3/4 stock Sgt York rifle

[Ryan McNabb]

In the film Sgt. York, Gary Cooper carries a rifle with a stock that can best be described as 3/4 length, between half and full.  I believe it has a metal nose piece on it.  You can see it clearly in many shots, several of which are on You Tube. 

Has anyone ever seen a rifle with this detail before?  I believe many of the rifles in the movie were originals.  I could see this being a repair for a broken fore stock, but I've always thought it was just great looking on its own.



Coopers rifle may be a mockup though...it seems to have a hammer from a Civil War musket on it, and I'm not buying that patch box...

[Acer Saccharum]

The kid is gonna shoot himself in the foot someday....that's how NOT to cross a fence with a gun.


Cooper's gun may have some added TV bling.

[cheyenne]

It was a shooter though!

[RAT]

Quite a few of the "muzzleloaders" we see in early movies were trapdoor Springfields converted by the prop houses. I've seen them show up at gun shows occasionally.

I'm not saying that's the case here.

[Hungry Horse]

 In the old photos of the matches that Alvin York took part in, you will see more than one match rifle with a 3/4 stock. This was the other option used to get a flat base to rest the barrel on. Many full stocked match rifles had a flat area three quarters of the way up the forearm, to get a steady rest.
 My opinion is that a regular rifle might have been rebarreled with a heavier, and longer, match barrel, which accounted for the odd stock length.

                Hungry Horse

[Ryan McNabb]

That makes sense.  I thought I saw a similar rifle in Cline's "Muzzleloading Rifle" but will have to go back and check.

[Buck]

I believe it was Clines rifle in the movie, but I could be wrong.
Buck

[PPatch]

The kid is gonna shoot himself in the foot someday....that's how NOT to cross a fence with a gun.


Cooper's gun may have some added TV bling.

Watter you'ens yap'n about. He's got two foots yr know...

dp