My greatest find - Zenas Alexander, early Mecklenburg N.C. gunsmith

[Tom Currie]

Michael, Congrats on your find and thank you for sharing it with us. I find the story and the rifle very interesting. 

[Sequatchie Rifle]

Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it, and the photos. Look forward to purchasing the book at the Tennessee Rifle show.

[wildcatter]

Michael,
Congrats on the find!! Glad you could acquire and restore it so that we can all study and learn. Awesome!!

[jdm]

A collector and historian saves another piece of our history. What a thrill for you! A thrill for us also to read the story and see the pictures. Thanks for your sharp eye. JIM

[BOB HILL]

Michael, What an exciting find this is. Thanks for sharing. I,as well as many others I'm sure, am looking forward to the publication of your new book.....Bob

[mbriggs]

I want to thank everyone again for their nice comments.  

There have been too many negative posts and comments on this board lately. I decided to write something that hopefully would be positively received and I am glad to see that has been accomplished.

I will attempt to answer some more of your questions.

[sqrldog] The barrel on the rifle is 47 inches long.  The top flat is 1/2" wide.  The caliber is larger than most I find in North Carolina, I would guess .48 to .50. I think the barrel does have a small swamp to it.  My guess is the rifle was made between 1795 and 1805. As I do not build rifles, only collect them, I often do not remember to get measurements.

[Bigwolf] Thanks for your comments on the current condition of the rifle.  That to me is the mark of a great restoration, when an object still shows patina and use, but looks to have survived in such great condition that you cannot tell it has been restored.  The rifle did start life as a flintlock, was converted to percussion during the period of use, and was converted back to flint as part of the restoration.  As I mentioned earlier, most of the rifle was still intact when found, but some of the stock was missing along with a thimble and the nose-cap. My restorer is very talented.

[MajorJoel] The term "stepped butt-plate" came from the restorer.  I had not noticed it until he pointed it out.  Arnie Dowd (who's comments have been greatly missed on this site) mentioned to me in an email that it reminded him of the "panel-butt-plates found on the [Wiley] Higgins rifles."  If one-side sticks out further than the other it is not by much.  Go back and look at the close up photos of the patchbox.  You can see a profile of the butt-plate in those photos.

Thanks again to everyone.

Michael Briggs          

[macr0w]

This is very interesting to me being that I am an Alexander who is a native of Mecklenburg co. The Alexanders on my dad's side of the family can be traced back to the 1700's in Mecklenburg co. I'm going to look at our family tree and see if I can find anything.

[yesterdayschild]

Is there anyway that we can see the pictures again?

[mountainman70]

Ok,what happened to the pics this time? geez Dave

[Hungry Horse]

 When I read the fine article that was the build up for the pictures I was very excited to see the photos, so where did they go? The pictures seem to have disappeared.

  Hungry Horse

[macr0w]

Yeah, me too.
Being an Alexander from Mecklenburg Co. I was very excited to find this article and disappointed to see all the pics gone.
Maybe I can find them on the internet somewhere. 

[WESTbury]

Excellent sales strategy Mike!

[mbriggs]

Kent, I hope that was intended as a joke.

If you spend a thousand hours researching and writing a book like this and then spend ten thousand of your own dollars to have it published would you still want to give it away for free?

Michael

[WESTbury]

I did spend 2005 to 2013 traveling to the Springfield NHS for research in their micro-film files, writing, and taking close to 2000 photos, while working a full time job as a machine designer and ultimately plant manager (retired at the end of 2011), for my book, which Dennis very kindly posted on this forum in Aug 2019.

Also, if you review my posts, you will see that I did post many of the photos from my copyrighted proof copy of the book, over the past year. I made sure I noted on the photos that they were copyrighted by me. If somebody gets some enjoyment and useful info from them, I am pleased.

I do not have any of your books, but I understand they are great. How you handle your material is strictly you affair. My interest in longrifles is limited to Lancaster. You can take my statement as a friendly ribbing from one author to another.

Kent

[Tim Crosby]

 Sales info on the book is now in "Recent Books":

    https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=65291.0