Militia rifle

[Dphariss]

I may have posted this once before. But new people drop in all the time.
I once saw a rifle on a table at a gun show in Palmer AK back about 35 years ago. It was stocked as a light fowler of about 28-32 bore but had a very low rear site.
It was on a table with other early guns and was labeled as a "militia rifle".
I asked the owner came to this conclusion. He instructed me to look down the bore. The bore was bored smooth in about 3-4" and then had rifling. It was bored smooth just to the depth of the lands. Bore was pretty good. I would suspect that this gun is still "out there somewhere" if not a fake??? But to my less experienced eye of the time it looked pretty right.
Why this was done we will never know. But maybe the owner wanted a rifle but did not like the "no quarter for riflemen" attitude of some British commands.

Just wondered if anyone else had ever come across something like this.

Dan

[Tom Moore]

Was it bored smooth to make it faster/easier to load in combat?

[Jim Filipski]

Long Cone.... Easy to load.
 I have see this on a number of old rifles that were reportedly "worn at the muzzle".... No they were coned
Jim

[Majorjoel]

I have also seen this in dueling pistols. The rules for smooth bore but with a deadly deceitful rifling.

[Dphariss]

Long Cone.... Easy to load.
 I have see this on a number of old rifles that were reportedly "worn at the muzzle".... No they were coned
Jim

It was NOT coned.
I understand "worn" and coned and bored smooth. Have since the 1960s.
There is a difference.
It was bored just about to groove diameter, cylindrical, not tapered. Rifling just ended right at the point the smooth section started.
Now was this done to make it easier to load? Easily could have been. A friend George Pochel, had new 58 rifle bored in this exact manner in 1968-69 to make it easy to load.
But for whatever reason the owner labeled it as noted.

The "militia rifle" barrel looked just like a fowler barrel, thin at the muzzle etc. It looked just like a light fowler but it was a rifle.
It really looked like a "sleeper" purpose made.
How accurate it would be I could not say.
Was not scratch rifled like some duelers.
Dan

[Jim Filipski]

Dan I wasn't understanding at first. Interesting....could still be used similar to a coned muzzle (to speed loading ) however you may have a point that it could have been used as a deception. I'm sure it has a good story to tell
Jim

[Jim Filipski]

Just Speculation...... but what if one was to drop a ball down the muzzle ( ball would be oversize somewhat for the rifling) With a stout ramrod I would imagine that you could seat the lead ball down in the rifling nice and tight without a patch (eliminating that extra step) Most militia men as well as line troops loaded from paper cartridges This would alow a rifled bore gun easy of loading  with a good amount of accuracy even though loading without a patch
Just a thought
Jim

[rich pierce]

I bet it was for a guy competing in smoothbore matches with a rifle, on the sly!   

[Jim Filipski]

Alternate Speculation...while not as exciting: Some militia units required a smoothbore or musket to make muster. It could be a sly way of eluding regulations if he oly had a rifled bore gun

[Dphariss]

It was an interesting piece and I remembered it as a result.
What the real explanation is anyone's guess. Like many such things from the past.
I suspect that some deception was the reason though.

I have often wondered about scratch rifled smoothbores in competition.

Dan

[altankhan]

might have been easier to stick a plug bayonet in the muzzle?