I have a fine full-stocked rifle from the central Bluegrass region of Kentucky that has an "oddball" lock and I am trying to figure out what the original lock was. Note the very short front end to the lock, as well as the lock mortise. Similarly, note the short nose on the lock bolt plate on the back side, indicating a very short original lock. The gun has a provenance back to its original owner in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and the provenance states the gun was purchased originally as a flintlock... and later family members held/hold to the same belief. There is a vent pick hole in the toe of the butt, about 1,25" deep and dirty, which strongly suggests it was originally a flintlock, and the gun dates to about 1820 or shortly thereafter despite its single lock bolt... which appeared in Kentucky about 1820.
The current lock is a period replacement for the original, a reworked percussion lock with its nose shortened and mainspring made smaller. The replacement lock slightly enlarged the original lock mortise but is generally about the size of the original lock. In discussing the gun with experts, the possibility of an early pill lock was suggested, perhaps explaining the short nose. But I've never seen another pill lock rifle from Kentucky in all the years I've been chasing and researching Kentucky guns. Do any of you have thoughts about this rifle's original lock, how it could have been so short on the front end, and could it possibly have been flint as the family maintains?
Shelby Gallien
