Handmade/gunsmith made/locally made flintlocks

[debnal]

Need some knowledge from the experts. When were gunsmith made locks made in North America? Was it a regional thing? I might guess that a gunsmith made losk was made later on the frontier than in the city. Wre they made into the percussion period?  Can you reasonably date a gun if it has a handmade lock?
Al

[JTR]

Al,
That's a good question and I'm sure you'll get many different answers.

I would think that hand made locks were more common earlier on, say up to about 1790ish, but expect that there were still made after that date as well.

There's a number of John Armstrong signed locks, Dickert signed locks and other makers as well. Bedford locks were handmade from the start to the finish of the Bedford rifle.

John

[flintriflesmith]

I believe there are a few examples of gunsmith made locks from almost every period of the longrifle. During the Rev War the supply of imported British locks was obviously interrupted. An example of a gunsmith made lock from that period is on the Walker rifle in Volume 2 of Rifles of Colonial America.

The grand John Sheets rifle in the Colonial Williamsburg collect was made in Staunton VA at about the time of the War of 1812 and it has a locally made lock.

At the other end of the time period are the Bedford locks John mentioned and isolated examples like the work of John Painter in Botetourt Co. VA who made his own unique style of lock well into the second half of the 19th century.
Gary

[flintriflesmith]

Does a signed lock unequivocally mean that the gunmaker made the lock?  Or is it another place where he signed his work?  We never can assume that a signed barrel was made by the gunsmith. ...

I think you are right in warning against automatically assuming that a signed lock was made by the same man who made the rest of the gun. Certainly the English tradition of the period is for the gunsmith to sign the lock rather than the barrel and we know lock making was usually a separate trade in England.

On the three examples I mentioned of Virginia rifle with locally made locks, none are signed. The attribution is based on style, quality, and some documentary evidence.
Gary

[JTR]

Given that a fair number of signed barrels also have a barrel makers mark or name on the bottom flats, I don't think the gunsmith was signing the barrel to indicate that he made the barrel, but that he made the gun.
As for locks, I would guess that signed locks are mostly gunsmith made locks, as there's not much other reason to sign them if he'd already signed the barrel.
If you look at the Signed John Armstrong locks, they don't look like the commercially made locks and appear to be of a high design and quality.

Perhaps a reason why some makers continued to hand make locks when commercially ones were readily available is simply because they could afford too.
Then as now, the Big guy gunsmiths knew who they were, and perhaps offered hand made locks on some guns, or at an extra charge... Shuler, Armstrong and Dickert were all prominent makers, and along with their more mundane pieces, made some very high end rifles as well. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a market for smith made high grade tuned lock then, and maybe even triggers and barrels, just as there is now.

John 

[Dphariss]

Apparently the Moravians made some locks as necessary.
John Armstrong rifles often have a variant lock plate shape. Maybe Armstrong was not satisfied with the import  locks he could buy. ??
The Bedford rifle lock shape seems to have evolved from Armstrong's elongated lock plate.

During the Revolution the entire economy was disrupted.
I have no doubt that the American gunsmiths and lock makers (door locks) were making locks for muskets and rifles alike IF they were needed. If they could get ready made locks so be it. If not I doubt they ceased production just because there were no import locks arriving.

It is obvious that they were capable of making lock internals and other parts, this was necessary for repair work. So thinking that any competent gunsmith could not make a lock is selling these guys short.
DID they? At times/places they obviously did.
Just like many today it is likely most would rather buy a good lock than make one.

Dan

[HIB]

This is truly an interesting subject. When considering all the possibilities don't overlook all the antique locks that have initials stamped on the inside generally near or above the mainspring. In addition, anyone studying the subject should include embargo data and determine who was a friend to the U.S. and when were they actively trading with us. This might shed some light on periods when custom hand made locks were the norm. Also, the gunsmith's location most likely had an effect on the availability of the foreign product.

I believe one of Joe Kindig's associates did some research on the various stamped initials found inside the lock. That material is worth another look.

Hand made locks have an appeal to the collector and fall right into the category of romance and a complete custom thought. It will be interesting to see who picks this topic up and carries it to a scholarly publication.   HIB

[spgordon]

In one of many pieces of autobiographical writing, William Henry III (1794-1878) writes:

"On the 10th of June 1807 I was taken from...school to learn the Gunsmith trade & work in the old factory & on the farm near my home, and for several months struck & blowed the bellows for Samuel Snyder--a locksmith, a test that required all the muscular strength I was master of, next followed the making of ramrod ferrills, wooden ramrods, triggers, side plates, bridgepins, screws of various kinds at the vize and then the filing of Rifle mountings, sword hilts and the like work, until the beginning of October 1810 when my brother Joseph requested my removal to Philadelphia where I forthwith commenced lock making under the instruction of David Maston, a master lockfiler and English workman. I acquired sufficient practical knowledge in about 3 months to pass my locks, both musket & Rifle, by the then U States Inspector Wm. Wickham. I boarded in my brother Joseph's family in Tamany near Kunkle Street. The factory was situated at the N West corner of Third and Noble Street, where Joseph had about 50 men employed in making Muskets, Rifles, and Swords."

This document, as well as many related ones, are held by Jacobsburg Historical Society in Boulton, Pa.

[mbriggs]

This homemade lock is on my David Grose "Early Deep River School" Longrifle.  It is the only Guilford County, North Carolina Longrifle that I have seen with a homemade lock.



There are a few Salem School Vogler Longrifles that have Vogler signed locks and are thought to have been made by the gunsmith.

Michael 

[TPH]

In one of many pieces of autobiographical writing, William Henry III (1794-1878) writes:

................... I acquired sufficient practical knowledge in about 3 months to pass my locks, both musket & Rifle, by the then U States Inspector Wm. Wickham.

Are you sure he didn't say "M.T. Wichham"? I am not aware of any US Inspector named "Wm Wickham" but I could be wrong. Maybe his memory was failing.

[spgordon]

Yes, you're right: M. T. Wickham was the person in question. (Sorry: I was copying from a transcription of the original manuscript.) Wickham appears again in the manuscript when Henry describes how corruption in the inspection office led to the Henry brothers having to default on their government contract. The federal inspectors offered to extend "our term of time" but only if "we should come over to side politically with the then Democratic administration." The Henrys refused but--WH III writes--"M. T. Wickham, a more willing tool,...offered to take our stock at a fair valuation and give us a thousand dollars, upon delivery of contract. This we were obliged to accept."

[TPH]

That very often happens, easy to do.

[G-Man]

The need and means to make locks here certainly occurred during the Revolution.  The Maryland State Archives contain a number of records from 1776-1777 regarding Samuel Boone, cousin of Daniel and Squire and the one who taught Squire gunsmithing, being the "overseer of the gun-lock factory"at Frederick, references to filled orders for gunlocks, as well as references to Samuel's agent to requesting on behalf of "Mr. Boon" to get paid for a batch of 156 locks that the state requested in 1776.  

Apparently he did not get paid (or got paid in de-valued currency) for much of his work and lost everything, which resulted in him moving to Kentucky later on.  He moved south and west to Chickasaw territory in the 1780s for a few years to work as a gunsmith there.  Squire went with him but moved on to Spanish territory and eventually New Orleans, where he worked for a while.  So I would suspect that if we could see a cross section of a good sampling of their work, we might see a few locks they made on rifles also by their hands.

Guy

[Curt J]

Although most Midwestern makers during the percussion period bought locks, I have rifles by at least two Illinois makers that definitely have locks made by the gunmaker. One is by G W WINN CARROLLTON, ILLs., the other is by D FISHER, who worked in New Salem, Pike County, Illinois. Both are fullstocks, and both have locks that are unique in appearance, unlike the "store-bought" kind.  There were also some gunsmiths here who made locks for other gunsmiths.  An example would be a lock marked "F. WIRSING No. 209" on a rifle by W. KELLERMANN CHICAGO; and locks marked S. AVIS (Samuel Avis) which I've seen on rifles by several other makers, including one by H E DIMICK  St. LOUIS.

I might also point out that Philip Creamer, who arrived in Illinois from Maryland in 1806, was particularly noted for the quality of his gunlocks.  These include both flintlock and percussion locks.