Very nice half stock rifle. What caliber is it? It looks like a pretty generic late halfstock rifle, that could have been made almost anywhere. The trigger guard looks a little to fancy for the rest of the gun, and might be an early replacement.
As for shooting it, I would suggest you get a modern muzzleloader for that. Many antique muzzleloader owners in the past shot these guns, you must remember it's not just the metal that suffers over time. The stock wood on most of these guns have seen well over a century of over drying in heated houses, often hanging on a wall, or worse yet over a fireplace. One sharp recoil can snap the stock like a dry twig.
Hungry Horse