Original SMR gun?

[JTR]

Way to go, Dave!!

[jdm]

That's a nice piece for any ones collection.  It has some interesting features that add a little zip.  Congratulations

[Dave B]

new to me Southern Mountain Rifle Spec.

barrel length 36"  swamped barrel: 1.120" breach, waist 1.050", muzzle 1.085".
 Bore is about .58 cal  7 lands & grooves
length from breach to entry point of Ram rod into fore stock 17.5"
height of Butt plate  4 1/8",
Butt plate Return  4 1/4",
butt plate width  1  9/16"
Trigger pull  13 3/16"
height at comb  1 7/16"
height at butt plate  3 15/16"
The barrel was salvaged from another gun. It was shortened by 8" at some point. The Triggers were also a salvage. The rear trigger has a brazed on trigger shoe. They were meant to have a screw in the tail of the trigger plate. The triggers are held by the trigger guard. There is distinctive file work on the trigger plate. . The rear sight has a unique base plate. The lock is from an Enfield rifle. The lock plate is stamped 1861 and has Tower above that date.  A very cool piece. It can certainly be called a hog rifle, weighing in just under 10 lbs.

[Cades Cove Fiddler]

  ... Great find, Dave,.... not a flintlock, and not signed by a desireable old Tennessee gunsmith, ... just a plain mountain hog rifle,... THIS is the kind I like to see,... !!! ... I still think East Tennessee,... those modifications only make her more interesting,... You know that many old mountain rifles were bored to 58cal at the Knoxville and Asheville armory and used in the War of Southern rebellion,..? ... maybe one of those,..?? ... also, the Garland family name is common in upper East TN,.. there is one famous rifle signed "B. BEAN for E. GARLAND",...Congrats .... you've got a keeper... regards,... CCF...

[Dave B]

I have a question for those who have expeirence with fore stock repairs. I have done several over the years with minor cracks but not any substantial repairs. To the point, repairs to thin forestocks using linnen as a stuctural backing. I have heard about and was curious if that is still an acceptable why to stabilize a cracking forestock? It has been something I have come across on couple originals. As you can see I have several cracks in the forestock that need to be addressed at some level. My most worrisome is the edge crack that I in a moment of not being careful snagged and extended the crack further.







I was surprised to find the ramrod channel exposed for its entire length in the forestock.

[JBJ]

Wonderful SMR! As a youngster growing up in East TN, this type of plain, hardworking rifles were the norm (never saw anything but caplocks). It truly reflects the ingenuity of the Appalachian mountain gunsmiths to utilize what was at hand. That rear sight is a dandy! Perhaps out of ignorance, we called ALL of these rifles "hog rifles" regardless of weight or caliber.
J.B.

[RobertS]

The more I look, the more I like it!  Thanks for sharing it, as its this kind of stuff that makes this website like no other. I'm leaning toward "Garland" as the engraved name but may be over-squinting. Poking around here I found a reference to a Briggs Garland in Fannin County, GA and there is a rifle in the Atlanta History Center that is attributed to him, though it is a poor-boy style and I can't find any pictures of it that are clear enough to make any reasonable comparisons.

[Collector]

This rifle is a real gem.  Much of what I'm reading by those who really know these southern rifles strongly suggest a restock, though the person that did so looks to have added a few 'personal' touches.  I think the intentional shadow line on the cheek piece is very distinctive.  The rear sight, as noted, is extremely well made, exquisite actually.  The filing on the Soddy style butt plate return, which are usually plain/smooth (I think) and the matching filed ram rod pipe(s) were  I think added accents.  These features may help establish the builder of this piece.

The swamped barrel is a forged piece of art in and of itself.  The .58 caliber bore, as Cades Coves Fiddler pointed out would have permitted it to shoot ammo from military reserves.  The shortening of the barrel was obviously deliberate, though I have to submit that it is much more 'horse' friendly at that length and makes you wonder if its owner thought it a more useful length for a rifle heading into the west after the war.

Ken Guy had written about these iron mounted SMR rifles built using locks from Harpers Ferry muskets and using the British Enfield lock on this rifle, replacing the original, makes perfect sense and is actually a very close fit.  I would think a military grade heavy main spring and a lighter sporting hammer, would make for a very quick lock time.

Just a super, super piece to study and discuss.

One thing is certain and that was I was really, really far off in my engraved 'signature' guesses.  I think Cades Cove Fiddler nailed it with 'Garland'.  The engraved 1883 date is a bonus, regardless of who, or what, it represents.

Q. Does the barrel evidence any wear pattern, from the ram rod, along the bottom flat?  Just curious...

Thanks for all the great photos and details.     

[rich pierce]

Outstanding rear sight. I want to make one of those!

If you use fabric in your forestock repair I can send you a piece of silk left over from making my do-rag, neckerchief, all-round piece of cloth from my kit. Very strong and thinner than linen of similar strength. I’ve got linen of varying thickness too. Just postage needed.

[Dave B]

There is a wear pattern on the bottom flat of the barrel from the ramrods use. I used some tite bond glue and my bicycle inner tube to bind it all together having wrapped the barrel with surane wrap. It seems to have worked well. I tired to wipe off the excess glue before the final binding and only had a couple area of squeeze out glue to clean up.

Rich thanks for the offer. I have both silk and thin linen. I am still of the opinion that your freshioning skills should not be ignored and am torn as to which project to send for your attention. I will be pulling the breach plug on this bad boy this weekend to see what we have. You might be getting a closer view of that sight. I did make a new sight for the one missing up front. My son and I had did some cuttle fish silver casting and I took one of the failed jobs and cut out a front blade and mounted it in a brass plate. I was wondering as I set it in place if I should have used Iron or copper to be more Pc for this type of rifle. Given its late nature I figured brass was not a deal breaker.

[AZshot]

Nice to see another TN rifle.  I think it's great how in the Appalachians they just kept making what they knew, a lot longer than the rest of the country.  Back woods was a good thing, to me. 

The transition part of the stock where the ramrod goes in looks a lot like my TN rifle.