New web pages posted -- addressing various subjects.

[flintriflesmith]

This posting could also go under antique collecting but since I hear the questions it deals with from builders I'm posting it here for now.

There are a number of questions along the line of: What exactly is meant by a "Virginia Rifle?"  What did a 1750-60 Virginia rifle look like? Where is the James River basin, the Valley, Southwest Virginia, etc.? that come up time and time again. I thought I'd be brave, or foolish, and take a shot at answering several of them all on one web page.

http://www.flintriflesmith.com/WritingandResearch/WebArticles/VirginiaRifle.htm

While I had my Teflon coated armor on I decided to also tackle another opinion filled subject-- fantasy rifles.

http://www.flintriflesmith.com/WritingandResearch/WebArticles/FantasyRifles.htm


Comments welcome. Gary

[Old Ford2]

Great information!
Thank you
Old Ford

[heinz]

Since Mr Brumfield has his teflon armor on, I will expose my backside for a target.  I am on a project to build a rifle similar in architecture to the Brass Barrel Rifle with iron mountings.  Outrageous fantasy or legitimate interpretation?
I must also compliment Gary on these two excellent articles.
Heinz

[Bill of the 45th]

Thanks, Gary

[The other DWS]

ach!  now there's even more to read

thank you

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Gary's site and especially these articles should be considered for prominent notice/pinning at the beginning of the ALR forum or at least at the beginning of the Gun Building section. They, along with an annotated bibliography of the best books for learning about the period, school/geography of gunbuilding could help newly interested folks. I am sure many others, especially Eric Kettenburg's site should be included.

For the interested beginner this could be a very good primer prior to digging into the Antique Gun Library.

The body of knowledge is now so huge and yet still highly distributed that the study of this field reminds me of the saying "the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time". Bite size chunks are often helpful to the beginner...as long as they are accurate to best of the knowledge of those most learned in the field.

[The other DWS]

Tim,   I second that and hope the moderators can do something with the idea

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Gary, I read your work entirely, and am grateful for the information. 

[Ken G]

Thanks Gary!  Both articles were very informative.  
Ken

[smshea]

GREAT STUFF!

[Ed Wenger]

Gary,

I read both of your articles and enjoyed them greatly!  Thanks very much for the information.

Ed

[smylee grouch]

Very interesting and alot of food for thought. I have myself made what you would call a fantacy rifle. I made the thing partly out of necesity. I am a Jacob Kuntz nut but need a shorter rifle for the hunting that i do. In and out of a pickup truck going to various other hunting areas every day is not as handy with a longer rifle so i dreamed up this shorter barrel, half stock, flintlock with Kuntz/Phild. style . Not one of my hunting partners would ever know that i basterized one of Mr. Kuntz's styles.  Its not as pretty as a real longrifle but it is a great handling thing and shoots good too. I am in the process of trying to do more justice to the Phild. school and Jacob himself with another longer gun.  Gary

[Artificer]

Gary,

I truly enjoyed reading those articles and it cleared up some questions I've had for years.  Thank you for taking the time to write them and for sharing your knowledge.

I've been thinking about what you wrote that any pre 1780-85 rifle would be an early rifle.  I certainly don't mean to start an argument or challenge your experience, but that got me to wondering.

I know that much of the arms production during the Rev War was for muskets, bayonets, swords, pistols, etc.  What I don't know is how many rifles were made from 1776 through 1783.  If there wasn't a large amount of rifle production, wouldn't most of the rifles used during the Rev War actually have been made before the war began?   Following this line of thought, I always considered a circa 1765 through 1780 rifle as a "Rev War Rifle" and those made before that as an "Early Rifle."  

As a retired Marine, I have a tendency to break down history around major wars and conflicts and I realize that is often not appropo to many important historic events.   Maybe I'm using the Seven Years war and ealier rifles made here in the Colonies as the marker for "Early Rifles."   But perhaps that is wrong because there weren't enough truly "American" rifles that were distinctive enough from European or English rifles made then?  I ask this question because I'm not sure I have enough information on the rifles of that time period.

I'd be very interested in reading your thoughts and if I'm way off base, then I woud be happy to learn that.  

Gus

[James Rogers]

"Early" is such a vague and relative term. Although I prefer not to use the term, we all use it in some form or another to elaborate on subjects surrounding our hobby.
The term is also a very unique and profitable selling tool for muddying the waters of questionable/documentable items.

[flintriflesmith]

...I am on a project to build a rifle similar in architecture to the Brass Barrel Rifle with iron mountings.  Outrageous fantasy or legitimate interpretation? ...
Heinz

My reference to early rifles with mounts like those on brass mounted examples was in specific reference to the early parts sets being sold in cast steel for Lancaster, Christian Springs, etc. style rifles.
The brass barrel rifle has a lot in common with a later group of "step-toe" rifles made in Virginia that include some that are iron mounted. Based on that, I'd say an iron mounted rifle "similar in archetecture" to the BBR is not nearly as much of a fantasy as many iron mounted rifles are.
Gary

[rich pierce]

Those are well-considered frameworks for classifying original and contemprary work.

On the "Virginia Rifle" topic, of course everyone is going to want examples of specific original rifles.  But every "example" is an individual, and when we pose it as representing a group or class, we create stereotypes that narrow our vision.

[G-Man]

Gary - excellent descriptions on the geography of Virginia.  The valleys and the rivers were the paths of exploration, war, trade and settlement and the routes by which the gunsmiths and their products moved, both with their customers and connecting to new customers. 

In addition to the geography, another thing that muddies the waters when trying to learn about longrifles made in Virginia is the evolution of the counties - how some counties were created, then subdivided time and time again, so that period descriptions somtimes indicate two widely separated areas as being in the same county whereas today they are in different counties and would be regarded as different styles/regions/schools.
 
To me, one of the most fascinating, yet currently most misunderstood, regions is the area where southwest Virginia, northwestern North Carolina, and upper east Tennessee meet.  Settled before the Revolution, one can imagine the mixture of gunsmithing influences moving through this region in the 1770s-90s.

Heinz - good to see you here old friend!    Gary hit the nail on the head with the stepped toe issue.  There are surviving iron mounted guns from the 1790s that appear related stylistically to the brass barreled rifle, such as the MESDA gun and several others Wallace has featured in his articles.  Good luck on your project.

Guy

[horseman]

 I enjoyed it all VERY much!!  Thank you!

[Artificer]

Guy,

Excellent point about them changing county names and even making more than one county from an older county.  Some folks also don't think about in the time period of the ALR, what is now "West" Virginia was Virginia.  That was until the Yankee government illegally made a good deal of Virginia into West Virginia.

It gets even more confusing that Virginia must have had a very special Royal Charter and/or the Royal Governors successfully made some of the largest land grabs in history.  When you look at early to mid 18th century maps, most states claimed the lands to the immediate west of their borders as their "territory" unless another Royal Colony was already there.  Not Virginia!!  They claimed everything west of Virginia, part of what was west of North Carolina and everything west of what was then settled in Pennsylvania and even up a little higher than that into the old Northwest Territory.  George Rogers Clark took the fort at Vincennes, INDIANA as that was considered "Virginia Territory" by many at that time. 

I'm running into these problems as we have just discovered a branch of the family tree that had a bunch of War of 1812 veterans from the 4th Virginia Militia Regiment.  One used his veteran's land grant to get land in Illinois in 1832 and another used his land grant in Iowa in the early 1840's.  Though of course those land grants were considered "U.S. Federal Government" by that time. 

[flintriflesmith]

This link will take you to a web page that chronicals the evolution of Virginis counties from 1617 to 1995.
Go down the page a bit and select the year you are interested in. When you go back up to the map you will find the previous selection replaced by the year you selected.
I selected, one by one, and printed all the 18th and 19th century images as a reference.
Gary
http://www.myvirginiagenealogy.com/va-maps.html

[Artificer]

Wow, thanks Gary.  That will be a huge help for both rifles and to help me find more people in our family tree.  I really appeciate that.
Gus

[heinz]

Gary, thanks for the comments on the Brass barrel (like) project.  Also the Va map is awesome.  Especially once I figured out that the map was changing before my eyes while I was waiting for a link to open