Antique Rifle

[Nate McKenzie]

Here are some pictures of an old rifle I recently acquired. Any thoughts as to where it was made and by whom would be appreciated.

Barrel is 15/16"x41 3/4" and 33cal. 7 groove rifling.
Stock is walnut with 13 1/4 LOP
Lock is engraved but no name.
Patchbox cams open with no latch or kicker spring.
Looks like a wrist repair but I can detect no crack.
Butt plate height 3 13/32"    width 13/32"
Wrist height 1 15/32"     width 1 3/16"































Thanks for looking and thanks again for your opinions.

[Majorjoel]

Hi Nate, nice rifle! My first thought looking at the distant first picture; a Huntingdon Co. piece came to mind. But looking close up your rifle has too much of a comb for most Huntingdon's. Maybe Summerset or nearby?? The walnut stock is unusual for this area though. Doing some more thinking, I have seen some J. Henry & Son rifles made that have some similarities. The brass strait pieces inlayed around the buttstock first made me suspect a crack repair. Apparently not so! They are just decoration. Like the gunsmith had some extra material left over after making the patchbox side plates and used them for adornment. Like some of us used to say back in the 60's.....Groovy!

[vtbuck223]

That is a really cool rifle...very interesting...thanks for sharing....but I must say...if those extra strips of brass were really just for decoration....that was a bad idea...the rifle would look much better without them. It's also hard to believe.... because the rest of the rifle is void of any other inlays...rather plain. Are you sure it wasn't a repair? If it truly isn't....could they be there simply as preventative reinforcement...to avoid breakage in the future?

[roamer]

beauty in its simplicity

[billd]

Bump back to the top for Nate.  The cheek piece intrigues me, any comments?

Bill

[Curtis]

That's a real gem, Nate!  Thanks for sharing the photos with us.

[Collector]

...but I must say...if those extra strips of brass were really just for decoration....that was a bad idea...the rifle would look much better without them. It's also hard to believe.... because the rest of the rifle is void of any other inlays...rather plain. Are you sure it wasn't a repair? If it truly isn't....could they be there simply as preventative reinforcement...to avoid breakage in the future?

The brass strait pieces inlayed around the buttstock first made me suspect a crack repair. Apparently not so! They are just decoration. Like the gunsmith had some extra material left over after making the patchbox side plates and used them for adornment.

How about 'repair' materials 'reincorporated' into a period restock of a previously damaged and repaired longrifle?

Theory: This could have been a family piece, handed-down and when restocked, all of the rifle's history was preserved, without the 'cracks and damage.'   

The original stock 'repair' (if you will) may have really only managed to keep the 'parts' from being separated or discarded and didn't actually serve to return the rifle back to practical service, ; a condition which was later, permanently corrected. 

These 'strips,' which today puzzle us, represented a family 'story,' about this longrifle, which is now lost to history... fortunately, for us, this rifle hasn't been.

No way of tell'n for sure... but does blend nicely with this piece, as we find it today.   

 

[Dphariss]

Look at the grain flow in the area.
Very bad from what I see.

Dan

[Collector]

So, (pre)reinforcement then...   

You know, it was a perfectly good story.  It was even a nice story...  while it lasted and now, now... it's gone.   

Now I know how my middle brother felt when I told him, he was adopted... bummer Dude.   

[Nate McKenzie]

Thanks for your replies, though I was hoping for more.