please help me id my target rifle

[Joelaw99]

http://s379.photobucket.com/albums/oo234/joelaw99/

     please help me identify my rifle.  its .23-.25 caliber (not slugged yet) it has OHIO GUN WORKS hand stamped into the top of the barrel.  it has silver front blade sight soldered to a copper dovetail.  The butt plate is steel and shotgun/musket style.  entire rifle is approx 40"  barrel about 24"  wood has shrank around the poured nose cone. everything looks original and fit and finish is correct w/o any obvious additions....I have already done web searches for ohio gun works....  I believe its 1870-1890 era...
                                                                                         Thanks, joe
can someone tell me how to post the pics?

[smokinbuck]

Joel,
I have checked my "limited" library and find no listings for OHIO GUN WORKS. Looks like a well made and cared for rifle that may not be as old as it would seem. You might want to turn the front sight around.
Mark

[Tanselman]

Although it appears it could carry a full charge, the short barrel, target sights and very small caliber give the impression of an Ohio "parlor rifle" shot indoors with caps or minimal charges at wall targets inside of bars or saloons. Most such guns were made by German immigrant gunsmiths in larger American cities with significant German populations. I have seen one from Cincinnati, but it was a more conventional style with the cap seated in an opening in the barrel about half way down the barrel toward the muzzle.  Shelby Gallien

[Bob Smalser]

What a neat find.  Congratulations.

I'm sure even today in Southern Germany one occasionally finds evening air rifle shoots in rural Gasthauses.  Back when I was there in the 1970's-80's it was all offhand at 10 meters, often using older, house-owned, Schutzen-style heavy .177 pneumatic rifles.

If you were the coach of a service rifle team with a few hotshots with swelled heads, these were a great curative, as an air rifle @570fps and reversed recoil requires a degree of follow-through unnecessary in a high-powered rifle @2700-3200fps.  There's nothing like getting your eye wiped (and wallet emptied) by a lineup of ancient (and tipsy) local farmers to encourage a bit more dry-fire practice breaking those offhand shots.