Longest Antique Long Rifle Barrel?

[web365ster]

I've a weakness for really long American long rifles. What's the longest-barrelled piece you've encountered. Photos, please.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Just off the top of my head the first two that come to mind are the super long Reading rifle in RCA1, barrel is definitely over 50" and I think is a few inches longer, and also the J. Baum signed rifle in one of the RCA books which is @ 51" or 52" long (barrel).  There was a super long barrel on a gun in the first Moravian book but I feel pretty sure that's a German gun.

[Sequatchie Rifle]

6'3" total length
57 1/4th inch barrel
Stamped "1871 Ambrose Lawing warranted for D.M. Hampton"

Made the year before he died.
Picked it up Anderson County, Tn. from John Rice Irwin many years ago.

[Ezra]

For my agonizingly slow Gillespie project I am using a swamped 50 1/2”, .42 caliber barrel made for me by our own Bobby Hoyt.  The barrel and stock should be arriving to Dave Rase very soon for inletting.  Alot of the old Hudson Bay fowlers were very long barreled, if memory serves.

Ez

[smokinbuck]

Not extremely long but I have a Pennsylvania Rifle works .32 rifle with a 46.5" barrel. Made between 1837 &1858.

[Bob Roller]

I had a long rifle about 60 years ago with a 48"barrel and maybe in shootable condition.
It turned out to be a gun stolen from a home 2 blocks North of us and there was a police report on it.
I knew the owner and never knew he had the gun and the police were given the name of the bozo I bought it from.I was out maybe $20.several of our local cops knew I shot these and when officer Gene Patterson asked me if I had seen a long gun I told him I had just bought one and it WAS the stolen gun from Ted Thornburg;s home.The "Bozo"I found out was well know by the police and he got a 5 year "All expenses paid vacation"at the Hotel  Graybars Resort in a far away county.Three hots and cot with no room service,
Bob Roller

[smallpatch]

RCA #26 has. 51” barrel. Mine has a 48”.

[moodyholler]

Posted 48" barrelled McGilvary today. 50 cal

[blienemann]

Classic Lancaster pattern rifle ca 1780's with 51 3/4" barrel. Wonderful profile, shaping and carving, might be by A Albrecht and son Henry Albright. Long, slim and sweet! Bob

[Brian Jordan]

I currently own a .54 smooth rifle with a 62-1/4" barrel. She's a sweet shooter!

[mr. no gold]

Bob, that is one magnificent rifle! Looks to me like a 'one gun collection' as Ruth Collis, the late secretary of the KRA used to say. Thank you for the great photos.
Brian, what style, school and so on is your long barreled smooth gun; any photos? Seems to me that you hold the record at the moment. Jim Whisker shows a 'one man three boy' long gun in some of his books, but I don't think that it was American made.
Dick
 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I've seen some chunk guns or over the log rifles with exceptionally long barrels...do these count?

[Brian Jordan]

Here it is pictured with a 42" barrel 20 gage

The long barreled gun I would say is from the woodbury school built by Mr. Chris DePerro.

[mr. no gold]

Thank you for the photos, Brian. That certainly is a 'reach out and touch someone' gun! It is a good looking piece for sure. Must be a hoot to shoot!
Dick

[Seth Isaacson]

Aside from a few "over the log" type rifles with barrels over 48 inches, most of the longer ones I've seen were "fowlers" or "smooth rifles." I had a .52 caliber smoothbore with a 50 inch barrel on my desk today.

[Brian Jordan]

This one puts the length more into perspective. I'm just shy of 6' tall.

[Dennis Glazener]

6'3" total length
57 1/4th inch barrel
Stamped "1871 Ambrose Lawing warranted for D.M. Hampton"

Made the year before he died.
Picked it up Anderson County, Tn. from John Rice Irwin many years ago.

Bill
At 57 1/4" do you think the barrel has been cut or, as Earl Lanning said about both my and his Gillespie's being 45 1/4", it was the longest their rifling bench would handle . Nice rifle.
Dennis

[Sequatchie Rifle]

This gun originally belonged to David Byrd’s great or great great grandfather. It’s the original length, but may have been rifled in two separate processes when it was made.

[mr. no gold]

Bill, does it show any evidence of having been possibly two barrels welded together? I am told that they sometimes did that. I saw an early N.Beyer, (well, early for Beyer that is) barrel that had an odd wrinkle on the top flat and on the bottom. Barrel was smooth and large bore as I recall. Someone who knows about these things looked at it and said that two barrels had been welded together at that place.
Odd, because the overall length of the barrel was short, 40-42 inches at the most. Always wondered why the builder found it necessary to do that as the gun was a superb specimen of Beyer's work.
Thank you for posting the photo of your grand SMR. Can't beat that one.
Dick

[Sequatchie Rifle]

Dick, if I recall correctly, that’s what was done. There is a slight irregularity that may be the seam where the two were connected.

[tooguns]

How about this,not sure where on the web I found it







shiloh point elementary

[Sequatchie Rifle]

The longest rifle. This gun was built with the intent on setting a “world record” at the York Shoot roughly 15-20 years ago. The owner arrived at the shoot and based on what I have been told, didn’t shoot. I owned it for a couple of years. It hung out of the back of by truck by two feet. I took it to the Tennessee show three years ago in the rain and had to wrap it in a tarp! It is an iron-mounted Tennessee rifle. I believe the barrel is about 8 feet long. I’m 6’3”.

[Rajin cajun]

Made for hunting squirrels on very y’all trees!!!!!🐿🐿🐿
Bill, that was a neat rifle  !

Bob

[bama]

Bill, did you get that rifle at my first show in Alabama. Seems like I remember that rifle belonged to a gent from Birmingham. He sat at the back of the room next to the door that went out to the loading dock. He wanted to sit there so he didn't have to carry that gun any farther than he had to.

[Sequatchie Rifle]

It was mine then.  I toted it to your show in Rogersville that year.  I leaned up in the corner of the room and almost forgot it!  I was hoping Gerald would take it home by mistake!!!!  I bought it near Red Boiling Springs, Tn.  An old fellow traded it for an electric guitar and amp.  He didn't even have a car and walked to the county store/pawn shop carrying it.  I was able to track down the history. Ed Rayl remembered the project and participated with Charlie Bowers of NC in 2000.