L. C. No. 36

[Bill Ebner]

 I'm seeking opinions and comments on No. 16 in RCA. This is a smooth rifle marked L.C. No. 36. I think this is a great utilitarian piece that apparently, had a long usefull life.  I think the side plate is French and perhaps also, the butt plate? Could the triggerguard be English? I suppose with its' provision for a sling, it could be said that it saw military service.  And what type of lock was used?

 Shumway finds the stock interesting; with the use of cherry, the rounded cheek piece and the carving style. He doesn't offer an opinion of where or when it might have been built.  Does the profile of the stock offer any indication of where it might have originated?  To me, the carving in front of the cheek piece reminds me of a bunch of grapes.

 So, what do you all think?  I'd like to build a copy of this gun and would like to gather as much information as I can.

 Thanks,

 Bill

[rich pierce]

It's a very cool gun!  But not a clue, and am not sure it was stocked in America.  It would be fun to make, but hard to make up the story of the gun.  Some of the parts may be from the first quarter of the 18th century.

[Stophel]

Super neat gun.  I lean strongly toward believing it is Swedish.  VERY Swedish-looking stock form, cheekpiece and big scroll behind it (this type of cheek and scroll is almost universal on Swedish guns), and the Swedes did like their dog locks, and kept using them long after everyone else ditched the dog. 

I can only assume that it really is cherry wood, and not European Walnut (it can be surprisingly hard to tell the difference sometimes, believe it or not), but they did stock in "fruitwood" sometimes too, so it is not totally out of line for a European gun.

I can offer no explanation for the "L. C. No 36" marking.  Who knows what it is supposed to have meant... or when.

[Bill Ebner]

 Thank you for the replies.  When I read Stophels opinion, I thought it made sense, as there were settlements of Swedes in Delaware and I think, Eastern Pa. Perhaps it had been made there. Then I happened to find a discussion on this forum, from 2013, about an unknown wooden patch box gun, that looked very similar to LC No. 36--or the KIP gun. Stophel thought it too, was Swedish and presented links to other examples of Swedish guns, that all look similar. Alan Gutchess agreed  with Stophel and said that he had studied other examples and that there was no way in knowing when they arrived in this country.

 So-- a neat gun, in its' own way; but I think not documentable to being used here in the middle of the 18th century.

Thanks