Thimbles

[rollingb]

Last summer I picked up an original half stock J.Henry & Son percussion single-barrel shotgun at rendezvous.
As far as I've been able to determine it was probably made around the mid-to-late-1800's, and has it's two ramrod thimbles soldered directly to the underside of the barrel (there is no under rib).

Anyone know if soldering thimbles directly to the underside of a shotgun barrel, was a common practice by gun makers like J. Henry & Son?






   

[ddoyle]

I do not know who Henry is but I like the keep it simple approach.

[rollingb]

I do not know who Henry is but I like the keep it simple approach.

That's a beautiful smooth bore, and a VERY interesting thimble,.... any idea as to who the made the gun?

Here are a couple of pictures of a later era shotgun with the thimbles soldered directly to the underside of the barrel,......



I'm trying to figure out if J. Henry normally soldered the thimbles to the underside of the single barrel shotguns he made,... or if something happened to the gun's under rib during its history of use and somebody did a quick repair by soldering the thimbles to the barrel.
You can see the ramrod has a bit of a "bow" as it enters the stock, causing me to question if this was the way J. Henry normally built his shotguns.

The lack of an under rib puts this little 20 bore in the 5 1/2 lb. range, and is a pure delight to carry and shoulder for someone with torn rotator cuffs. 

[Turtle]

Many NY state half stock rifles were built with the thimbles soldered directly to the barrel. I have one original and one reproduction built like that. it works fine and is lighter weight.

[smokinbuck]

I have several original "rifles" with the thimbles soldered to the rib and one 1/2 stock fowler that I built that way. I put a saddle on the thimble and soldered it to the round barrel.
Mark

[ddoyle]

any idea as to who the made the gun?

It is German beyond that I am really not sure.  I can try and figure out where the pic came from but my organization skills are grim.

[ddoyle]

It is a mystery where I got that pic but here is a link to a similiar fowler.

http://montywhitley.com/product/18th-century-german-fowler-by-witte-mann-a-giesen/

My idea was to use the barrel band, thimble arrangement and architecture on a plain maple stocked, butt plate less, iron mounted- Puritan approved gun.

[bob in the woods]

That link shows a gun which is very similar to one shown on the "flintriflesmith" site.  Carved wood guard, and carving/outline for the buttplate to simulate one.  I built one for myself along the same lines, using cherry for the guard, and thimble.  I really like the look, and the gun [ 20 bore ] handles like a dream.

[rollingb]

It is a mystery where I got that pic but here is a link to a similiar fowler.

http://montywhitley.com/product/18th-century-german-fowler-by-witte-mann-a-giesen/

My idea was to use the barrel band, thimble arrangement and architecture on a plain maple stocked, butt plate less, iron mounted- Puritan approved gun.

That's a beautiful gun, and the first time I've ever seen a wooden trigger guard. 

[Stophel]

Very common for German half stock bird guns to have the front rod pipe mounted on a flat metal base, soldered to the barrel.  This one of mine has a simple sheet brass base lead soldered onto the octagon barrel.  It was missing the rod pipe when I got it.  This one is just temporarily stuck on... I STILL haven't gotten around to making a proper one for it.  It would have been a double pipe or a double length pipe.  It really looks like crud now, but you can see the base, anyway.



Wooden triggerguards are in imitation of Italian style.  Many fine Italian guns will have the triggerguard carved directly from the stock wood.  Probably as often as not, when you find a German rifle with a wood guard, it'll be Austrian.  They're generally made of a a separate piece of wood.  Wood guards are found elsewhere in Germany too.  If you want to see impressive wood guards, look at guns by Hermann Bongarde in Duesseldorf.  The guy was incredible.