A Shenandoah Valley Virginia Rifle

[Kanketchum]

I talked to Shelby Gallien about this rifle. He thinks it was probably made in the Henry Spitzer shop by a member of the Spitzer family of rifle makers in Rockingham county or near by. The patch box shows a strong Spitzer pattern along with the side plate.

[rich pierce]

Real nice.  1820-ish?

[Dave B]

Very nice rifle. Thank you for sharing the wealth.  This is a great example of how they did keep it slim around the lock molding vs how we tend to do them today.  Is that about a .50 cal ?

[Kanketchum]

I have been told by folks who should know that it cold date to as early as 1815. It has most of the transition era characteristics including a "Swamped" barrel which cannot be seen in the photographs. My micrometer shows it to be about fifty caliber.

[Nordnecker]

A friend of mine owns a Spitzer (attributed) rifle. It looks just like this one in every way except the patch box is a little different. The Bbl on his is not swamped. It's about .30 cal. Great looking rifle, in my opinion. Thanks for posting pics.

[homerifle]

Nice rifle that reflects the work coming from the Spitzer shop! The KRF did a display of Shenandoah valley rifles a couple of years ago and in the mix was a rifle made by Daniel Shomo. If my memory serves me correctly his work resembled that of the Spitzer shop. If he is the maker of your rifle this is only the second one I've seen.