Let me ask again. Do we have any idea when RCA 21 & 22 were made?
Send me a PM if you would rather not reply in public.
Pretty please.
Whenever we try to date unsigned guns, we probably put several things into our personal algorithms. Here are some of mine.
1) what’s the best guess date of the most recent part on the gun (lock, barrel, furniture)? Not the oldest part, because recycling parts was common.
2) where does it land, time-wise, based on style and architecture, to other guns from the same (best guess) region?
3) how much wiggle room can we figure in based on what we’ve seen with other makers? Some seem to have not changed much over decades (JP Beck) while others (maybe George Schroyer) seem to have embraced change or even led change).
When I consider these factors in relation to RCA 21-22:
1) None of the parts show features we commonly associated with post-Revolutionary War guns.
2) What about it is later than the Schreit rifle dated 1761? (not much: all within typical variation) What about it is earlier than other related guns like RCA 24-26? (21 and 22 have wider buttplates, and earlier construction techniques like the screwed on nosecap). RCA 24-26 appear post Revolutionary War but nothing is dated or signed; only attributed to a builder who never signed a gun.
3) Wiggle room is our issue. What if the maker of 21 and 22 is not the same person or shop as 24-26? What if he was an old man working in an old style?
As has been pointed out here, everyone wants their guns to be as freaking early as possible. But the facts are that we have very little solid data on rifles that can be documented to before 1770. Guesses, estimated, reasoned guesses? Yes. As solid as clay.
So there do I land on these 2? 1774 plus or minus 4 years. AS IF. As if I am qualified and we know enough about Reading rifles. We are estimating dates on these guns based on an attribution to a guy who never signed a gun. Some would put these guns as early as 1760. RCA 20 does “feel” earlier. How much earlier? 5 years? 3? 10? We are all playing guessing games and pretending we know what we are talking about (when it comes to attributions of dozens of unsigned, undated guns).