What counties in Virginia were considered to be in the SouthWest?

[R.J.Bruce]

I have spoken with Rice Barrels, and they have agreed to produce a Honaker pattern swamped rifle barrel in .58 caliber, as long as I maintain the same barrel wall thicknesses as the .45 caliber barrel in the catalog.

This will give a barrel as follows:

Breech   1.060"(0") to 0.972"(4") to 0.822"(24")
Waist  0.822"(24") to 0.822"(36")
Forebarrel   0.822"(36") to 0.882"(44")
Muzzle   0.882"(44") to 1.022"(46")

If I pair a .58 caliber Honaker, S.W. Virginia barrel, with one of Jim Kibler's new round-faced English flintlocks; what counties in SouthWest Virginia would one expect to find a rifle with those components on it?

Or, am I asking too broad of a question?

Thanks for your responses.

R.J.Bruce

[Elnathan]

That is a Golden Age/Late Flint barrel profile. Not a great fit for a round-faced lock, which are generally earlier.

Now, Ivey 30 and the Mic'l Humble rifle have fairly subtle swamps and date to the 1780s. Both have flat-faced locks, though, and neither are Virginia rifles (NC and Kentucky, respectively).

[R.J.Bruce]

That is a Golden Age/Late Flint barrel profile. Not a great fit for a round-faced lock, which are generally earlier.

Now, Ivey 30 and the Mic'l Humble rifle have fairly subtle swamps and date to the 1780s. Both have flat-faced locks, though, and neither are Virginia rifles (NC and Kentucky, respectively).

So, a Chambers Golden Age flintlock instead of the round-faced English lock to go with the Honaker barrel?

Or, more to the point, what Rice barrel patterns match up with the round-faced flintlock? Because, I really want to use the precision CNC lock from Jim Kibler.

[Elnathan]

That is a Golden Age/Late Flint barrel profile. Not a great fit for a round-faced lock, which are generally earlier.

Now, Ivey 30 and the Mic'l Humble rifle have fairly subtle swamps and date to the 1780s. Both have flat-faced locks, though, and neither are Virginia rifles (NC and Kentucky, respectively).

So, a Chambers Golden Age flintlock instead of the round- faced English lock?

Early Ketland would be my choice for a 1780-early 90s SW Virginia piece, Late Ketland (if it will work with a C-weight barrel) for a post-1790 rifle. Not a whole lot of Germanic locks on post-Revolutionary period southern rifles (though I think that there are a few.)

What era are you interested in?

[B.Barker]

If you like a longer barrel I would recommend Rice's 44" Dickert barrel. It would be a bit beefier than the Honaker or if you want a lighter rifle use his 38" transition barrel. Not all early barrels have dramatic taper and flare in them. Some had less swamp some had more. All that being said I don't know of any early SW Virginia rifles. If you are wanting an iron mounted rifle with a round face lock look at the rifle that is called the Holsten rifle by Gussler. Ian Pratt made a nice rifle patterned after it and it is on Art and Jans blog site.

[Elnathan]

If you like a longer barrel I would recommend Rice's 44" Dickert barrel. It would be a bit beefier than the Honaker or if you want a lighter rifle use his 38" transition barrel. Not all early barrels have dramatic taper and flare in them. Some had less swamp some had more. All that being said I don't know of any early SW Virginia rifles. If you are wanting an iron mounted rifle with a round face lock look at the rifle that is called the Holsten rifle by Gussler. Ian Pratt made a nice rifle patterned after it and it is on Art and Jans blog site.

The Brass Barrel Gun and RCA 145, the sister to the BBG, are probably SW VA. Don't know about RCA 145, but both BBG and the Old Holston Gun have barrels with a very pronounced taper with a subtle flair at the muzzle.

Then there is RCA 136, which is an early-looking iron mounted rifle which is largely ignored, probably because it is pretty ugly and no one can say where it comes from. Maybe SW VA.

[Mike Brooks]

If you like a longer barrel I would recommend Rice's 44" Dickert barrel. It would be a bit beefier than the Honaker or if you want a lighter rifle use his 38" transition barrel. Not all early barrels have dramatic taper and flare in them. Some had less swamp some had more. All that being said I don't know of any early SW Virginia rifles. If you are wanting an iron mounted rifle with a round face lock look at the rifle that is called the Holsten rifle by Gussler. Ian Pratt made a nice rifle patterned after it and it is on Art and Jans blog site.

The Brass Barrel Gun and RCA 145, the sister to the BBG, are probably SW VA. Don't know about RCA 145, but both BBG and the Old Holston Gun have barrels with a very pronounced taper with a subtle flair at the muzzle.

Then there is RCA 136, which is an early-looking iron mounted rifle which is largely ignored, probably because it is pretty ugly and no one can say where it comes from. Maybe SW VA.

Who decided those are SW VA rifles? And why?

[Elnathan]

Who decided those are SW VA rifles? And why?


Wallace Gusler, on the basis of the triggerguard design and the tang screw treatment, among others things. The triggerguard proportions show up in later rifles from that region and nowhere else that I am aware of, and the use of a woodscrew to secure the barrel tang is a southern thing later on as well. There are some other details too, but I forget what they are - you will have to talk to him. Gusler attributes them to Hans Jacob Honaker, which I am a little less convinced of, but seems like a reasonable guess to me. We know it was done by a European-trained gunstocker with a limited toolset and a background in folk rather than formal European carving designs, and a Swiss immigrant who did his indentures working as a joiner and took up gunmaking as soon as he was free fits the bill. If we could be certain that he was trained as a gunstocker in Europe, which would explain he switched trades once his indentures were paid off, then he'd fit perfectly, but as far as I know that is still supposition.

Gusler gets a lot of grief for attributing everything to Virginia, but I think he makes a pretty good case here. It is certainly a better case than any other I've heard yet.