Did Bill Large make this rifle?

[JTR]

Looking through an auction catalog pages, I found a Bill Large rifle. Actually a Large marked barrel, but they seem to be claiming that he made the rifle.
I've never heard of a Large made gun, so am wondering if Bill Large made the gun, or made the barrel?

https://www.poulinauctions.com/spectacular-w-m-large-marked-custom-contemporary-flintlock-rifle/

Curiously, John

[Dennis Glazener]

JTR,
I didn't take it that way can see why some might. It starts off saying :

Left flat is marked w/ bbl. makers names “W. M. LARGE”. Bill Large was a founding member of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association. He continued to make his bbls., which were prized for their shooting qualities into the 1980’s

Then it never mentions anything about who made the rifle but its certainly a nice looking rifle.
Dennis

[Bob Roller]

The possibility of Bill making this is about zero but he had a son in law,Bob Dailey that
could have and a man here in WV that lived in Kenova just West of Huntington could have done it.
Glen Napier was another little known but superb gun maker that could be the maker as well.
Another local possiblity would be Norris Sperry who is also deceased and a protoge' of Glen Napier
and a superb engraver who got a contract to engrave an 1851 Navy pistol right after he got out
of high school.This is just speculation.Maybe a signature under the butt plate or in the barrel channel.
Bob Roller
The Colt revolver was engraved for the Colt Company in Hartford,Ct.
One more thing,Bill did make guns from time to time but nothing like this one.

[diamante]

I grew up in Kenova and knew Glen Napier who we called “Fireball” and Norris Sperry. Both men were excellent Gun builders and Norris’s engraving was some of the finest I have ever seen. Also a builder who lives just outside of Kenova is Tom Nixon who also does very fine work.

[JTR]

Okay, thanks guys.
I know the auction didn't list him as maker, but wondered if he might have.
Sort of like Kibler, Maker of kits, etc,  but also maker of outstanding rifles.
Interestingly they list it as an Antique.

I'm surprised that whomever made the rifle didn't sign it!

[david58]

A shop in Santa Fe has two poor boys that are listed as Bill Large - stark contrast between what is in the shop and the piece you are showing.  I would say two different makers, and if those in the shop here are really Large built rifles, I can't imagine that the one you are showing is.

David
New Mexico

[Yazel.xring]

Lots of funny stories about Bill floating around out there. I never knew him to build out a full rifle though.

[Elnathan]

I think that this rifle may have been built by two different people. The inletting for the lock and buttplate, particularly the buttplate tang on the lock side, is pretty rough, but the sideplate and patchbox are much better and the carving looks to me like it was done by a more skilled hand. Apart from a little wobble on the upper wrist cause by the carving, the architecture is great, and the engraving doesn't look like a first-time effort, either.

Either builder learned fast, or it was started, perhaps as a precarve, by a beginner, and finished by someone with rather more experience. However it came about, though, I think the end result is very nice.

[Howard]

Bill never made this rifle. I knew Bill & he did build several guns but his workmanship was never that good like this rifle. The ones I have seen were halfstocks & bench style rifles.

[Bob Roller]

Bill never made this rifle. I knew Bill & he did build several guns but his workmanship was never that good like this rifle. The ones I have seen were halfstocks & bench style rifles.

Howard is right.Bench guns and half stocks and no fancy guns.If Bill had a lock and trigger and a barrel
he could start a gun at 7AM and by 5PM he would test the rifle.He had a "test" rifle,a walnut half that he
used as a device to test different styles of rifling and it vanished after he died and turned up at a local gun
show in the hands of a bozo that had no  idea about it.I was going to buy it but had to get cash and the bank was
closed.No idea where it is now.
    On another subject,Jim McLemore is still in a hospital and so far he has survived Covid 19 and some other
ailments but doesn't know when he will be home.He said he lives alone and that is NOT good.The reason I am in West Virginia
is because my grandparents were not in good circumstances after WW2 and my mother and I left Chicago to be with them.
Put Jim on your prayer list.
Bob Roller