Attic find information needed please

[T.C.Albert]

This is a little rifle in as found condition. It has has commercial lock pressed into service that doesn't really fit the mortise, so a leather gasket was nailed in to help it stay put...also notice the leather thimble nailed to the forearm for the ram rod I suppose. Im not sure why two barrel loops were left unless they held an under-rib? Or maybe it was a keyed full stock, but then why pour the nose guard and why wasnt a key used behind the nose guard too instead of a pin?

The hand hammered barrel is about 40 cal and 38" long with a 2 and a half inch squared tang. The barrel has a pronounced swamp and a coned muzzle , and many hammer marks. Stock is plain maple I believe. No toe plate, two piece butt guard, brazed with no rivet...

Its the trigger guard seems unique to me. Its made of iron...the grip rail and spur look hammered. Notice how the bow actually enters the trigger plate...The grip rail is held with a screw behind the spur...the trigger plate is held by the tang bolt...I hope someone can shed a little light on this characteristic especially...thanks in advance,
tc
    

[Dennis Glazener]

The first thing I noticed is the similarity the upper part of those triggers has to early Mathew Gillespie triggers. I have only seen that style used by either Mathew or his sons (again early ones).
The bottom part of both triggers are different but I have seen that style somewhere.

Nothing else on the rifle has anything I recognize. I wonder if its a restock.
Dennis

 

[T.C.Albert]

I half think it has been re-breached and slid back 3 or 4 inches in the stock...and a bad job of it done at that...theres an extra hole in the tang too...not sure why...someone wanted to shoot it pretty bad, and substituted ingenuity for gun working skill.  The leather ram rod thimble nailed under the fore stock is a new one on me. Maybe the rifle once had a tapered rod, and an un-tapered  replacement wouldn't slide in...but I still cant figure why the remaining barrel staples were left there ...wonder if leather thimbles were tied to them for the rod? Still, I think it must have been a full stock once upon a time.
tc

[Hungry Horse]

 This looks like several repairs, over many years of service. The original lock unloaded its mainspring through the bottom of the stock it appears. Although the triggerguard is quite plain, it's forward trigger bow entering the triggerplate is unusual. The recently discovered P. Wilson Longrifle has a similar feature. The set triggers show a high degree of skill in their manufacture unlike much of the rest of the gun. I suspect the gun may have been assembled using at least some recycled parts originally.

  Hungry Horse

[Levy]

Tim,  I have pictures of an iron mounted rifle that has very similar triggers on it.  the rear trigger's backward hook may have been filed off of mine because of clearance issues.  The rest of the rifle is very well made with some very interesting features.  No name on the barrel.  The buttplate is two separate pieces, not joined together.  there is a strap coming down from the top return and a strap coming up from the toeplate, but they don't meet in the middle.  Roger Sells knows of one other rifle that has this feature.   James Levy

[T.C.Albert]

Thanks guys...the triggers are really nice and still snap off nicely...I was hoping they were unique enough to suggest a region for their origins anyway...Im on a limb, but guess the triggers and guard, barrel sans tang, and butt plate belong together....the wood is likely a  restock like Dennis suspects...anyhow, I got a nice hand hammered barrel, triggers and butt plate for a project if nothing else...thanks again,
tc
   

[Shreckmeister]

I tend to agree that those triggers are very unique and likely could identify at least who made them. Interesting features for sure