Author Topic: Soddy info share (Read 17642 times)

angus · « **on:** February 20, 2009, 06:24:00 PM »

This is a faaarrr stretch of a request. I've gots me a littl 54" Rayl barrel and made myself a short 11" tang to go with a walnut stick, but am runnin' stumpt on some details. Would anybody on the forum have additional information or photos they could share in regards to a Soddy rifle?

Ezra · « **Reply #1 on:** February 20, 2009, 06:46:32 PM »

This could help.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=3276.0

Also, try a search using "soddy". I like the long barrels too. I have a .46 caliber 50" Hoyt barrel with a 13" tang that is going to go in a NC Gillespie.

Ez

G-Man · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2009, 06:55:10 PM »

Check the virtual museum on here - it has one of the best looking Soddy-Daisey rifles I've ever seen.

The diamond shaped butt cross section, the notched joint between the buttplate pieces and coninuation of the wrist line all the way back through the cheekpiece and all the way to the buttplate are distinctive Soddy features - sort of what "makes a Soddy a Soddy."

Guy

Sean · « **Reply #3 on:** February 21, 2009, 03:08:12 AM »

Angus, that is a nice Soddy rifle in the the museum that Guy mentioned. You won't get much better than that unless you've got it in hand.

Sean

Brian · « **Reply #4 on:** February 21, 2009, 03:22:51 AM »

A 54" barrel? Yummy!

Steve Bookout · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2009, 06:04:16 AM »

Brother, I have some new photos of that Soddy referenced to. Bookie

Longknife · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2009, 04:56:47 PM »

Angus, don't fotrget you will also need a matching loading STOOL!!!!!!!...Ed

Majorjoel · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2009, 10:55:36 PM »

OK, I will once again show my ignorance here and ask the question.....besides a prairie house made from sod, what exactly is a soddy rifle? And just what makes it named such? I have looked at the pictures and I see a very nice longrifle, but

??

Ken G · « **Reply #8 on:** February 22, 2009, 12:57:56 AM »

Soddy-Daisy is a town about 20 minutes north of Chattanooga. While guns from this area share a lot of traits with E. TN rifles they have some pretty distinctive characteristics. Upper E. TN guns tend to have long tangs that change widths a couple of times. Wide at the breech and then thin down the wrist till they get to the screw boss. They may go up and over the comb from there. Soddy guns have a long straight strap that terminates at the comb. Most of the time they will have 3 screws.
Soddy guns also have diamond shape to the butt rather than a rounded shape. The buttplates have a comb that extends much further down stock than upper E. TN. The check piece is very recognizable and different from the typical rectangular shape. Look at the one pictured and then any other gun. Some don't have a check piece at all. There are other smaller differences but those are the big ones.
There is an exceptional example of a Soddy rifle in the library. It is listed as Soddy Daisy. I hope that helps some.

This image (compliments of TimM of this board) shows really well the diamond shape to the buttstock and how that shape creates the distinct cheek piece. The butt plate comb comes down on the sides of the stock more than normal.

Different Soddy rifle showing the Diamond shape

Majorjoel · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2009, 03:30:41 AM »

Thank you Ken very much for your great education on this very interesting subject!! This rifle form is one I have never encountered before. I appreciate you taking the time and trouble putting together such a wonderful resource! Most Humbly Yours........Joel

angus · « **Reply #10 on:** February 22, 2009, 04:49:02 AM »

Ken,
Thanks for sharing the photo of the rear profile. That really shows the diamond you described. Are you about a stones throw from that area of TN?

Ken G · « **Reply #11 on:** February 22, 2009, 05:10:26 AM »

Your welcome. Angus, I can be in Soddy in about 15 minutes. 10 minutes of that is just to get down the Mt. It might be a stretch to hit it with a rock but I could land a paper airplane at the courthouse with a good wind.

:

G-Man · « **Reply #12 on:** February 22, 2009, 07:31:08 PM »

That photo also does a good job of showing the notch at the joint between the buttplate "butt" and "heel" pieces that is one of the characteristics of that area (rather than the pieces being simply butted or underfit from the inside.) Note the second screw up just below the heel as well.

That really is a super little gun.

As I recall there was another nice Soddy gun dated 1874 on here a few months back - that one was a good lesson in that you wold think it much earlier when you look at it, and also a good lesson in that the rules by which we try to identify these guns are pretty loose - it did not have all the distinctive Soddy features that are described in this post.

Ken - that map is excellent - it helps folks get some perspective on where these Tennessee guns were made. With a map like this, and then you thow in the southwestern corner of Virginia and western North Carolina, the southern Appalachian guns start to make a lot more sense - especially when you look at the geographic features like the main mountain ridges and the rivers.

Guy

Ken G · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2009, 05:53:14 PM »

Guy,
It really helps in my head to see where gun builders are located on a map. The geographic features really give you a different perspective on things. It only takes one trip through the Mt's north of Knoxville to understand how isolated some of the Mt. communities would have been when traveling by horse and wagon.

northup87 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2009, 07:47:12 PM »

Ken Im in love with this rifle youve just posted the pictures of. If it wouldnt be to much bother could you post a few picture of the profile on both sides? And also does anyone remember the name of the thread the soddy was shown on a few months ago Ive searched the archives and couldnt find it....

G-Man · « **Reply #15 on:** February 24, 2009, 02:45:22 AM »

It's on the ALR Virutal Library and Museum - under "southern exhibits" - "Soddy Daisy"

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=2302.0

Ken G · « **Reply #16 on:** February 24, 2009, 03:40:06 AM »

Northup87,
Which gun? One is in the ALR museum as Guy said. The other is best seen at the below link. The contemporary blog has some great pictures of the original setting beside the reproduction that Jack Dupree made. Scroll toward the bottom of the page.
Ken

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/search?q=dupree

angus · « **Reply #17 on:** February 24, 2009, 04:40:36 AM »

That is a different shape to the front trigger on the Dupree rifle. Is that common for Soddy or did Bubba lean on it too hard?

Ken G · « **Reply #18 on:** February 24, 2009, 04:47:23 AM »

I think Bubba is adding new meaning to squeezing his shots. That's not a Soddy feature nor is the original that way so

Ken

G-Man · « **Reply #19 on:** February 24, 2009, 05:10:19 PM »

There is a lot of variation in the guards on Soddy guns. And like discussed in the earlier post, there are Soddy guns that don't have some or most of what we think of as the distinctive Soddy features. The 1874 gun is a good example. But when the features are there, they are usually Soddy, if that makes sense. I'll try to scrounge up a few more photos and send you and e-mail.

Guy

Roger B · « **Reply #20 on:** February 24, 2009, 05:46:30 PM »

Does anyone make furniture for these rifles? I believe that Myron Carlson once did, but he is long gone.
Roger B.

deano · « **Reply #21 on:** February 25, 2009, 06:05:23 PM »

Myron's pattern did not have such a pronounced diamond shape in the butt profile if I remember correctly but the return was long and deep.

I do like the unique shape from the wrist to the butt which incorporates a cheek piece but I'll bet it takes forever to make it not look too thick. Is the wrist round or egg shaped and the cheek piece starts after the wrist and continues through to the butt? or is the wrist not really round with the raised section starting at the rear of the lock panel and continueing all the way through the stock?

Ken

northup87 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 25, 2009, 10:05:54 PM »

Ken both are very nice looking rifles any other pictures of soddies would be great, bill knapp is going to email me a few... What im really looking for is different pictures of the lock profile areas on a few different makers, so far Mr. Duprees has been the most pleasing to my eye..... I think I have a base design decided from the pictures of the soddy daisy.... but asthetically my eyes keep falling back to the lock profile area i cant get around it its bulky, round nature...... Also what is the longest barrel length you have seen on a soddy...

Ken G · « **Reply #23 on:** February 25, 2009, 10:40:01 PM »

northup87,
Here's a link to a set of pictures on Track of the Wolf's website. It is a classic Soddy rifle. The bulky lock panels are part of the characteristics of a Soddy-Daisy rifle although not every rifle from there has them.
Off the top of my head, the longest barrel I can think of is 63 inches as reported and photographed in Mr. Nobles book, "Notes on Southern Long Rifles" vol. 1. Mr. Nobles has old pictures of the shoots where shooters are holding guns that are several feet taller than they are. Those have got to be pretty long barrels.
Soddy-Daisy and Pikeville, TN are just a stones throw apart. This area is known for being the home of the Chunk-Gun matches or Log shoots and the long barreled rifles. These rifle barrels were produced by butt welding two barrels together.
Ken

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(ugjyce45pxj5qsqshstrflzp))/categories/gunKit.aspx?catId=13&subId=77&styleId=270&partNum=KIT-ANTIQUE-TENN-16-PERC

angus · « **Reply #24 on:** February 26, 2009, 06:18:09 AM »

Ken,
How big of an area are we talking about that a Soddy rifle came from? A couple square mile or so?

What is your preference with the ramrod entry? Pipe or no pipe.

You ain't kiddin, some of those rifles pictured in Jerry's book look to be a foot taller than the shooter. When you look at the two pics of those guys loading the Jake Keedy rifle, they have the butt kicked out at an angle and the muzzle is just under their nose.

I also love the picture that has everybody down range watching the targets. Ain't too many people today that I would trust behind the trigger to be shootin' in my direction.

News:

Author Topic: Soddy info share (Read 17642 times)

angus

Sean

angus

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