Gun tools here and in England or Europe.

[jerrywh]

James town period was about 1620AD.  Flintlock rifles were made commonly until about 1820.
Almost all the locks on them were imported from England or Europe and I think it is safe to say that many of the tools were also imported.  It is safe to say that originally all the gun making methods or knowledge was brought over here from either England or Europe.
 It is logical to assume that if a tool was available in England it probably existed some place within the American Colonies Right. Is it then logical to assume that not one lathe existed in the gun shops of the English colonies when dozens of them existed in England and Germany in the 18th century. Yes that is a lot of assumption but it is also very logical. It is even more logical to assume that people here copied the English and the Europeans.

[tallbear]

Jerry there is no doubt there were lathes here.Some now at Winterthur Museum in Delaware as part of the Dominy Collection are thought to be 18th Century.While the Dominy's were not primarily gunmakers their ledger books show gun repairs and gunmaking.

Mitch

[rich pierce]

I think we may be talking about tools for best practices and tools common to small and large gunshops. It would not surprise me if Jacob Dickert's shop had a lathe and Fainot down the street in Lancaster did not.  Of course if hr dropped by with some donuts.......

[FDR]

What about the gun shop at Williamsburg ?  They have/had all the equipment to make a rifle very early on. I had an interesting discussion with the resident gunsmith last fall.  When I asked if he got his rough forgings from the blacksmith shop nearby I was politely informed that when it came to guns he could do anything the blacksmith shop could do ---- better!  He was making a lock from scratch at the time of our discussion. It looked perfect! I also looked at his barrel making lathe and rifling machine. Period correct I would guess.  Williamsburg began about 1690 I believe.

[okieboy]

" I also looked at his barrel making lathe and rifling machine."

 Their barrel boring machine would not be classed as a lathe, because the work (the barrel) does not rotate around its axis, it is rotationally still while the tool rotates which would make it a horizontal drilling (and reaming) machine.
 For making screw blanks, even a very simple lathe would be handy and making a cherry would be more difficult without it.
 How do they make cherries at Williamsburg?

[jerrywh]

  I still have a cherry I made the original way in 1960. I learned from an old blacksmith book written in the 1800's. some where I still have that tool and the cherry. 

[L. Akers]

Those guys at Williamsburg can do impossible things with just a forge and a hammer.

[FDR]

There is also a museum at Williamsburg that has a lot of the  original tools . Of particular interest to me was the clockmakers tools including his lathe.  If he had one you can bet the gun shop had one or more also. Or maybe not since the clockmaker used a lot of brass and it may have been easier to forge the iron screws required for a gun lock.  The video of the gun shop shows them forging their screws which is supposed to be period correct.