North Carolina Colonial Longrifles?

[Tacksman45]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any information about longrifles being MADE in North Carolina during the Colonial period or during the Revolution? If so does anyone know of any extant examples, or any gunsmiths who were building rifles in NC during this time? Thanks!

Tacksman

[Ed Wenger]

In the “Recent Books” section here.  C. Michael Briggs books.  Should have a bucket full of info for you.  Best,

           Ed

[Dennis Glazener]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any information about longrifles being MADE in North Carolina during the Colonial period or during the Revolution? If so does anyone know of any extant examples, or any gunsmiths who were building rifles in NC during this time? Thanks!

Tacksman

Bill Ivy's book, North Carolina Schools of Long Rifles 1765-1865
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=14905.0 is an excellent book but it is now out of print. They can often be found for sale in various places but they bring premium prices.

I would check with Bill he MAY have one or two stashed away that he might sell.

Also for a good listing of NC gun makers try James Whisker's book :
Gunsmiths and Allied Tradesmen North Carolina, its available via Amazon.com at this URL
https://www.amazon.com/Gunsmiths-Allied-Tradesmen-North-Carolina/dp/1545597952

Dennis

[fahnenschmied]

Not necessarily long - but large.    And interesting read, not sure of its accuracy or origin, but presented as fact.  https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_wilmington_2.html

[Tacksman45]

In the “Recent Books” section here.  C. Michael Briggs books.  Should have a bucket full of info for you.  Best,

           Ed

Thanks Ed!

[Tacksman45]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have any information about longrifles being MADE in North Carolina during the Colonial period or during the Revolution? If so does anyone know of any extant examples, or any gunsmiths who were building rifles in NC during this time? Thanks!

Tacksman

Bill Ivy's book, North Carolina Schools of Long Rifles 1765-1865
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=14905.0 is an excellent book but it is now out of print. They can often be found for sale in various places but they bring premium prices.

I would check with Bill he MAY have one or two stashed away that he might sell.

Also for a good listing of NC gun makers try James Whisker's book :
Gunsmiths and Allied Tradesmen North Carolina, its available via Amazon.com at this URL
https://www.amazon.com/Gunsmiths-Allied-Tradesmen-North-Carolina/dp/1545597952

Dennis

Thanks Dennis!

[Tacksman45]

Not necessarily long - but large.    And interesting read, not sure of its accuracy or origin, but presented as fact.  https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_wilmington_2.html

That story about Col. Bloodworth is actually what got me thinking about researching colonial NC rifles. That story about Col. Bloodworth and his extra long rifle which supposedly fired a 2 ounce ball (which would have made the rifle .83 caliber) comes from a book called "Revolutionary Incidents: Sketches of Character, Chiefly in the Old North State" published in 1856 by Eli Washington Caruthers. As far as I know there is no concrete documentation of this (other than this one book), however if anyone knows of any I would like to hear it!

[Eric Kettenburg]

Michael Briggs' book is great with a huge amount of information.  You can also go through this, which I wrote quite a while ago, and deals with first-hand documentation also:

http://erickettenburg.com/nc-moravians.html

RCA #42 is a hotly-debated rifle which has alternately been attributed to Valentine Beck or Jacob Loesch.  A fairly good case could be made that it's a NC rifle, but the caveat is that both men also briefly worked in PA so...   who knows.  It's also unclear as to just how early it may be.

[fahnenschmied]

Not necessarily long - but large.    And interesting read, not sure of its accuracy or origin, but presented as fact.  https://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/revolution_wilmington_2.html

That story about Col. Bloodworth is actually what got me thinking about researching colonial NC rifles. That story about Col. Bloodworth and his extra long rifle which supposedly fired a 2 ounce ball (which would have made the rifle .83 caliber) comes from a book called "Revolutionary Incidents: Sketches of Character, Chiefly in the Old North State" published in 1856 by Eli Washington Caruthers. As far as I know there is no concrete documentation of this (other than this one book), however if anyone knows of any I would like to hear it!

  I didnt see anything about "long", rather "large".  An .83 caliber rifle is not out of line with Germanic rifles, with a barrel in the 28 to 34 inch range - but a long barrel?  That'll be an awkwardly long and heavy thing; difficult to manage from an inside of a hollow tree.  The large rifled swivel guns made at Rappahannock Forge, which fired a four ounce ball I think, were certainly large - but not long.

[Hungry Horse]

Col. Thomas Neal was a gun stocker, along with many other jobs. He was a Dragoon with the New acquisition Dragoons. This was an area that was originally North Carolina, but was annexed by South Carolina just before the war.  I’m not sure what style of guns he constructed from used parts since I’ve never heard of a signed example.

Hungry Horse

[Terry Cheek]

Living in NC I would like my next build to reflect NC long rifles in some way. I bought this book to begin my research. Also Old Salem advertises a long rifle museum that opens for the season in February. I hope this helps.