I've had this rifle over a year, old post. I had posted this rifle on another thread as a comparable one to look at, but the OP asked to not discuss it on his thread. Fair enough.
I was asked again about the type of wood. I believe it's walnut. It's very weathered from age, Ray McKnight had it for probably 50 years, and got it from his dad who had it the 50 years before that. I bought it from Ray when he was 86. So this rifle has been in the hands of Southern Long Rifle collectors for a century! Now it's a cherished memento of Ray. We got to talk quite a bit about long rifles and his life long love of them and shooting in general.
The story he told me is this rifle was found in Bearden, AK by his father back in 1923. He said "that is "bear - Den". His father was a traveling agricultural agent, and he learned to ask about old rifles when he visited any farmer or store, and would buy them. Ray said he learned about long rifles from his dad. This one used to be stored by his dad near a wood stove. At some time the stock fore end leaned against the stove pipe, burning it. Ray got the rifle and carefully replaced the burned part with matching wood. His dad said "you should have left the burn...it's part of it's history," Ray told me with a laugh. So now you know....the rest of the story.
He describes it in detail with pictures in his 1995 article, for the American Society of Arms Collectors,
Southern Longrifles Plain and Fancy.
https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1995-B73-Southern-Longrifles-Plain-and-Fancy.pdf
