Author Topic: Old PA gun?  (Read 1039 times)

Dpotter58

  • Guest
Old PA gun?
« on: January 06, 2022, 03:22:49 AM »
I got this from my grandfather 45 years or so ago. I think it belonged to his great uncle or his great grandfather. He lived near Ohio in Lawrence County Pa.
The barrel is marked Remington under the nipple. J Kline is marked on the top of the barrel.
Any ideas about age origin?












Offline rich pierce

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 18819
Re: Old PA gun?
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2022, 03:24:27 AM »
Guessing New York based on the perch belly buttstock.
Andover, Vermont

Offline mr. no gold

  • member 2
  • Hero Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2654
Re: Old PA gun?
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2022, 03:26:39 AM »
Didn't Kline work in West Virginia? Seems like he did for a time at least in the mid 1800s. Might check with the WVA crowd for some direction on where and when. Thank you for bringing it in and showing it around. Nice gun; a great inheritance.
Dick

Dpotter58

  • Guest
Re: Old PA gun?
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2022, 03:34:54 AM »
Did some basic Google research recently.  Over the years I have researched outlets and see some J kline guns, some in West Virginia but haven't been able to come to any solid conclusions.
Did some Remington  barrel research without much luck either.
I understand they made and sold barrels all over the eastern area.

Offline Tanselman

  • member 2
  • Hero Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1551
Re: Old PA gun?
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2022, 06:29:53 AM »
Volume II, p.144 & 149 of "Ohio Gunsmiths & Allied Tradesmen" by Don Hutslar, the major researcher of early Ohio gunmakers, lists Jacob Kline as working in Hancock County, Ohio, in the mid-1850s through at least the 1880 census. He was born in PA in 1832. More importantly, Hutslar illustrated a Jacob Kline rifle, similar to yours in stock architecture with slight "bend" in lower butt line, low comb line, no trace of side facings ahead of the back-action lock, and half-stocked with a patchbox that's not identical, but very similar in style. The WV Kline rifles were earlier, more sophisticated, and lacked the "bend" in the lower butt line. There are several "J. Kline" gunsmiths known, but the lateness of your rifle and its stock architecture with a bend in the lower butt strongly suggest it was made by the Ohio Jacob Kline above.

Shelby Gallien

Dpotter58

  • Guest
Re: Old PA gun?
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2022, 01:07:27 AM »
Thanks. I ordered a copy of the book.