This rifle is signed on the top barrel flat as "G or C" then a small 0 then
"B". The barrel is swamped approx. 1.062 at the breech, .850 at the
smallest point and .940 at the muzzle. It is 47 inches long and
approximately .44 caliber. It is iron mounted. The butt plate is 1 5/8"
wide and is 4 7/8" tall.
The rifle is shown on page 8 Figure 2 and page 9 figure 3 of Robin
Hale's "Tennessee Rifles" paper presented at the Fall, 1970 meeting of
the AMERICAN Society of Arms Collectors at Houston TX. In the booklet
Mr. Hale credits the rifle as being one of the "earliest iron-mounted rifles
which I've encountered"
The rifle has a short tang (2.50") that is tapered to a point. Unlike
most southern mountain rifles the tang bolt goes through the wrist and
into the trigger plate. There is faint engraving on the trigger guard.
Note the trigger guard extensions are squared and not rounded like many
TN rifles.
The iron side plate is also faintly engraved but can not be seen in the
photographs.
The length of pull, to the front trigger, is 14.75 inches. The drop at
heel is 3 3/8 inches.
There have been strong opinions on the area where this rifle was built.
Some say its from the Rowan County area of NC. Others firmly believe it
came from East TN or South West Virginia.
The last 14 inches of the forearm has been expertly replaced, Almost
invisible from the outside but very obvious when the barrel is removed.
Its possible that this is a very early re-stock but if that is the case
the stock/hardware are well matched.
Comments:
This is a fine, and interesting rifle. The architecture (slight Roman nose) and hardware (including guard, tang and rear trigger shape) do not suggest Tennessee to me as much as SW Virginia or Western Carolina. But I'm not sure gunsmiths always worried about where they were working geographically at a particular time so long as they could find customers.
