William Beck Half-stock Rifle, Mid/Late 19th Century

[Second-rate Marksman]

Up for grabs is a William Beck half-stock rifle in excellent condition. I believe this rifle to have been made sometime in the middle or late 1800’s.

When I initially purchased this rifle, it was listed as being a .45 cal. My calipers show that it’s more like a .44 cal, and it would probably do well with .430-.435 balls. Barrel has some light surface rust, but no substantial pitting to speak of. Rifling is strong. Although the stock has some minor nicks and dings, there are no cracks whatsoever and it is in excellent shape for its age. It’s my personal opinion that the stock has been refinished. Trigger is exceptionally light and is of the double-set, single-phase variety. The lock functions well with a positive half and full cock. Barrel appears to be marked “Remington” on the bottom flat.

William was the grandnephew of John Phillip Beck, a master gunsmith in Lebanon, PA. A rifle built by J. P. Beck was presented to President George Washington, and is currently exhibited in the Frazier Museum in Kentucky. I’ll be including an original document from W. Beck & Son with the purchase of this rifle. I’m asking $1,750 shipped for this fine piece. I accept most forms of payment, to include a number of electronic options.

[Angus]

What are the other aspects of this rifle that makes this an authentic antique?

[Second-rate Marksman]

Thanks for your inquiry. There aren’t very many examples of W. Beck rifles online; in fact, I’ve only been able to find a couple others after doing an extensive search. I’ve included some photos below of a similar W. Beck found in another listing, and you can see the stamping of the maker’s name matches perfectly between this example and mine. Levels of wear and patina on the barrel and hardware are consistent with other firearms from this period.

Insofar as the stock is concerned, you can see where the tarnish from the iron hardware has leached into the surrounding wood. You can also see heavy examples of grime in the barrel channel that were missed during the stock refinishing process.

I’ve reached out to John Beck, a descendant of J.P. Beck, and quite possibly the foremost authority on Beck family rifles. He agrees that this is a William Beck rifle.

[Second-rate Marksman]

Price drop to $1,675 shipped.

[Songwriter]

That would be the 19th century.

[Second-rate Marksman]

Whoops… that’s a little embarrassing! Thanks for the heads-up. I promise I’m not a total doofus—just running on fumes when I posted this ad. 😅

[Second-rate Marksman]

Reasonable offers considered.