What is this Rifle?

[PRausch]

My Father had this rifle in his collection and I am not sure what it is?  The barrel has J HENRY & SONS on it and it is stamped US behind the trigger guard.
Just wondering what I have!?

[Gtrubicon]

I believe you have a very nice Treaty Rifle.

[Roger B]

Yep. A Henry rifle made for the US Indian Dept. It doesn't look as if it had much, if any, use.
Roger B.

[Kevin]

From the photos, this piece seems to be in very good condition.  It was made in the Henry shop in eastern Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s.  I'm recalling, hopefully correctly, that the Museum of the Fur Trade  ( https://www.furtrade.org/ ) has a very similar rifle in its collection and that some drawings and details of it are included in "The Trade Rifle Sketchbook" by Charles E. Hanson, III.

Take Care,
Kevin

[Gtrubicon]

Do you plan on shooting this rifle?

[Gtrubicon]

I would love to know anything about this rifle, how did your father acquire it?

[PRausch]

My Father collected, repaired and built a few Muzzle Loaders back in the 1960's.  He had roughly two dozen rifles of many types and sizes, all Muzzle Loaders no flint locks.  We would shoot some of them for fun when I was a kid and we made pistols once from scratch.  We lived close to the Log Cabin Shop in Lodi Ohio and got all of the pieces and wood from there.
Around the mid 70's he stopped collecting as he felt the prices had gone to high and he moved on to restoring Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
I have no clue how he acquired this piece.   I will probably not shoot it.  The pictures do not show but it is missing a sight just forward of the J HENRY mark.  Otherwise it is as clean as the pics show.
If there is any further interest in this rifle pleas let me know.

[PRausch]

A couple more pics.

[JTR]

If you do an internet search you can find more info on this model rifle, and a general idea of value.
John

[jdm]

These were seen quite often at gun shows and auctions in the 1970's ,80's and 90's.  they were bringing $250 to $400 back then .  Most were 36 to 40 cal. The biger bores were harder to find 45-50 and brought more money as they do today.  If I remember correctly only a few if any were ever given out to the native Americans .  I don't think there was ever any documentaion  found that they were actually Indian treaty rifles. Most are in good condition and show little signs of use. I think they are a neat part of history. Thanks for sharing.  Jim

[Bob Roller]

It reminds me of a long forgotten build I did in the mid 1960's.It was a 40 caliber with Bill Large barrel and my lock and triggers.
My inletting of the lock was much tighter but the plate was similar.No idea where it is now or if it still exists.Our art museum has
a much heavier Henry with a 1 and 1/8" barrel and I made a good copy of it in 58 caliber and mounted a barrel length Malcolm scope
I bought in Dodge City Ks,in 1960.It also had a Bill Large barrel and at 399 measured yards with a BALL it was easy to stay in the
9 and 10 rings using 90 grains of DuPont 3fg and a tightly patched .575 ball.This one had my lock and a single set trigger.
The odd yardage was measured by Clifford Partlow,now deceased and I guessed it at 400 yards and he measured it and said 399 to
the oak tree the target was stapled to.Cliff was always a hard case when measurement was involved. The range he measured was Bill Large's and he thanked Cliff for the time taken as I did.
Bob Roller

[jdm]

I was reading a little about these treaty rifles .There is some speculation they may have been contracted for limited use during the cival war but did not see use.    There also used to be talk among some collectors that the Native Americans had no use  for the small caliber rifles and traded them off fast.  More than likely just a bunch of guys trying to come up with ideas.  I hope this is of some value to you.  Jim

[PRausch]

   Thank-you all for your responses, I do appreciate it.

[PRausch]

Does anyone understand what the range in value of this rifle might be?
It is in very good condition and missing the rear sight.  I believe it to be 32 caliber?