What kind of rifle for Daniel Boone?

[Mike R]

P.S., I don't think his father was a gunmaker as stated above, but his brother Squire was and a relative in Phila. who taught Squire.  Daniel also learned some gunsmithing.  Dan's father was a weaver. 

[Dphariss]

Those that thank that the rifles would have been plain should look to the carvings done in the stone of Squire's house.
These are very much like the folk art carvings found on some Colonial and later American rifles.
This was detailed in Tom Strohfeldt's article in " American Heritage" Vol 2 #2.
This material, and ALL the known artwork surviving from the house, is now in book form from Tom for those who did not get the magazine .

Dan

[Bob Roller]

There is in the Huntington WV Museum of Art an authenticated Boone rifle. It is in superb condition with a swamped or maybe tapered and flared barrel that is 51 inches long. It is 45 caliber and has a lock similar to the L&R Durs Egg. I have had this gun out of the case and it islong and light and IMHO,an import from Europe. I keep thinking it may be French. Whatever it is,Boone did no harm to it.

Bob Roller

[JDK]

I stand corrected.  (I just wish it wasn't Dan who did it )  Elder Squire was a blacksmith, weaver and farmer.  It was his son, the brother of Daniel, that was the gunsmith.  Guess I've spent more time reading about Daniel than his family.  Either way....he owned and lost allot of guns.  J.D. 

[Dphariss]

Squire and just about everyone else in his family has been largely forgotten or ignored because of Daniel's fame.
Squire was a significant figure in Kentucky history.
Dan

[Eric Smith]

It stands to reason that Dan Boones guns were, 1. probably after some fashion in Pa. due to his growing up the This ma liked to travel, hard to break old habits. 2. Strong ties to the area, 3. Dan Boone is known to have traveled from NC to VA frequently, for many reasons. If I were in VA and needed a new rifle, I don't think Pa would be too much of a hike. Dan Boone liked to travel. He went to Florida.

[G-Man]

According to Draper the relative that Squire Jr. apprenticed with was his cousin Samuel.   By the time Squire Jr.'s family met up with him again (they had temporarily removed from western NC during the late part of the F&I War) - around the late 1750s-1760 period, Samuel was working in Maryland near Georgetown, present DC.  Some accounts say Squire worked with him for up to 5 years. Samuel made gunlocks on military contracts during the Rev. War and ended up going broke, and then joined his family in Kentucky in the late 1780s. He spent some time making and repairing guns for the Chickasaw near Natchez.  Unfortunately, no surving guns by his hand have surfaced.  

So you have a family with ties to the Reading, PA area, that moved down the Great Wagon Road to western North Carolina before the F&I War, with some members being trained in gunsmithing in Marlyand and possibly Philadelphia prior to that - then moving back to Rowan County North Carolina.  So with regard to rifles, really any of them could have been carrying a rifle from just about from any region between eastern PA and the Carolina piedmont.  I would suspect that even in the cases of his rifles that were not lost, Daniel Boone's lifestyle would have been pretty hard on a rifle so I would also suspect that he was probably not carrying anything extremely old when first ventured toward Kentucly in the late 1760s.  Going with that line of thought, something either made by his brother or from a gunsmith from right around where he was living at the time - the Yadkin region - Rowan County or neary areas, would be as good a bet as any.  There were lots of gunmakers working in Salisbury by the 1770s.  

[54ball]

  The Bakeless biography mentions a few Boone guns, some in better detail than others.  Here is what I remember......

 Boone's first or at least one he had in is youth was reported as a English Short Rifle.

 The next Boone gun mentioned in any detail was the Ticklicker during the siege of Boonesboro.  The book may have described this Ticklicker's barrel length but I have forgotten it.  What I do remember is that it shot a one ounce ball.  So it was a 16 bore or around .69 caliber rifle.  What was mentioned in the book was that Boone was able to reach out and surprise Blackfish's warriors with this heavy rifle's range with a double charge.

  During this siege Squire Boone made a crude cannon out of a hickory log and iron hoops that lasted through two firings.

  The next Boone gun mentioned is a hobbled together piece he made from discarded parts in his escape from the Shawnee.  The book made the point that while Boone was not a gun maker, he had enough skill in firearms to make this contraption work.

 The next Boone gun mentioned in detail was the smooth bore he toted at The Battle of The Blue Licks.

 The final Boone gun mentioned is the "no count rifle" captured by the Pawnee.  Boone was upset that his son's fine rifle was taken but his was of "no count".