JH Johnston Rifle ( Pictures added)

[nvandal]

Good morning,
I just purchased a JH Johnston, Great Western Gun Works, Pittsburgh, PA half stock rifle. The condition is so fine that the gun almost looks like a new reproduction, but it isn't. It's silver mounted, with a perfect walnut stock, and the typical Johnston cap box. The lock is J. Golcher, and has all of its original case hardened finish. Double set trigger. The gun appears to never have been fired. The barrel retains around 80 % of its original varnish. Overall, the gun is around 90%, or more. Not a speck of rust or pitting anywhere. Crisp and shiny bore. Looks about .36, but I need to slug it to measure it more definitively. The cap box has never had any grease or tallow in it. However...the ramrod is missing!
So, what is my question? Well, it's a half stock rifle with only one key, but the barrel is 42 inches long. I've never seen a half stock with such a long barrel. Am I wrong in this thinking? Does the gun qualify as a Penn. longrifle? How unusual is this? Does anyone know of another JH Johnston with this barrel length?
I'd load some photos if I knew how to do so.
Thanks much,
Norm Vandal
Roxbury, VT

[OLUT]

Greetings  to Vermont from COLD New Hampshire .... In their 1871 catalog, Great Western states that their muzzle loading rifles, "usual sizes run from 30 to 200 balls to the pound; 7 to 9 pounds weight; 32 to 38 inch barrel. Any other size will be made to order, at short notice, and charged for according to the amount of extra work and cost of materials."     They also list "fine sporting rifles", including german silver mounting and barrels up to 40 inches for $17.50. Your gun sounds like a very nice, all original  late percussion gun. I have seen many Pittsburgh J H JOHNSON rifles, but don't recall ever seeing one with this special extra long (and unwieldy?) barrel length.

[nvandal]

Yes, very unwieldy. Perhaps that's why it was never shot! So, it must have been a custom gun, due to the silver mounting and the longer barrel. I plan on shooting the gun, but it's so @!*% muzzle heavy. If someone carried this gun around to shoot squirrels and such, he both deserved and needed the protein!
Cold NH? I had 16 below this morning. At least it's not windy, as it has been on many of these frigid days.
Thanks for the info,
Norm Vandal
Roxbury, VT

[Shreckmeister]

I've seen a few western PA halfstocks with barrels that long.  Usually they are light barrels 7/8th or so.  It would be interesting to see photos of your rifle.

[nvandal]

Can someone please explain HOW to load photos. I can't find any link or instructions on the site.
Norm Vandal

[OLUT]

Go to Miscellaneous tutorials under the TUTORIALS section....... instructions are given in the first listed article (but it is a REAL pain to do)

PS: J H JOHNSON opened his shop in Pittsburgh in 1865, so your gun is later than that date

[Ky-Flinter]

Norm,

Here's a link to the tutorial on posting pictures.  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=10.0

It's not that hard (once you know how   Here's the condensed version.  Upload your pictures to a photo hosting site, such as Photobucket, Tinypic, etc.  Copy the link to the photo that the hosting site provides, then paste the link in your ALR post.

-Ron

[EC121]

I also resize them for forums.  Tinypic has a resize option to be done on the upload.  Not hard once you do it a couple of times.  I put some pics on the site that took a whole page before I learned about the resizing.

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Pictures added