Rare St. Louis Plains Rifle

[hawknknife]

This Plains Rifle was recently purchased from an individual who walked into a gunshow with it.  The rifle was built by J. F. Dittrich is so marked on the barrel and the lock. The heavy 52 Caliber rifle has a 39 inch barrel tapering from 1 & 1/8" at the breech to slightly less than an inch at the muzzle.  The lock was made by T. Gibbons and is so marked with his name on the inside of the lockplate.  For the Hawken aficianado, Thomas Gibbons worked in the Hawken shop in St. Louis and made locks for the St. Louis Hawken.

The rifle weighs 13 lbs. and the horrendous period simulated wrist repair was done before I aquired the rifle.  I believe the trigger guard is original to the gun even though it is German silver and the rest of the fittings are iron with the exception of the pewter or tin forearm cap.

Dittrich is listed in the 1850's in the St. Louis census and he operated a gun building shop in the city.  At the opening of the Civil War, Dittrich moved to Mobile, AL, and made guns for the Confederacy.  After the war, he resided in New Orleans and guns by him are known with a New Orleans address.

This is an extremely high quality made rifle showing very little use but suffers from horrible storage.  This rifle is probably 50 times rarer than a Hawken made by Sam Hawken but just will not have the same demand and command the price.

[Rick Sheets]

Super plains rifle! A couple of questions if you don't mind...

The turned round muzzle, was that for a starter? Or just decorative?
Do you know what is under the simulated wrist repair?

Love the rifle.
Thanks for posting.
Rick

[hawknknife]

Rick, I think it was just decorative or simulate a false muzzle.  Under the repair is a checkered wrist, could have been done a $#*! of a lot better.  The stock is burl walnut with a lot of original finish.

[Rick Sheets]

Nails driven through the checkering... on purpose? aaaah. Do you think you will restore the wrist?
It is a true find as is. I am not trash talking your rifle at all.
Thanks again. We don't see a lot of plains rifles on the East coast.
Rick

[mr. no gold]

What a great find and you are a good guy for letting the rest of us in on it. Thank you!!!
There are some things you can do to minimize the depredations of the earlier restorers.
One would be to heavily brown the barrel and other ferrous metal parts to level out the rust pitting. They are not so obvious when everything is about the same color. The next thing would be to get rid of the wrist plate and go for a good restoration of the the wood in this area. Since it is checkered, matching the surrounding finish should not be an big problem.
If it is still possible try to get some history on the gun. With that, the value should climb since many collectors today prize history almost as much as the piece.
Wonderful gun and as rare as they get. We do thank you.
Dick

[longrifle]

That is one great looking gun !!! 

[hawknknife]

Rick , It will get restored but by someone with a lot more ability than myself.
   It walked into a Jackson, Ms. gunshow, was purchased for $300.00  from a lady from Mobile.  Any history on the rifle is now lost and I wasn't the lucky purchaser but did end up with it a week later.
   John Dittrich was in Mobile after St. Louis, he may have brought it as unsold stock or maybe his personal rifle as it is very high quality.  It did get the  navy jell treatment and has a lot of room to improve the metal.  I was told it was in an old canvas case.
   As Mr. Briggs stated, the metal needs a good even color finish.

[Ben I. Voss]

Fabulous find! Kinda hard to tell from a photo, but that looks like a blue finish between the rust spots- why not put away the naval jelly and ideas of browning or otherwise altering the metal and just preserve it as it is? Just an idea.

[oakridge]

Great find, Carl. Wish I had been at that show and caught it. You're probably right about that trigger guard. I have an original half-stock with a combination of German silver and iron mountings. Maybe they were just using up extra parts they had on hand. Are those long pointed side panels peculiar to Dittrich rifles? They certainly look unusual to me.

[T*O*F]

It walked into a Jackson, Ms. gunshow,

Well, I know it was good for you, but in general is the Jackson show a good one to attend as far as ML are concerned.  With the exception of the Civil War show, all the ones in the Memphis area are pretty crappy.

[hawknknife]

As a rule, the Jackson gun shows are about as bad as they come for the kind of items we like.  It is mostly modern guns, as a matter of fact, I have been through the entire show and not seen a longrifle or anything manufactured before 1890.
This was a rare happening when the Dittrich walked in. you mentioned the Memphis show,  an 1874 sharps walked in the door last fall and I was able to purchase it from the original buyer.
   Save yourself a lot of trouble and skip this show if you are looking for buying or selling antique guns...Carl Merck

[Curt J]

Great find! It is refreshing to see a St. Louis Plains Rifle by someone other than Hawken/Gemmer/Dimmick.  This rifle is definitely worthy of a first rate restoration.  That wrist repair detracts from this one a bit more than it might on some others, primarily because of the rifle's quality.  I hope you will consider submitting this very interesting rifle for inclusion in our Library here.

[Dphariss]

Very nice!! Very nice indeed.
Excellent workmanship.
Simulated repair?? Why would someone simulate a repair??
Note the broken TG and poor fit of the breech tang and the rear of the TG. I bet it broke for real.
Pics with the plate off would be of interest.
If its real I see little reason to change it.
I would lean toward the round muzzle being for a starter for a picket if it has a 48" or faster or a gain twist ending faster than 48.

Dan

[scooter]

I would like permission to use these photos. I have a manuscript on MO gunsmiths well started. jwhisker@embarqmail.com  Jim