I have come across another armed image with a percussion rifle that I am not familiar with. I am hoping that someone might have a clue as to who could have made it as was done so quickly a couple of weeks ago.
The image is a quarter plate ambrotype, from about the early to mid 1850s, of a man with some sort of Beerstecher type superposed half stock percussion rifle.
The device that is split around the forward nipple looks familiar to me. The thing with the v spring at the rear nipple appears to be a selector of sorts, or might swivel that nipple out of the way. Hard to see here, but it is attached to the barrel with a screw at the top of the spring between the hollow ring and that nipple bolster. It is much more clear with a loupe – this camera can only do so much. The rifle and close up are reversed; the full picture and cropped close up is as it is really. The extension for the front nipple is either one piece attaching to the percussion hammer or may be a two piece thing anchored to the barrel.
It is a wonderful image and I would sure like to figure out what the rifle is. It very well may be a gunsmith’s conversion of a regular half stock rifle. I’d sure like to hear if anyone has seen something like this. The rifle and close up have been reversed; the first two full images are as they are actually.
