New rifle From Friendship

[Darthur]

Hi guys,
 Picked up this new to me rifle yesterday at Friendship. It's a 45 cal. half-stock kind of like a Midwestern Indiana, Ohio type of gun. Most of the stock has nice figure, fit and finish but the wood has a sort of greenish tint to it out in the sunlight. The lock inlet is tight but they worked the plate down quite a bit to get it to fit and did not mount the second bolt.
 Not sure who made it. It has some writing on it. WM Large, and MA Dopson as well as "Yeller Rose of T." Do you guys think the WM. Large could be Bill Large? I have not ever seen a Bill  Large barrel myself so I don't know.
 The lock has SP stamped on the inside of it and what looks like factory engraving. It feels real nice and has very positive lock-up and a fly in it. I thought it might be some sort of Dixie lock.

[Dennis Glazener]

No question that its a Bill Large barrel I used to have one signed the same way W. M. Large. Sorry but I don't know the others.
I suspect that is a Russ Hamm Maslin lock.
Dennis

[EC121]

Looks like the screw is used for a mainspring stop.  Might be because the tumbler is too short to hold the mainspring.

***sorry EC121 I went to modify my post to add the info about the Russ Hamm lock and ended up adding it to yours by mistake. I hope I didn't remove any of your text when I corrected it.
Sorry
Dennis ***

[Darthur]

Yes that screw is being used as a stop for the mainspring. It seems to have been put there just for that as it has no other purpose that I can tell. I have couple of old hamm maslin's and an old cva import lock and after comparing to them the Cva  internals are nearly identical. Probably an import of some sort.
Good to know on the B Large barrel. It is extremely clean inside and has not been shot much at all. Perhaps MA Dopson was the customer's name. Did Bill Large make guns too or just barrels?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

That's a clever spring stop since there is no foot on the inside of the hammer to stop on the plate.  Except for the mainspring, it looks like a CVA percussion lock.  It's a nice looking rifle, by the way...looks like a nice shooter.

[Darthur]

Yes it's got to be a CVA. After I found an old CVA I had stashed I can see most of the parts are identical. I am guessing the SP stamped in there used to say SPAIN before they installed that stop. This rifle holds extremely well and is a good fit for me. Looking forward to shooting it and trying it out. It does have a very thick cheek piece though. With The "Yeller Rose of T." on the barrel I suspect it was originally made for a woman and the cheek piece was made to fit her. It has a full patent breech that is so well fit you can barley tell it is not all one piece, even on the underside.
 I traded a couple of revolvers that I did not have much in and a small amount of cash. Felt like I came home with a good deal.

[Don Stith]

Bob Roller might chime in since he was a friend of Bill Large
  It is my experience that  Mr Large took pride in stamping little messages to the purchaser of the barrel

 

[Bob Roller]

Bob Roller might chime in since he was a friend of Bill Large
  It is my experience that  Mr Large took pride in stamping little messages to the purchaser of the barrel

 

Bill had a habit of putting unwanted stamped messages on barrels.
That lock is a Spanish piece and part of the wprd "Spain" can be seen.
NOT a quality lock by any definition.

Bob Roller

[Mike Brooks]

I have stocked two longish Large barrels that were both stamped "OLD MAIDS DREAM".

[Darthur]

Thanks for the information guys. I am going to take it out and shoot it this week-end and see how it does. I do not really know much about Mr. Large or his barrels other than what I have read here. Any idea as to how I could tell how old the barrel might be?

[Mike Brooks]

Thanks for the information guys. I am going to take it out and shoot it this week-end and see how it does. I do not really know much about Mr. Large or his barrels other than what I have read here. Any idea as to how I could tell how old the barrel might be?

I believe he passed in about '86 or so. I believe his son or Grandson continued on for a short time after, but not sure for sure.

[Ky-Flinter]

Great score D.  Wm. Large barrels are coveted by many.  Looks to be a well made gun.

-Ron

[Darthur]

Thanks Ron
I am getting stoked to shoot it this weekend, that and my mountain rifle I have not shot in along time.

Mike, I was guessing probably built in the 80's sometime, thanks for the information.

[Bob Roller]

Thanks for the information guys. I am going to take it out and shoot it this week-end and see how it does. I do not really know much about Mr. Large or his barrels other than what I have read here. Any idea as to how I could tell how old the barrel might be?

I believe he passed in about '86 or so. I believe his son or Grandson continued on for a short time after, but not sure for sure.

Bill Large passed away on 23 September 1985 at 6:05AM in Mt.Carmel West hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
His grandson was too busy hanging around with pond scum to really learn barrel making or anything else
Bill tried to show him.His attempts to follow Bill fell flat and the shop was closed until Jim McLemore
bought it and moved all the machines and everything but the cobwebs to Indiana.

Bob Roller

[Darthur]

Wow,
 Sept 23rd is my birthday and in 1985 I was in Marine Corps boot camp for it. Not really connected but the date is significant to me. I turned 20 years old.
 I shot this rifle today, about 80 rounds on the 50 yard line. It groups very well even offhand but the groups are 1.5" high and 5"'s right. From the bench or off hand does not seem to matter, very consistent. I do not know if I can make that much adjustment laterally with the current rear sights. Some new ones might be in order, I did not really like the sight picture of them anyway. They appear to be the type of cheaply made stuff like you used to see back 30-35 years ago, made of material kind of like spring steel. I will probably just put a differ rear on and file the notch to match how the barrel shoots. For the elevation should be about right for 100 yards, however this is the only rifle I have ever had with a brass front blade and I just did not like it very much. all my other rifles have a silver blade and I can see them a lot better. I may change it out or just blacken it. Still a very nice rifle and was an really good deal for me. I will probably keep it.

[flinter49]

I believe you'll find that barrel to be a shooter. I have 3 of his barrels and very pleased with all 3, all shooters. My 54 cal. is stamped  "Grass Sandwich". I was told that Mr. Large named all of his barrels when he first started. I hope Mr. Roller reads this and lets know if that's true or not.