ideas on who and where - Moll family maybe?

[DaveM]

Some of you guys are pretty sharp with makers in the Berks / Lehigh region.  Any thoughts on who may have made this, or location, appreciated.  The barrel is a heavy octagon to round signed "I SCHOLB" underneath at the forward lock bolt groove.  I read older posts saying Scholb worked somewhere up there.  I have not been able to find out much about him though, so if anyone has info on him that is appreciated also.

[jdm]

If I remember right I Scholb was a barrel maker in the Lehigh area . Take a look at  rifles made by John Snyder. He was in the Northampton region. His patch boxes were all pretty much the same, similar to the one on your rifle. There was  also a maker by the same name in Bedford Co. two different guys.

  Sorry I misspelled the last name try Schneider . He worked in the Eastern part of the county where Nicholas Hawk  and John and Henry Young worked.

[Hungry Horse]

I have a Lehigh smooth rifle with an I. Scholb marked barrel. I was told Scholb quit producing barrels about 1815. The barrel on my gun was a nice dark even brown, but when I removed it from the stock to repair a damaged forearm, I found the barrel had been left in the bright originally. The barrel on my gun is full octagon, but is tapered, and has folded brass barrel pin lugs. The dovetails are very shallow, which allowed the ever shrinking forearm to pull the brass lugs free of the barrel. My gun also has a hand forged brass trigger, with a fancy filed finial.

  Hungry Horse

[DaveM]

Jim, hey thanks that is a great lead!  Do you know of any books or websites with examples of rifles with patchboxes made by Schneider?  I was told my rifle came from the Allentown area.

Hungry Horse, thanks - I would guess mine dates to somewhat after 1815, but honestly I don't really know maybe whoever made it was using really current import locks with a round tail - the lock on mine is not original but the shape / mortise is.  Does your gun have any other features similar to this one?

[Eric Kettenburg]

Definitely not a Moll rifle.  Usually as noted above, that style of box is viewed as John Snyder.  I've not really dug into these later guys too much but I believe he was up in the northwestern corner of Lehigh, maybe associated with the Hess family.  Heidelberg or Lynn townships, near the Berks line and part of the whole Allamengal school thing.  I think there are a couple of pictures of John Snyder rifles in one of Jim Whisker's books but I don't remember which one - they are a bit different than yours, but I've seen a few others that are almost identical to what you've posted here.  I don't remember if any of them were signed.

Anyway, look for him up in the northwestern townships somewhere.  I know there is some evidence that he was indeed a gunsmith, either tax or census.

[DaveM]

Hey thanks Eric, great info!  I never heard of him before, but I never really looked into any of the makers in that area.  After Jim posted about Schneider I found an old article about Northampton makers that located him way up past Easton - but the location you describe seems to make more sense with the style and shape of the stock.  This is very helpful!

[Hungry Horse]

My gun has a late English style lock with a small tail. I suspect it was converted to percussion by the original maker, because it had to be removed from the gun to be sure it was converted from flint. I suspect it had a roller frizzen spring, because it has a roller on the mainspring. The brass furniture on my gun is not engraved, but the patchbox, cheek inlay, and sideplate, are. My gun is not signed, but a similarly  built gun, with many of the same features, is signed by a gunsmith named Baer. The patchbox, and sheetmetal sideplate are nailed in place with small brass nails.

  Hungry Horse