Patch box on a plain rifle

[Dale Halterman]

I am working on a very plain rifle, poor boy, barn gun, hog rifle, whatever you want to call it.

The plan is not to have a buttplate, sideplate, or entry thimble and the stock is very plain. I am going to use a set trigger, however.

The question is, has anyone ever seen such a rifle with a patch box of any kind, other than a grease hole, of course? I have this image in my mind of a patch box with a pivoted wooden cover attached with a screw, but I don't know if I dreamed it up or if is was real.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Dale H

[Gaeckle]

I haven't seen any patchboxes on a plain rifle, have seen grease holes. I did see an old antique owned by Ken Netting that had a metal swivel patchbox affair and the stop was a nail driven into the stock. It was a half stock percussion rifle with brass hardware. The patchbox was sheet steel.

[BOB HILL]

Check Bill Ivey's book on N.C. rifles. The ones shown there are pretty confined to one region of N.C.  Hope this helps.    Bob

[Stickburner]

I am far from being an authority on plain guns but I suspect a simple pinned trigger would be more common.  I am curious about why you decided to use a set trigger.

A properly designed and installed simple trigger can provide very light pull, little creep and over travel, and a minimal loss of wood and strength in the lock area.

[Mike Brooks]

I am far from being an authority on plain guns but I suspect a simple pinned trigger would be more common.  I am curious about why you decided to use a set trigger.

A properly designed and installed simple trigger can provide very light pull, little creep and over travel, and a minimal loss of wood and strength in the lock area.

In my experience, most all of the "poor boys" I have seen have set triggers.

[rsells]

I agree with Mike that the poor boy rifles I have examined in my part of the country (TN) all had set set triggers with no entry pipe or butt plate.  All of the poor boy rifles I have built used set triggers.
                                                                                                          Roger Sells

[David R. Pennington]

RCA vol II #137 is walnut stocked rifle iron mounts no butt plate and sliding wood box.

[Stickburner]

I stuck my neck out and posted what seemed reasonable to me instead of doing the research first.  This was not my first mistake nor will it be my last but I did learn something for future reference.

What type of triggers were common used?

[little joe]

No. 137 is a good example and so is the square barreled  rifle, however both of these are early rifles and he was not very clear on the desired era.

[David R. Pennington]

I forgot about the square barrel gun. I loosely based my walnut .62 on it only with an oct./ rd.

[rich pierce]

No. 137 is a good example and so is the square barreled  rifle, however both of these are early rifles and he was not very clear on the desired era.

137 is nicely stocked but the maker wasn't superb with making iron mounts. A good example of a gunsmith not having all the skills fully developed.

[Dale Halterman]

Thanks for all the responses.

Mr. Allen, I originally  thought just as you did that a single trigger would be more appropriate, but in the last two months or so I saw pictures on this site of at least two rifles with no buttplates but with set triggers, so I decided to try it.

Thanks for the tips on RCA #137. I like the idea of a sliding path box cover rather than a pivoting one. What is the square barrel rifle? I have heard of it but have no idea what I looks like. Are there any pictures on the web?

Thanks again

Dale H

[David R. Pennington]

The square barrel rifle I know of is pictured in George Neuman's book titled Weapons of the American Revolution. (pages 140-141) The pictures are small black and whites and show little detail. The gun has no butplate, or tailpipe. It does not have a box, just a grease hole. I had a full size plan of it I think I got from Log Cabin Shop years ago. The barrel breech is square instead of octagon for the first 9 or so inches. The book says the barrel is 39 1/4" x .66 with 8 grooves, iron furniture  and 54 1/2" overall weighing 7.1 lbs.