AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Contemporary Longrifle Collecting => Topic started by: daveg on January 26, 2009, 06:56:21 AM
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A few years ago I saw at a blackpowder shoot a couple of percussion rifles marked "Southgate" on the barrels. The rifles were plain and had Douglas barrels. Does anyone here have knowledge of this maker? Thanks.
Dave Gross
Way down east in Maine
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Dave,
If you do a search in the ALR Archives there is a lot of information on R. Southgate.
http://www.americanlongrifles.org/ (http://www.americanlongrifles.org/)
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Dave,
I had the pleasure of knowing Royland Southgate, and his brother Baily, when I lived in Nashville in the 70's. I believe Royland died in the early 80's, after I had left the area. He made rifles that he called the Tenn Maid in both flint and percussion and they were good shooters of decent quality. I still have one of his pistols, made in 63, in .38 caliber percussion. He was a real old timey character who kept a cigar burning while was talking to you and running a couple of different machines at once in his shop. He lived outside of Franklin, Tenn on a farm called Rebel Hill.
Mark
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The July '52 issue of the American Rifleman magazine did a nice article on Roy Southgate. It showed Southgate as a thin man with long dark hair, much in the style of a C&W crooner, and said he was 37 at the time. The author went on to say that out of a small 20 x 25 shop Southgate made entire guns, locks, stocks, and at least some of his own barrels (in lengths from 37-47", the former being the more common). Casting and case hardening were part of the normal operations, as well as horn and mold making. With two assistants, the shop's production volume amounted to about one gun a week. From the rudimentary pictures the guns appeared to be well finished and style-wise perhaps a step or two above what would pass for a flintlock in a big-box retail store.
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Right after Turner Kirkland died, i got in touch with Turners son . I bought a 3 piece set, Pistol , Rifle and a Horn made by Southgate. I guess they needed some money, they sold several of Turners collection back at that time . Any way one is #66 "pistol" one is #111 'Rifle" and the horn is dated and has the name for who it was made. They are marked Madison Tenn. before his move to Franklin.
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Sam: I have Southgate rifles #113, #135 and pistol # 424.
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Back in the 70's Dixie gunworks sold a number of Southgate rifles in their quarterly gun catalogs.
Centershot
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The pistol that I have is #635, unless these eye are playing tricks again.
Mark