floor at night. Somewhere I have a copy of a British gunmaker's master/ apprentice agreement of the same time period and it shows how much folks back then valued education. They understood nothing including knowledge is free and that hard work was a prerequisite for existence/success.......................... woops slipped on my soap box