Revival muzzleloading rifles. A class of their own

[rich pierce]

There is a class of guns I would call revival guns. They are composite guns made to be shooters in the early to mid 1900s. There were not many barrel makers and not many good locks available. No internet and few decent books on longrifles. Guys took barrels and parts from originals, freshed the barrels, and restocked them to be functional. Generally the guns being salvaged for parts were late guns from the percussion era. The goal was to participate in and win shooting matches.

Nowadays as those old NMLRA shooters are dying off these guns show up on internet sales sites. And folks think a demented well digger built them but in my ML club there are some barrels still being used that are probably from the 1800s. One of them about an inch and a quarter has won matches for at least 50 years if the older members are to be believed. On one of them, the barrel has been freshed several times and has dovetails on several flats indicating it has been cut off at the breech and re-breeched.

And nobody cares what the stock architecture looks like. Does it still shoot cloverleafs or oblong holes?  That’s the question. Judging these rifles by todays’s build standards makes no sense to me.

[Bob Roller]

There is a class of guns I would call revival guns. They are composite guns made to be shooters in the early to mid 1900s. There were not many barrel makers and not many good locks available. No internet and few decent books on longrifles. Guys took barrels and parts from originals, freshed the barrels, and restocked them to be functional. Generally the guns being salvaged for parts were late guns from the percussion era. The goal was to participate in and win shooting matches.

Nowadays as those old NMLRA shooters are dying off these guns show up on internet sales sites. And folks think a demented well digger built them but in my ML club there are some barrels still being used that are probably from the 1800s. One of them about an inch and a quarter has won matches for at least 50 years if the older members are to be believed. On one of them, the barrel has been freshed several times and has dovetails on several flats indicating it has been cut off at the breech and re-breeched.

And nobody cares what the stock architecture looks like. Does it still shoot cloverleafs or oblong holes?  That’s the question. Judging these rifles by todays’s build standards makes no sense to me.

These revival guns were what kindled interest in shooting muzzle loaders and I
became aware of them in visits to the shop of E.M. Farris who was one of the
founders of the NMLRA.They were not high art or anything resembling it but
they would win a shooting match.Some of the later guns were nice but would not get
looked at today. Bill Large supplemented his teachers salary by recutting or "freshing"
the rifling in gun barrels and he usually got $15 for the job.There were others like
Claude Turner and Wynn Woods that also revived long neglected barrels and locks
were usually salvaged as well. New locks from P.I.Spence in Marietta Ohio became
available for about $12 for a caplock but few if any flintlocks were made because
of low interest.A man in Northern Ohio made up a few but they were $35 and no
market for such an expensive lock existed. Mr.Farris had one on display and we
all thought it was fine work but unaffordable.I THINK the maker's name was Korda
but am not sure if that's right and don't know if it's a first or last name.
I don't think anyone from our area had any interest in a flintlock then and I saw my
first new one in Farris's shop in 1953 and it was made by Southgate and it was a
smooth bore.Mr.Farris called me to tell me he had it and Don Thompson and I had
just finished fine tuning a Duesenberg car for a man in WV so we road tested it to
Portsmouth that evening and saw the gun.Back then the car was worth $1600 and it
recently sold for $2.2 million.I think the gun was about $150--maybe.
Memories of times and people long gone,good friends all. Rich,thanks for the prod.

Bob Roller

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

  ... Sure wish some of those Southern match rifles that were used in Tennessee chunk gun shoots in the 1920's- 30's would start coming out of their hiding places ..... Gunsmiths in the Soddy-Daisy and Sequatchie Valley areas were making these fine shooting rifles into the 1940's ... "across-the-log" shoots were a big event down here back then ... still gotta be some of those rifles in closets somewhere ..... wishfully thinking,.... C C Fiddler 

[Sequatchie Rifle]

Most of them have. My family is from the Sequatchie Valley and most of those guns have been worn out and tossed. The few that remain reside in the small local collections that seldom see the light of day. I have several chunk guns that are just awful. On has a remarkable barrel made around 1815. It was still being used into the 1960s. It’s an awful looking gun.

[bones92]

In "Muzzle-loading Rifles, Then and Now" Walter Cline discusses these revival-era rifles.  I found it very interesting.  As I recall, he describes how various guys, both young and old, were dusting off old muzzleloaders that had sat untouched for many years (some probably for decades) and figuring out how to squeeze out the best accuracy from them.  As I read it, I had images of various repairs, modifications and tinkering going on behind the line at these early shoots.  One can picture various automobiles parked in a field, people setting out tables or blankets with home-made food, people introducing themselves to each other, marveling at the old rifles that were pulled out of Model T's, etc.

Actually, if one regularly checks Gunbroker, he will find a good number of these rifles still show up.  I can't be sure how old a lot of them may be, but I think a good number are from the mid to late 1800s.  I always shy away from them, despite temptation, because I don't have the skills or tools to make repairs, should any be required. 

Here's one recent example.  https://www.gunbroker.com/item/748714320 

[heinz]

Rich, good post.  I learned to shoot and build from some of those revival guys, like Don Schuerman and Clark Frazier.  In the early 60s there were a lot of original percussion gun around and a few new parts out of Dixie Gun Works and Log Cabin gun shop
With barrels from Douglas and Rob Paris and locks from Siler and Bob Roller and a few others new rifles replaced revived guns.  Knowledge of correct schools and styles was limited but shooting competition was pretty fierce. The measure of a rifle was how it would group and  the measure of a flintlock was speed and reliability 

These old guns have a lot to do with the popularity of the sport and also why there are so many neat and historically correct items available today. It is good to acknowledge them as a legitimate segment of the muzzle loading history.