Upper Susquehanna Rifles

[Nate McKenzie]

Can someone who is familiar with Upper Susquehanna rifles tell me on average about what proportion of the side barrel flats and the ramrod is revealed on these guns? The few that I have seen seem to be more than half revealed like a Lehigh. Is this common? Thanks for any answers.

[California Kid]

Maybe Don Getz will chime in here, as he knows those guns pretty well. I don't think they are as drastic as a Lehigh. At least the ones I have seen.

[Don Getz]

Nate.....just walked out into my living room and looked at a Joe Long I have hanging out there.   Without measuring, it
has slightly more than half of the barrel flat showing above the wood.    I can't imagine anyone criticizing someone's
gun for a stock being made with at least half of the barrel flat showing.............Don

[Loudy]

Nate,

I took a close look at a few of my original Snyder County Laudenslager rifles this morning.  The side barrel flats are consistently more than half exposed.  Below are photos of a rifle built by Sam Laudenslager.  It's very typical.  The rifle photographed is a 45 cal. smoothbore (may have been a bored out rifle barrel of smaller caliber).  The barrel is 0.983" wide at the muzzle.  It's pretty much a straight barrel with no apparent swamp.  The side flats are approximately 0.364" wide.  Just behind the nose cap there is 0.197" of barrel flat exposed above the wood.  This measurement is fairly consistent clear back to the breech.  It sounds like Don saw about the same on his Joe Long rifle.  Regarding the ramrod channel, at 0.130"-0.140" it is fairly shallow.  The inside diameter of the ramrod pipes on this rifle range from 0.362"-0.367".  Approximately 2/3 of the pipe stands above (or below) the channel exposing much of the rod.  I hope you find the information helpful. 

I would enjoy hearing more about your project.  There are not many builders recreating Upper Susquehanna rifles.  What are you using for hardware?  Where you able to find good castings?  I've found it difficult to find parts that look right.   

Mark Loudenslager






     

[Don Getz]

Mark......your statement about Snyder County furniture is true, no one makes any.....not even Reaves.   About 35 years ago I built a copy of a Joe Long.    There are many things not right on it.    I used a 13/16" barrel on it, which is too small,
and, since I was building a shooter, I put a Hadaway flint lock on it.....this really jumps out at you since it is totally incorrect.   I did a pretty good job on the patchbox, and the inlay up over the comb....a fun thing to do.   But, I did get a
good trigger guard for it.   My brother had a Joe Long rifle, so we took the guard off and made a plaster mould of it, then
poured pewter into the mould.   I took one of these down to a foundry in York and they made seveal "loose" sand castings for me, they turned out real well.    I have one of those pewter guards laying here in front of me right now.  Will
have to do something to maybe have a few cast.   As for my copy of a Joe Long, it is now over at the Packwood House in
Lewisburg and will be part of a display starting on the 13th of June.......Don

[jwh1947]

Also, note the amount of ramrod and thimble that is showing on most originals.

[Nate McKenzie]

Thanks all. I'll post pictures when I'm done. Reeve's butt #5 and tg #49 are very close to a gun marked JW that I worked on and built a copy. Right now I'm building one Using Dave Keck's Driesbach stock, butt and tg castings. They are right on for what I wanted. Also using Getz barrel and Chambers late ketland lock with the tit ground off.

[Loudy]

Nate,

I look forward to seeing photos of your project.  Reaves' #11 triggerguard works okay for the Snyder County guns that I make.  However, I end up having to take a lot of brass off of it to make it look right.  I've used his #39 buttplates.  It took me awhile to figure out how to make the two-piece riveted entry pipes.  Did the "J.W." rifle you worked on have this feature?  The riveted entry pipe seems was used by a many of the Upper Susquehanna makers. 

Good luck,
Mark       

[Nate McKenzie]

Mark. No rivets in trigger guard on JW rifle. My original pictures of the JW rifle are here:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=10446.0

[Loudy]

Yep,

I recall your original post and the speculations regarding whether or not it was built by one of the Wetzel gunsmiths of Snyder County.  What I couldn't see from your photos was whether or not the entry pipe was of two-piece riveted construction.  Not the triggerguard.  The entry pipe appears to be traditional single piece construction but you can't tell for certain from the photo.  No big deal. 

Mark   

[Nate McKenzie]

Oops! I meant entry pipe not trigger guard.

[bdixon]

Nate, have you finished the Driesbach yet, I am considering a stock from David Keck this winter.


Thanks


Brett.

[Nate McKenzie]

Yes. I'll put pictures in a new thread.