Inherited rifle

[Yellermelon]

I was visiting my grandmother Sunday and she surprised me with my great great grandfathers rifle! How awesome! I've got a garand and other old guns but this one takes the cake. It's really cool to be the 5th generation of my family to have this rifle!
 I posted about it on another forum trying to learn as much as I can about it. It's been refinished and there's no info to helpknow the maker or anything. My family come from  the mountains of nc, and was regular mountain folk. Was mentioned on other forum it could be an old hog rifle and my uncle did say it was usedto hunt hogs.
 I wish my grandfather had told me more history on it before his passing. Either way I love the gun here's some pictures hope you enjoy, any info you could share would be awesome!

[TMerkley]

You are very fortunate!  I am not one to have any knowledge of the rifle.  Maybe Mr. Tim Boone would have some info for you.  Do you know the caliber or the number of grooves the barrel has?  If you can take a picture of the muzzle, that may help with Identity as well. 

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Great So Mtn Rifle, but I am afraid it is beyond my limited knowledge. Perhaps Ken Guy or Guy Montford , Wayne Elliot or Dennis Glazener will be more helpful?
Classic triggers and TG..  Is that paint on the underrib and barrel that is all wrinkly??  Interesting cheekpiece.. I haven't seen one quite like that before.

What a family treasure!! What area in NC??

[Yellermelon]

Yes I assume my grandfather decide to recoat the rifle some time back. I was told that wrinkle style paint was popular in the 60s. I wasn't born till the 80s lol. We would be from the Franklin nc area.
 Thanks for the comments!

[Dennis Glazener]

Interesting little rifle. I have no clue as to who may have made it. I would venture a guess that it was made by some part-time gun smith that probably could make just about anything he took a notion to try. I suspect that the lock was from a "donor" rifle, possibly an old flintlock. I have not seen a cheek rest like that on any of the western NC rifles that I have handled. Also the trigger guard looks like maybe one of a kind.

Still a nice family piece and I hope you will keep it in the family for future descendants to see what GG GF's rifle looked like. I sure would like to have access to one of my GG GF William Gillespie's rifle but as many as he made I have been unable to document one of his.

I believe the term "hog rifle" came from those old muzzleloaders being used at the annual "hog killing" time. Most of the farm families slaughtered their hogs when the first killing frosts came. I have heard that even the little 32 round ball would kill a hog instantly if hit properly in the forehead. I have heard several old timers say that even modern day pistols and rifles didn't drop a hog as quickly as a round ball from one of the old hog rifles.

Thanks for showing it to us,
Dennis

[bgf]

As soon as I saw that TG, I thought of the Edward Harper rifles, which also have a fairly distinctive cheekpiece that one could likewise imagine morphing into the shape of the one on this one over time.  No connection most likely, as both are just straightforward ways to make a triggerguard and a cheekpiece, but I thought I'd mention it.

[woodsrunner]

Yellermelon,

If you'ns is from the Franklin area.....know any Setzers and Angels? My kinfolks. I'm from Blairsville, Union County just below Murphy, NC.

Dennis, my job at hog killing time was to pop them right between the eyes and up just a little with a .22 short using my Marlin 39A. The short would do the job instantly without too much damage to the brain tissue which we also ate scrambled with eggs. The .32cal squirrel rifle is probably close to a .22mag in performance, I would think, and I killed a young 100-110 pound boar hog with my .32cal Hershel House flintlock squirrel rifle with a double lung shot at 32-35 yards. Punch a hole in both lungs, and it can't breathe!

[Yellermelon]

Youns is talk ya don't hear much where I live now haha! But I don't know anyone with those names, my family very well may. -also funny you mention hog brains and scrambled eggs yummy not many people understand that kinda food around here!

[deano]

What a simple idea for a trigger guard, no welding or brazing required to form it. Just pound out a long straight piece of iron and keep bending until it turns into a trigger guard.

[LynnC]

Really unique trigger guard with "loop" at the rear of the grip rail - never seen one like it.

Cool southern mountain rifle - thanks for the pics!

[James Wilson Everett]

Check to see if it is loaded!

Jim

[Yellermelon]

Haha that was first thing I did:)