Northhamton/lehigh rifles,,ok allentown as well,,,,

[long rifle]

Ok,are thease two rifles similar or  am i mistaken,,To me they are but,,if so what are the difference here? they LOOK close,but who was the maker that did  the nothhamton rifles? Are any of thease and Lehigh rifles clost o French and Indian war? I like to find a maker that made a early rifle from this area as well as the buckcounty/allentown area say before rev.war? can anyone shed something on this for me,as going to buy the allentown style from knob mountain very soon,and would like some insight,,,please. mickey

[rich pierce]

I would say that most "schools" of longrifles were not developed and easily recognized at the time of the French and Indian War.  It's just so early and we have so few examples of guns that could fit that time period, and the existing "probables" do not look like post-Revolutionary War rifles from the same areas.  The family resemblance is there if you look close, but not easily seen by those who haven't done a lot of study.  The F&I War ran from 1756-1763.  A rifle used at the beginning of the war might be from the 1740's or 1750's.  There are probably 3 or 4 rifles stocked in America that most would dare to attribute to that timeframe.  There are another dozen or so existing American stocked rifles that many would dare to attribute with some confidence to mid-1750's to 1763.  So looking for a "Lehigh" or "Northampton" looking rifle that resembles rifles stocked here in the French and Indian War period and slightly before, is like grasping at smoke.

[rich pierce]

Mickey, let me show you an example of an American stocked rifle that George Shumway thought could have been stocked in the mid 1700's- in other words, 1740 is a possibility.  Note that we can't see the later descendants of this rifle some call the "tulip rifle", if any exist.  I apologize that I do not have a full length photo.  I was focused on the details.  The lock is an in-use replacement or a restoration replacement; the nosecap is questionable.















If you want something more closely linked to the region, consider the Marshall rifle, which is of an early style, whether or not it represents a later re-stock, or go mine the work done by Eric Kettenberg, Allen Martin, and Jack Brooks for ideas.  This type of rifle is worthy of study; I'd advise not rushing you decision.

[Curt Larsen]

Rich:  Are there any easily accessible photos of this rifle other than those you've shown?  What is the barrel length on this one?  Does it resemble the Ed Marshall for example or more of a jaeger?
Curt

[rich pierce]

Shumway did an article on it in Muzzle Blasts in February 1988.  I understand all those articles are in a compilation book still available.  I have the article and if you email me I could send you a pdf of the scanned article.

Overall length is 51".  .60 caliber rifled octagonal barrel 35 and 5/8" long with 7 grooves.  Buttplate width excluding patchbox is 2 and 7/32".  The barrel is 1 and 3/32" thick at the breech.  A "Marshall" barrel would work very well, and a Davis Colonial round-faced lock would fit, though who knows what the original lock looked like.

Shumway showed us parts of a rifle of similar or earlier vintage in a July 2001 Muzzle Blasts article.  He thought it could have been pre-1740.  This rifle called the "J. Fenimore Cooper" rifle because someone later engraved that name on the buttplate, is so strongly Germanic as to be indistinguishable from European work except for the maple stock.  The lock is a rounded Germanic lock, the barrel is 35.75" long, 1.19" at the breech and .53 caliber.  The buttplate is 4 and 11/16" high, is 2 and 3/16" wide, and the length of pull is but 12 and 3/4".  In addition to the highly engraved guard and buttplate, it has a fancy rear entry thimble skirt and the remnants of the nosecap show the rear-facing "wings" seen on some European rifles.  I wish these rifles had made it into Rifles of Colonial America.  Most folks are unaware of them, yet they are more important to me than other early rifles of likely 1760's vintage that receive a lot of attention. Calling them "jaegers" does not convey their importance well enough for me.  They are the earliest existing American longrifles known.

[Jim Kibler]

It seems both of these rifles have been suggested to American primarily based on their maple stock wood.  Although maple is not unknown, European walnut was used on the vast amount of mid 18th century European guns.  In the 17th century up until say the first quarter of the 18th century, maple was quite common on European guns, though often in burl form.  Some guns with curly figure are known as well.  With this the case, I wonder to what certainty these guns are American?  I beleive Shumway also suggested their longer than usual barrels as compared to typical German rifles from the same time period as another indicator or American manufacture.  There are of course, some longer bareled German rifles as well though. 

These may very well be American guns, but I wonder how certain we can be of this.  Perhaps this is partly why these guns haven't gotten as much attention as one might expect.

[rich pierce]

Good point, and one that could be applied to many early rifles without good provenance.  I think the earlier and more Germanic the rifle, and the rarer it is in style among collected colonial arms, the more reason to be a bit cautious in attribution.  On the tulip rifle I believe I see a couple different hands at work in the engraving, though some, of course, do not agree, and it could be explained by commercially available, already engraved buttplates and guards being used in concert with a sideplate made and engraved by the stocker.

I'd like to see some examples of American species (Acer saccharum and Acer rubrum) curly maple-stocked European rifles.  I've heard of them but not seen them before.  That would make a nice contrast to colonial work.  I suppose European gunsmiths would have become aware of the fine woods used in colonial furniture made here, or perhaps even used here in stocking guns at an early date.  Hard to beat curly maple as a stock wood.  I note that the "J. Fenimore Cooper" rifle is of dead plain maple, which of course does not discount it as being European stocked, though why European gunmakers would import dead plain maple for stocking rifles is something to wonder about.

[Jim Kibler]

  I note that the "J. Fenimore Cooper" rifle is of dead plain maple, which of course does not discount it as being European stocked, though why European gunmakers would import dead plain maple for stocking rifles is something to wonder about.

Hard maple is native to Europe and England.  I have heard a common species refered to as "field maple". 

[rich pierce]

Great!  I did not know that, and am surprised they didn't use more of it when walnut was in short supply.  Euro beech must be more abundant, I guess, as it was often used on plain trade and military guns.  US Forest Service may be able to tell the difference between Acer saccharum, Acer rubrum and Euro maples, like they do with Euro versus American walnut.  Of course, finding a gun was stocked in an American maple would not be definitive evidence it was stocked here, by any means.

[Jim Kibler]

As far as examples of curly maple stocked European guns go, I would suggest talking to Wallace.  He was intending to have his KRA display this past year on the use of maple on English and European guns and how this is a precedent for its American use.  He wasn't able to make the KRA so this didn't happen.  I know he had several examples of curly maple stocked guns lined up for display.  One example I believe was a pair of Russian made pistols that showed up at the CLA a couple of years ago. I saw these and they were definetly striped maple.  I recall Wallace mentioning a jaeger that was in the Kinding collection and stocked in curly maple, but I'm not sure where this is published.  I'll try to take some time to see if I can locate other examples.  I know I've seen a few others, but can't recall where.

Better go and get something done today.

Jim

[Stophel]

I have a couple of photos of a fantastic north German rifle (say 1730ish) stocked in curly maple.   If you search around on Hermann Historica, you can find it.     Still, it was pretty rare to see maple on a German gun, though it is found from time to time.  One is in the Steinschloss Jaegerbuechsen book.  The Dutch seem to have been fairly fond of using maple, though when I see it, it isn't all that figured.  The Spanish used a lot of maple.  As I understand it, their walnut is generally REALLY coarse (which seems to hold true with my old Spanish Mauser...) and not so attractive as a stock wood, though serviceable.

[long rifle]

WOW!!you boys really opend up a study for me! wich i like thank you for this!!! mickey

[Jim Kibler]

Thought this was somewhat interesting.

From P.N. Sprengel, Berlin,  1771 "The Gunmaker and the Gunstocker"
Translation in JHAT Volume III, page 128

"In regard to this, stock wood such as that cut from walnut is preferred over all types of wood.  The stocks of military arms are cut from the white and inferior stock wood (sapwood) and when this (wood) is scarce they cut only from the copper beech or maple.  The beech stockwood comes from the wooded regions of the Berlin area, and the latter from the Silesia (now in East Germany and Poland)."

Jim