AmericanLongRifles Forums

General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: A Scanlan on April 04, 2025, 03:25:45 PM

Title: "Just some old gun"
Post by: A Scanlan on April 04, 2025, 03:25:45 PM
At our club meeting last night a member came in with this rifle given to him by a 90 year old lady who said it belonged to their family.  It is in pretty good condition and never been "messed with".  Lock and triggers function.  A few cracks showing but still very sound.  No name other than on the lock plate and I think it is "? & W C Biddle & Co Philadelphia About a 40 to 43 cal.  Comments welcomed.


(https://i.ibb.co/FLrb946L/20250403-183447.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0R7jkyqR)

(https://i.ibb.co/sd459kk2/20250403-183450.jpg) (https://ibb.co/KpgNxRRX)

(https://i.ibb.co/RTGqMvyq/20250403-183454.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZzR0wLm0)

(https://i.ibb.co/qL914MmK/20250403-183504.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GfkP1vCy)

(https://i.ibb.co/CsB37M9T/20250403-183510.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k6Ks89DW)

(https://i.ibb.co/VckGDQ2q/20250403-183520.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4n0LMYPV)

(https://i.ibb.co/W4xXQ1Q5/20250403-183531.jpg) (https://ibb.co/xtCbyQyL)
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: Seth Isaacson on April 16, 2025, 12:23:50 AM
Neat rifle. The lock marking would be "R & W. C. Biddle & Co." formed by brothers Robert and William C. Biddle around 1837 and continued for a long, long time thereafter.
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: Hungry Horse on April 16, 2025, 03:15:51 AM
 Boys and girls, I think we have a new record (shoes in every picture).

Hungry Horse
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: A Scanlan on April 16, 2025, 02:41:07 PM
But no socks!  And, they are not mine!
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: Old and Grumpy on April 16, 2025, 06:48:59 PM
Hope that grey thing is a gun sock and not a beard.
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: Bill Paton on April 17, 2025, 04:39:22 AM
Is that a rivet on the underside of the entry pipe? Any evidence of lightly engraved initials behind the rear sight?

Bill Paton
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: A Scanlan on April 17, 2025, 03:25:58 PM
Bill:

No rivet, just a surface feature of the pipe and no initials.  That area has been "buffed" some in an effort to see if there were any initials or name but nothing appears.

It's a pleasant old gun owned by one man for many years and used by him and probably is father or family.  It's real history is a mystery.
Title: Re: "Just some old gun"
Post by: Bob Roller on April 19, 2025, 03:25:41 PM
Looking at the breech it makes me glad that non corrosive caps came along. ;D ;D.
I enlarged one of the pictures and that "gray thing" is fabric.
Bob Roller