iron vs. brass furniture...which is earlier

[VALongrifle]

Hi guys...this may seem a stupid question, but why do I always read that brass furniture on a longrifle or fowler indicates earlier manufacture than iron...especially in frontier guns.

I would think that brass...being expensive and having to be imported into the colonies,and iron being a material that could be worked by a blacksmith without the need for imported natural resources, would be the natural resource for early frontier gunmakers.  I recognize the Lancaster traditions stemming from the earliest jaegers and "transitional" rifles (a term I really don't like).

What do y'all think?  Thanks for your thoughts and opinions...
Pat

[Pete G.]

Brass is much easier to fabricate into complex shapes due to being sand cast. Perhaps that is why so many early European guns used brass initially and the American guns, for the most part, just  followed suit. An apprentice was taught a certain way to build a gun and if the master said that you build a gun with cast brass from the foundry, then that is what you did, and in time taught your own apprentice the same method. Without access to a foundry or the equipment to do your own casting you had to improvise and use materials at hand, i.e. forged iron.

Pure speculation on my part, but it seems logical to me anyway.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Well, here are come characteristics of brass that seem to make it more amenable to cottage industry, less likely to spark and ignite gunpowder. looks like gold...etc that mak be part of the explanation of why gunsmiths seemed to prefer brass for gun decor..........

    Brass   
Composition   Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc.   
Properties   Higher malleability than zinc or copper. Low melting point (900 c); flows when melted. Combinations of iron, aluminum, silicon & manganese make brass corrosion resistant. Susceptible to stress cracking when exposed to ammonia. Not as hard as steel.   
Uses   Decorative; Low-friction applications (locks, gears, doorknobs, ammunition, valves); Plumbing/electronics; Musical instruments for acoustic properties; Zippers & uses where it's important to negate spark(fittings & tools around explosive gas).   
Color   Muted yellow, somewhat similar to gold, but duller.   
History   Brass was first known to exist in about 500 BC   

[Acer Saccharum]

In Europe, iron chiseled furniture was a sign of quality, far more expensive than cast silver or brass. High end guns typically had elaborate iron mounts. The cost was in the labor and skill levels used to produce the hardware.

When you come to America, most sporting/utilitarian gun furniture was cast brass. Iron furniture produced in the Americas is more often found on Military arms.

[galamb]

From what I have read on the subject, brass was relatively cheap early on. Yes much of it was imported but the production costs in Europe (including the shipping were far cheaper than the labour costs in the colonies.

(not my area of interest but also remember reading that England controlled the production of iron in the colonies for a good while prior to the Revolution).

The cost to pay a (smith) to fashion iron furniture was substantially greater than the cost of obtaining brass from a supplier.

So perhaps contrary to what you may think, an early "iron" mounted rifle would have cost more to produce than a brass mounted one.

For those truly wanting a "poor boy" (or "common mans" rifle), brass and not iron would have been the more "economical" way to build it.

If you build an early iron mounted rifle, it would have been "owned" by someone who was "better off".

[VALongrifle]

Gentlemen,

OUTSTANDING information and I greatly appreciate what each of you contributed.  I learn so very much every visit to the forum...it never fails to impress me with the level of expertise, and the willingness to share that knowledge so freely.

My thanks to you all.  I hope to see you at Dixon's...

Stay off the skyline,
Patrick