Since moving to Lancaster, PA I have been enjoying traveling around the region and one of my favorite spots to visit so far has been Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop. This afternoon I made a visit and walked away with an interesting smooth rifle that sure looks like it could be a Leman. It sports an approximately 7/8" octagon 51 caliber smooth bore barrel that measures about 36" Long. The plain maple stock has a faux curly finish painted on the stock, much of which still is remaining. The triggerguard is brass and looks identical to Leman rifles I have seen elsewhere, as does the butt plate which is iron. The toe plate is brass. The barrel tang, trigger, and trigger plate are also dead ringers for others that I have seen pictures of. The ramrod thimbles are (unlike what Track of the Wolf states on their website), not cast but formed of thin sheet brass which can be seen by the seem in the photographs I took. The ramrod is tapered and has a sheet steel ramrod tip formed at the end. The nosecap also looks to be formed of sheet brass.
As for the differences from ones that I have seen pictures of it has a beavertail cheekpiece, no rear sight, and smooth bore. The lock also does not have a flat at the tail like some of the others that I have seen, but than again I have also seen pictures of Leman's with this style of lock. Just for fun I placed the rifle over one of the Leman rifle plans that TOW produces and though the barrel on this one is longer than the one on the drawing by a couple inches, the rifle matches up almost perfectly. The only differences were the locations of the upper ramrod thimbles.
Condition wise is actually pretty decent, there is some obvious wear and damage, but doesn't look like anyone has attempted a refinish, or any repairs on it. The only missing part is the lock washer that can be seen was the typical Leman shape, but it looks like the lock bolt broke at the tip some time ago and instead of repairing it properly the washer was removed and the wood dug out so the last little bit of remaining threads would be able to reach the lock. The lock appears to be pretty decent quality and actually has a half cock position. The drum and nipple are worn, but the bore looks to be very good.
One possibility that I was told at Dixon's was that this could be a rifle built by a Leman factory employee from parts from the factory rifles. The idea is that sometimes workers were paid in parts, or purchased them and built rifles using them. It wouldn't be too hard to imagine that that a factory barrel blank was used unrifled to make a shotgun and this would have negated the need to install a rear sight. I suppose it is also possibly just an assembly of parts from the Leman factory by an independent gunsmith. Not sure, but I took some photographs for you to look at, what do you think it is? When I get a chance I can provide more photos if anyone is interested along with stock measurements.
