"Just some old gun"

[A Scanlan]

At our club meeting last night a member came in with this rifle given to him by a 90 year old lady who said it belonged to their family.  It is in pretty good condition and never been "messed with".  Lock and triggers function.  A few cracks showing but still very sound.  No name other than on the lock plate and I think it is "? & W C Biddle & Co Philadelphia About a 40 to 43 cal.  Comments welcomed.

[Seth Isaacson]

Neat rifle. The lock marking would be "R & W. C. Biddle & Co." formed by brothers Robert and William C. Biddle around 1837 and continued for a long, long time thereafter.

[Hungry Horse]

 Boys and girls, I think we have a new record (shoes in every picture).

Hungry Horse

[A Scanlan]

But no socks!  And, they are not mine!

[Old and Grumpy]

Hope that grey thing is a gun sock and not a beard.

[Bill Paton]

Is that a rivet on the underside of the entry pipe? Any evidence of lightly engraved initials behind the rear sight?

Bill Paton

[A Scanlan]

Bill:

No rivet, just a surface feature of the pipe and no initials.  That area has been "buffed" some in an effort to see if there were any initials or name but nothing appears.

It's a pleasant old gun owned by one man for many years and used by him and probably is father or family.  It's real history is a mystery.

[Bob Roller]

Looking at the breech it makes me glad that non corrosive caps came along. .
I enlarged one of the pictures and that "gray thing" is fabric.
Bob Roller