rifled or smooth

[frogwalking]

I recently bought Kendig's book on the Kentucky rifle in its golden age.  At least half of the firearms presented are smooth bored.  Has anyone been able to determine if they were originally smooth, or were originally rifled and later bored smooth?

Another question..........I have seen a number of original rifles.  (Small number compared to most of you folks.)  Few were carved.   I didn't notice that the barrels were "swamped" on them.   These days, all seem to be carved and swamped.  Was this the norm?  Most I saw were probably southern rifles.

[WElliott]

A good percentage were originally smooth bore.
It sounds like you have seen a good representative sample.  Most extant antique muzzleloaders were made after the "Golden Age" and are not carved.  By 1825 (earlier in some areas) manufactured straight barrels were the norm and decoration, if any, tended to be inlays rather than carving.  Most builders today are, understandably, drawing inspiration from earlier, carved, rifles.

[Swampwalker]

This is something I've wondered about as well, and I've tried to keep in mind when looking at old 'rifles'.  To my recollection, all of the octogon-to-round barrels have been smooth bored.  I'll go out on a limb and say that I think that probably most of the full octogon barrels were originally rifled, but many were shot out and reamed out, then used for shot for small game and pigeons.  Remember all those passenger pigeons that were wiped out by the mid-19th century?  That's my theory anyway, for what it's worth.

[T*O*F]

Remember all those passenger pigeons that were wiped out by the mid-19th century?

They were wiped out by market hunters, not by citizen hunters using reamed out rifle barrels.

[Swampwalker]

I wasn't trying to suggest that 'reamed out rifle barrels' caused the extinction of the passenger pigeon, but with the demise of larger game from much of the east, smaller game, including squirrels and birds, were increasingly sought by hunters.  And from what I've read, nearly everybody was participating in the pigeon hunts when the hugh flocks appeared.

[J.D.]

  nearly everybody was participating in the pigeon hunts when the hugh flocks appeared.

well, not everyone was. At least I wasn't.  

[Dphariss]

I recently bought Kendig's book on the Kentucky rifle in its golden age.  At least half of the firearms presented are smooth bored.  Has anyone been able to determine if they were originally smooth, or were originally rifled and later bored smooth?

Another question..........I have seen a number of original rifles.  (Small number compared to most of you folks.)  Few were carved.   I didn't notice that the barrels were "swamped" on them.   These days, all seem to be carved and swamped.  Was this the norm?  Most I saw were probably southern rifles.

Some were made smooth. But I think a significant percentage the Kindigs guns were bored smooth in later years.
Lots of CW rifle muskets got the same treatment.
But smooth rifles were made and are documented into the percussion era. A "smooth rifle" is a rifle stocked smoothbore. The were far more expensive than a fowler or a musket and most people buying a smooth bore gun would have picked on of these from a practical stand point.
But the "average" American rifle even in Colonial times had rifling.

The transition from swamped to straight barrels was a side effect of the making of barrels from drilled steel bars rather than iron skelps as much as anything.
Carving fell out of style as decoration and it disappeared from things other than firearms.
Dan

[omark]

strictly my own opinion, but i thought that the majority of smooth rifles that have set triggers and a rear sight began life rifled. this was covered in another thread on this site but dont recollect exactly where.   mark

[Dphariss]

This is something I've wondered about as well, and I've tried to keep in mind when looking at old 'rifles'.  To my recollection, all of the octogon-to-round barrels have been smooth bored.  I'll go out on a limb and say that I think that probably most of the full octogon barrels were originally rifled, but many were shot out and reamed out, then used for shot for small game and pigeons.  Remember all those passenger pigeons that were wiped out by the mid-19th century?  That's my theory anyway, for what it's worth.

A lot of passenger pigeons were knocked off their perches at night with sticks, in fact most of them were killed at night.
The book "1491" points out that the masses of passenger pigeons were not known in early Colonial America, assuming the author is correct.
The rifle/smooth rifle thing is not resolvable to the point of knowing which were rifled and which not.
There are rifled 1/2 oct rifles too. We KNOW that some were built as smooth rifles.
There are surviving smoothrifles that are almost 100% certain unmodified in the bore.
We just do not know the percentages. Numbers of double barreled rifles are one smooth and on rifled.
But for use with shot they are inferior to a fowler or a musket due to stock design and bore size, both of these were far less expensive than a rifle stocked gun.

Dan