b. t. rains rifle

[shortbarrel]

 this is a plain rifle (poor boy,shimmel) 29 cal., 40 and one half inches long, .945 across the flats, breach and muzzle, slight swamp. this is a barrel mill barrel. I take old barrels, bore ream and rifle then to put then on new build rifles, furniture sometimes all wrought iron and sometimes a mixture of wrought iron and brass. redid many barrels that i have bought, but never came across a barrel that had a brazed on bolster on the side of the barrel as this one has. any information will be appreciated. this a complete rifle in good condition, being a  shimmel.    thanks dick                 

[louieparker]

As for the brazed on bolster..I have seen those..Had a friend who had an antique rifle with one, until he decided to shoot it..When the smoke cleared his bolster was no where to be found ...I wouldn't think about firing that rifle.  When new it apparently worked fine, but with time and rust it failed...Louie

[Tanselman]

You probably have a Benjamin F. Raines rifle. He was a percussion era gunmaker at Greenfield, Indiana, and is best known for a couple of heavily silver inlaid later percussion half-stocked rifles. You rifle must be one of his earlier pieces, particularly with the swamped barrel of 40 inches. Is it a full-stocked rifle, as your description seems to imply? Jeff Jaeger of Indianapolis, IN, is an expert on Indiana gunmakers; I will contact him to see if he will respond and provide additional information on Raines. It would greatly increase the odds of his responding if you could post a couple of pictures of the gun, perhaps good views of both the front and back sides showing from the butt out to about 8 inches past the lock plate, plus the signature, so the gun could be more positively identified. Shelby Gallien in Indiana

[Hungry Horse]

 Years ago I shot with a gentleman that had an antique rifle marked Applebay on the barrel. It had a nicely made snail, that was forge brazed onto the barrel.He sot it quite a lot and never had a problem.

                  Hungry Horse

[Hungry Horse]

 While on the subject of Indiana gun makers, I would like any information on the gunmaker John Rogers of Elkhart Indiana. I own a late percussion rifle with his name on the barrel. But, the Elkhart Ind. stamp has been overstamped with the J.Rogers signature stamp. The story that came with the rifle ( there's always a story) is that the gun was built in Lakeport California in Charles Slotterbecks shop. The overstamping might lend a little credence to the story. I have no idea what John Rogers Indiana guns looked like to make a logical comparison. The stock architecture on my gun is very much like not only C. Slotterbeck, but L.C. Kersey, and B. Bigelow, as well, all California gunsmiths.  The cap box is mounted backwards in California style as well. Any ideas?

                     Hungry Horse

[Topknot]

shortbarrel, please post some pictures so we all can admire it.

                                               topknot

[shortbarrel]

if one of you kind gentlemen would post these pictures for me, i would appreciate it, don't know how to do pictures on ALA. snowing in the sunny south now, try to get pictures next week. thanks all ....dick

[Topknot]

shortbarrel, go to the tutorial section and there is a tutorial on posting pictures. By the way, where in the south are you from? Im from the heart of dixie, alabama.

[Indianarifles]

 
 I would also like to see photos of the Rains rifle. About fifteen years ago I added a BT Rains halfstock to my collection of Indiana-made rifles...it is still one of my favorites. Benjamin likely came to Hancock Co. Indiana in the 1840s. He first appears in the 1850 census with occupation listed as "Gunsmith".

The engraving on his silver inlays are folksy and whimsical. A hunting scene with hunter, dogs, and turkey fills one large inlay and a hunter, dog, and deer another. There is a large eagle engraved on the left side cheekpiece inlay. The rifle has a slender wrist and straight lines. The two cheekpieces are long oval shaped and the comb is high. Barrel is signed in script "BT Rains".

I have a short biography written on him and would sure like to see one of his "poorboy rifles"! Is the poorboy signed in script as well?

[Hungry Horse]

If I read this right, this is only an old Rains barrel, re-cut an fitted to a modern poorboy. Am I missing something here?

                     Hungry Horse

[shortbarrel]

it snowed in nc last saturday,about 2 inches in the piedmont region, yes this a complete old rifle, just took some pictures and am sending then to the fellow that studies indiana rifles. maby  he will post the pictures for all to see. what got my attention to buy the rifle many years ago, was the large barrel and small ca.. it is very muzzle heavy. hope all can see the pictures soon.......dick

[shortbarrel]

oops the fellow in indiana, don't have a e-mail address. i'll send them to someone else.

[Tanselman]

Shortbarrel, if you send the pictures to me, I'll pass them along to "Indianarifles" who is a friend of mine...we are both from Indiana.  Shelby

[shortbarrel]

tanselman i figured it out and got the pictures to indianarifles.  the rifle had two loads in it when i bought it, saved the two balls and powder. when i had the barrel out of the gun cleaning it up a bit, i noticed on one side of the barrel channel there was equal spaced black lines for about about 6 inches . on further examination i found it to be a excellent repair made from a maple ruler. has a t. davidson co. lock. the double lever set triggers were probably made by rains......regards dick