This is one of those "discoveries" a lot of us who deal with Kentucky frontier history strongly suspected, but never bothered to do the work to verify. It's great that Alan made the effort to get us off the old "standby" explanation for the name "Kentucky" rifle, and point us in the right direction, finally.
Alan's work has helped convince me that there really was a somewhat defined type of plain or working rifle, designed for low cost and harder-than-normal use, that was thought of as a "Kentucky rifle" in the eyes of early eastern arms merchants and pioneers heading to Kentucky in those days. If so, it must have been the most common type of rifle purchased for the trip west (for it to gain a common or nick name), and undoubtedly not adorned as were the the finer "golden age" arms. Perhaps they were/are some of the plain, unsigned early rifles we see, unsigned since they didn't inspire the maker or buyer, but still functional, efficient, and lower cost than the general rifle being produced in eastern shops. If so, it could help explain the early gunmaking industry in Kentucky, with its many "no frills" guns most often unsigned. The early guns made in KY probably reflected the true eastern-made "Kentucky rifles" first carried into Kentucky by its settlers. The tradition was continued for years in Kentucky, in Louisville particularly, as it produced many "plains rifles" for later settlers heading on out across the great plains. It's fun to speculate, now that Alan has opened the door for all of us. Shelby Gallien
