Southern rifle, maker unknown???... Pic added,,,,

[Bob Roller]

That's a nice rifle and very distinctive in many ways.
The barrel initials might give someone a clue as to maker.

  The triggers look like Bob Roller triggers,,, but I'm pretty sure he Isn't That old...... 

John

I thought they looked like my triggers too.I am now 85 and doubt they are mine but
these do authenticate my style
Bob Roller

[gibster]

Quite a few similarities between this rifle and one I have by John Wishon out of Haywood County NC.  Mine has JW on the barrel. Wayne Bryson ID'ed him as the maker and has taken pictures of the rifle for his upcoming book.  John Wishon was listed in the1850 census as a gunsmith in Haywood County NC as a gunsmith.  In 1860, he was listed in Louisville KY as a blacksmith. Same wife and kids, just 10-years older. He died in 1862 in Pea Ridge Arkansas, about 10 miles from where I am sitting.  Tried posting pictures but no luck. The rifle is in the library and the link to pictures is below.

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=22665.0

[Hungry Horse]

Gibster my grandad hunted with a Wishon rifle made in Arkansas when he was a boy in Bakersfield Missouri. That rifle burned up in a house fire, after grandad grew up, and moved to California.

 Hungry Horse

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

  .... Eric,... that is an interesting observation,.... are there any other known W. NC. rifles with that distinctive cheek-rest and lock area shape,..? ... where did Wishon work in NC, and did he stop in the S.E TN area prior to moving to ARK, .? ... I have only seen that cheek and lock area on rifles from S.E. TN and just across the line in N. Ga,.... perhaps a Wishon barrel & hardware restocked in the mentioned area,..? ... regards, ...Cades Cove Fiddler,... ( I would like to see more pix of authenticated WISHON rifles,....)

[gibster]

According to Wayne Bryson,  he works in Haywood County NC and had some association with the Gillespie family.  The file work on this piece is great. I found him listed in the 1850 census as a gunsmith. Between 1850 and 1860, he went to Louisville Kentucky as I again found him but listed as a blacksmith.  Whether he stopped off in SE Tennessee,  who knows. He died in 1862 in Pea Ridge Arkansas. About 10 miles from my house. I got the rifle from a local elderly lady that said it had been in her family as long as she could remember.  So I don't know if the rifle was actually made here in Arkansas of if it traveled with him from back east. Some things we will never know.