Identification help needed

[Hud]

This is one of my Late Uncle's rifles that I need some help with identification. 

It is obviously a Target rifle as it does not have any ramrod pipes or hole, the barrel is 1-1/8" across the flats straight 40" long.  .45 cal with .010 deep grooves.  The Lyman sights have been added later.  The furniture is silver mounted in a walnut stock, and very nicely engraved.  The barrel has "CAST STEEL" stamped at the muzzle, and "J.N. CASWELL JR." stamped in the stock behind the trigger guard.  Any information would be appreciated.

Thank you
Hud

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Caswell was a known NY gunsmith...I can't recall the location but I do have an original invoice for a special order gun that he made and soldin 1830's. Happy to email you a copy of the invoice if you contact me off line. I also know where another of his rifles are with a signed barrel.
Hurricane

[Levy]

I found a J. M. Caswell who carried out business after his father on State Street in Lansingburg, New York.  He carried on the business until 1836.  His father's name was Thomas Caswell (American Firearms Makers, by Carey).  That's a great looking rifle.  It looks like it should be put back on the firing line again.

James Levy

[Curt J]

The book The New York State Firearms Trade by Holman J. Swinney, compiled by Tom Rowe, Volume I (it's a five volume set) has so much information on the Caswell family gunsmiths, that I wouldn't know where to start. Pages 316 through 356 are all on the Caswell gunsmiths, and there were many, all part of the same family. John M. Caswell was born in Connecticut on Sept. 2, 1777, probably in Woodstock. Swinney list him in Albany, New York 1814-16; Troy, New York 1819; and Lansingburgh, New York 1820 -50 or later. He died September 4th, 1857. J. M. Caswell's shop was, during the 1820's and 1830's, the most important gunsmith shop in Upstate New York. It steadily employed 20 to 25 men, and was producing between twenty and thirty-six rifles per week in 1833.  There was also a J. M. Caswell, Jr., who worked at the trade as well. Information on him is scant, but he was born April 9, 1803 and died June 25, 1880 in Pontiac, Michigan.  This information barely scratches the surface of what the book contains. There are many pictures of Caswell firearms, all of superior quality.

[Dphariss]

If the barrel is turned round at the muzzle it was surely used with a guide starter and a cloth patched "picket bullet".
These became popular in the east about 1830. Since it has no loading rod it is very possible it used a picket bullet. It is also possible that it has been rebored or "freshed" if used a lot and may be of a larger caliber  and different twist than original. A lot of this was done in the 1920s and afterward when shooting ML rifles started to regain interest.
"The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle" by Ned Roberts might be of interest to you it will explain the picket bullet and many other things concerning rifles of this type.
According to Roberts J.M. Caswell of Lansingburg, NY was who Nelson Lewis, a well known and respected maker of target rifles in Troy, NY,  apprenticed under. Lewis used a gain twist exclusively. It is possible that your Caswell has a gain twist as well if it has not been re-bored.

Dan