Silver Ramrod Pipes on SMR?

[Bob McBride]

Researching Whitson rifles among other NC/TN Appalachian rifles in preparation for assembling a Kibler SMR I occasionally ran across mention of an original rifle that had coin silver ramrod pipes. I am curious about why coin silver might’ve been used for that purpose. Seems like an unlikely special order item to me but I could be wrong. Is coin silver easier to work? Do you think they would’ve been original or swapped out later? Seems a likely less common customization/personalization I could do to the Kibler kit if period appropriate. (I have a 7 hinge banana patchbox being custom made for me and plan on a simple toe plate. That’s about it outside of aging.) Worth doing? Has anyone done this on a Kibler kit? Thoughts?

[nemovir]

Be bold, be different.  If you want to do it, go for it. It’s not like you’re putting a red dot on it.

[Bob McBride]

I’m not sure I want to be bold but a very little different would be good. I haven’t come across a picture though there was a post on this same subject long ago (the pics are gone) but the idea of a SMR with aged wood, heavily browned and lightly pitted iron and lock with silver pipes that have aged to a smooth uneven blackish that silver patinas into is appealing. If it happened originally, more than a one off, that is.....

[Hungry Horse]

This subject is very interesting to me. My grandfather was raised in Missouri, but very near the Arkansas border. As a boy he hunted with a muzzleloading rifle, made by an Arkansas gunsmith by his recollection named Wishon, who was originally from Western North Carolina. When I built my SMR about thirty years ago, I built it from his recollections of what his old SMR looked like. His was a very plain Southern squirrel rifle. But, I wanted to hunt deer with mine, so I deviated from his instructions in barrel size, and caliber. Although the gun had plain dark wood, and iron furniture, grandads insisted I add the silver rings on the ends of the iron ramrod pipes just like his old squirrel rifle. And it did have an entry thimble on the foreshock, but no tail, and just one silver ring on the front.

  Hungry Horse

[B.Barker]

There are some original iron mounted rifles with coin silver on them. However they are fancier than the run of the mill mountain rifles probably made for someone with deep pockets of the time. The ones that pop into my mind are a Kennedy rifle and a Georgia made rifle, can't remember the maker right now. Also there are some rifles made by one of the Gross boys, Alfred I think was the one. May be a Bull or two with silver on them. Coin silver was used for silver mounts because it was readily available if silver coins were around.

[BOB HILL]

As Brian has stated, coin silver was what was a available. Most silversmith work in colonial America was coin silver for the same reason.
Bob

[Bob McBride]

There are some original iron mounted rifles with coin silver on them. However they are fancier than the run of the mill mountain rifles probably made for someone with deep pockets of the time. The ones that pop into my mind are a Kennedy rifle and a Georgia made rifle, can't remember the maker right now. Also there are some rifles made by one of the Gross boys, Alfred I think was the one. May be a Bull or two with silver on them. Coin silver was used for silver mounts because it was readily available if silver coins were around.

I read specifically about a Whitson with iron furniture and coin silver pipes. Someone on this forum built a Whitson inspired rifle that same way. I’ll post a link to the thread from the search function.  I would expect a fancy rifle to sport silver, but a pain one using silver pipes made me wonder if there wasn’t something else to it.

[T*O*F]

[Hungry Horse]

Wiley Higgins, and Hiram Kennedy, built fancier southern guns. Both were from North Carolina, and both learned their trade there. They had shops near each other in Georgia, not far from the infamous Andersonville Confederate prison. Higgins is considered the premier Southern muzzleloading gunsmith, when it comes to high quality custom rifles, and pistols. Kennedy’s work was high quality, but more traditional, and not so high art.
 I think many Southern gunsmiths chose a specific feature that set their work apart from all the rest. Triggerguards are the most common example. But, buttplates, and side plates, also tend to represent specific smiths, or schools. Why not ramrod pipes? I think its possible.

    Hungry Horse

[Bob McBride]

Exactly. That’s what I was getting at. A plain mountain rifle with the ornamentation focused primarily on the pipes. Fascinating. Thanks for posting!

[Bob McBride]

Here’s one of the posts regarding a Whitson with silver wedding bands on the pies.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=40382.msg392404#msg392404

It is interesting to consider that, like the rifle TOF posted, simple stylistic upgrades that wouldn’t cost much such as a coin silver inlay in the box lid and coin silver pipes might have been more common , and more appealing, than say, a pewter nose cap.

[Marcruger]

It appears that some existed with fancy pipes for sure.  To my eye, the extra decoration looks a little odd on such plain guns.  On the other hand, it gives you a chance to share a story with folks, so that is good on its own.  God Bless,   Marc

[Bob McBride]

I don’t disagree Marc. Not having seen pics I imagined the dark grey aged coin silver in the same simple style as pipes you would expect on a simple rifle and the fact that they wouldn’t have pitted and stayed smooth they would still have looked appropriate on a simple rifle. It was the extra expense, in a simple design, on a plain rifle that confused me.

[Hlbly]

I am aware of five Whitson rifles. If there is another one around, I have never heard of it. I owned two of them. Four of the five have silver pipes. They are not “swapped out” or replaced, they are all original to the rifle. The only person who could tell us why he did it is J. Whitson.

[Bob McBride]

I am aware of five Whitson rifles. If there is another one around, I have never heard of it. I owned two of them. Four of the five have silver pipes. They are not “swapped out” or replaced, they are all original to the rifle. The only person who could tell us why he did it is J. Whitson.

Are most of these pipes simple or embellished in some way? The only Whitson I’ve seen had plain pipes.