Funky Iron Mounted Rifle on the Blog Spot

[G-Man]

Art and Jan have some photos postedon the Blog Spot  today of a really unusual iron mounted southern rifle.  The flip out bayonet in the toe of the buttstock and the iron strapping/decoration running beneath the comb on each side, as well as some of the other iron work, are very unusual. I saw the gun at Norris but did not get a chance to talk to the owner much - I seem to recall something about it possibly being a South Carolina (?) piece but might be way off.  Maybe one of you other folks who frequent that show can add a bit more information. But it is really and intersting, and appealing, gun as well.  Check it out.


http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/

Guy

[Dphariss]

I was not aware that Dr Frankenstein made long rifles.
 

Dan

[Hungry Horse]

 What a puzzling rifle this is. The extra trigger, or tripping device, behind the trigger guard, and what appears to be some sort of spring, cut into the toe and around under the buttplate has me totally baffled.  I have no idea what this thing was built for.

                   Hungry Horse

[JB2]

 :oLooks like lots of 'ingenuity' went into that rifle.  I'm sure someone thought it was a good idea at the time.  Seems the butt area of the stock went through many 'mods' and got a lot of use, but the front half is still very nice.

[RAT]

So that's a bayonet... my first thought is that the gun was modified by the confederates for firing over trench walls.

[Chris Treichel]

interesting patch box... 

Isn't that bayonet on the wrong end? 

[Dennis Glazener]

I have no idea of the origin of this rifle but I could see some southern militia man that served or having served with Andrew Jackson in some of the Indian wars making or having made a rifle like this. Certainly looks like it was designed by a man that wanted his rifle to have a bayonet!
Dennis

[Shreckmeister]

Sure would have been simpler to put the bayonet on in the standard fashion.  Very unique gun.  Wish
I had found it.

[G-Man]

This gun probably has a relativley heavy barrel - probably a lot more muzzle heavy than most guns fitted wtih bayonets.  So being able to hold it by the barrel end might have made for a faster-weilding bayonet than if it were set up the other way.

Just a thought.

Guy

[SuperCracker]

Perhaps it's not intended to be used as a bayonet, but rather to spike into the ground to secure the buttstock and then rest the fore end over a log/berm/sticks for more precise shooting at long ranges.

[heinz]

I saw this rifle at Norris.  Guy and I both looked at it.  It is very strange.  And also as awkward as you could possibly want in an iron mounted gun.  May have been a concept piece like the Nock volley gun.   Bcck when they did not have cocktail napkins to scribble on they just cut metal and then tried to figure it out when they sobered up?

[bgf]

Given a heavy barrel and set triggers, plus the butt-mounted switch-blade bayonet, my speculation is that it was for (what we call) "sniping" and defensive use by someone standing on a fortification.  The blade mounted on the butt would be much handier for repelling attackers coming up a ladder or steep bank than the traditional barrel mounted bayonet.  The butt stock shaping is somewhat similar to the Sheetz rifle that M. Tornichio copied, but there is a mishmash of what look like early and late features.  I doubt it is as early as Wo1812, but possibly.  Probably cobbled together for a specific use, but maybe not as useless as it might seem at first. 

Any idea what the staple behind the lock was for?

[bgf]

Oh yes, I like the patchbox.  Probably a greasehole then covered with the sliding door held in place with staples.  Gives me some ideas.

[Shreckmeister]

I just don't see it.  Close quarters fighting, sweaty hands and trying to fight holding onto the
barrel end and thrusting the butt end toward your attacker.  I buy into the sniping idea of
planting that spike in the ground, unless it flips all the way pointing opposite the muzzle.
No pictures of the spike extended?  It looks like it's only about 7 inches long.  Pretty short
for a bayonet.

[JDK]

Hold the gun normally and swing and thrust it.  It's called a butt stroke...but you guys knew that, right?

I like this gun a lot and it's a great example of how everything Hollywierd dreams up was thought of before.  It just looks like it came out of some strange movie.  "Sci-Fi" flintlock!!!  Wow.

Enjoy, J.D.

[JTR]

I'd buy it in a heartbeat if it was for sale,,,,,, and if I had any money....

John

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

It's definitely 'all business'!

[art riser]

if memory serves... the bayonet flips out al the way along the same plane as the barrel... handy if the first shot did not dispatch the bear...

[WElliott]

The owner has identified it, thanks to a cartouche on the barrel, as a Charleston, SC- made rifle.  It, undoubtedly, was custom made for a buyer who had definite (and unusual) specifications.  No question it is one-of-a-kind!

[JB2]

frog gigging gun?

[Collector]

I haven't seen a separate photo of the bayonet, but can't help but wonder if there isn't a closer relationship between the 'bayonet,' the 'eye' located behind the cock, the 'bump' in the triggerguard and the trigger.  

Could not a piece of leather or twine, threaded through these points and terminated at or pivoting somewhere along this 'bayonet' (which itself pivots/hinges at the bottom of the toe of the butt stock,) permit a 'remote' method of firing this flintlock, while not even holding it?

Intriguing, if not unusual elements to say the least.  The sliding cover secured by staples is pretty slick.  The other holes... more intriguing yet.  

[Majorjoel]

Maybe a gator getter??

[Shreckmeister]

Squire Boone's toothpick

[Eric Kettenburg]

Back when they did not have cocktail napkins to scribble on they just cut metal and then tried to figure it out when they sobered up?

My vote for tag line of 2012.

[Shreckmeister]

2nd vote on that!