"Black" Rifles Really Are Kind of Neat... Like This "J. Stonesifer"

[Tanselman]

I acquired a cheap, in-the-black, rifle that had a broken stock [wood contraction] out past the rear pipe and the tang broken off at the bolt hole. Despite its dark, dirty surface and darkly tarnished silver inlay work, it turned out to be a wonderful rifle with only one inlay missing near the muzzle on front side. The barrel is signed "J. Stonesifer" in fine script. I was attracted to the gun by its fine patchbox, heavily engraved in a beautiful Maryland style, but after getting the gun in hand this afternoon, every detail of the rifle is eye-catching. The gun is an original percussion rifle with slightly heavy uncut barrel 42-7/16" long and 15/16" across flats with a .38 caliber bore. The barrel has open hook loops and slides into place over permanent pins hidden underneath the silver forestock inlays. Despite a broken tang, forestock break, and one missing inlay, under the dirt and tarnish the gun is pretty solid and just needs a little love to get it looking good again. I took the pictures on a black background to fool the camera's light meter and make the dark gun show up better... so it's actually a little darker than it looks in these photos. Just thought everyone might like to see a very good rifle hiding under dirt and tarnish that surprised me by its quality and is rather rare, since most Stonesifer rifles are plain-janes.

Shelby Gallien
 

[mbriggs]

Is that a national road patchbox Shelby?

 Michael

[Robert Wolfe]

Wonderful

[Tanselman]

Michael,

I don't know what the Maryland guys call it, but with that finial, I'd sure call it a National Road patchbox. And just in case anyone wants to see a great pierced toe plate to go along with the rest of the inlay work, here's a picture of it. Don't blame me for the poor quality... my cat did it!

Shelby Gallien

[JTR]

I like it!
Nice find there, Shelby!

[Daryl]

Quite a rifle in it's day - HEAVY too.

[Avlrc]

That is a dandy.

[VP]

That is some fantastic patchbox engraving!

VP

[Dennis Glazener]

I love to see rifles like that one, hope you have the breaks repaired. I have not seen wood break like that forearm! I bet it took a man with strong arms to carry and shoot a rifle with a barrel that heavy.
Dennis

[WESTbury]

Nice find Shelby. Love the detail on the Eagle.

[BOB HILL]

Thanks for sharing this beautiful find with us.
 Bob

[bama]

Nice find Shelby. Another fine old rifle will be removed from the neglected list to the loved and cared for list, thanks Shelby.

[Pukka Bundook]

That is a very attractive rifle Shelby!
The patchbox is one of the nicest I have ever seen.

Thank you for showing it!
Richard.

[homerifle]

Great find! I have always liked Stonesifer's work. A couple more real nice examples are in the red Maryland book on pages 116 and 118. John Stonesifer the 3rd. Thanks for sharing.

[AZshot]

Congrats Shelby, on a beautiful piece of our history!

[Dave Peelgren]

Is the release in the hinge? That repair looks like an easy one.

[Tanselman]

I could not find the release button at first. I looked at the other known Stonesifer rifles, then at the Daniel Marker guns since Stonesifer must have been associated with him/them or trained by them. I finally figured out the patchbox release "button" is under the patchbox's top side leaf near the butt plate edge. That portion of the side leave can be pushed inward slightly, kind of springy feeling. But I still can't get the lid open!

I'm still amazed at the quality of the patchbox when compared to all other known Stonesifer rifles. He was a great engraver, equal to, or slightly better than, the best of the Markers. His cheekpiece eagle is superbly engraved, and a couple of his other guns have similar well executed eagles in the cheek.

Shelby Gallien

[mr. no gold]

Shelby triumphs again!!! Good for you. A really beautiful rifle with the greatest wear patterns on that fine piano finish I have ever seen. Some rough treatment, (were the kids playing with it?) but mostly just cosmetic roughness. She will clean up beautifully. Aside from the already mentioned unusual features, I like the jointed forestock and the open ended barrel tenons. That was a lot of extra work and not something that is encountered that often. Thank you for letting us have a look at a gorgeous lady. We appreciate it.
Dick

[Shreckmeister]

The patchbox and Eagle are outstanding! Really all the features are. Thanks for showing it to us. These posts keep my interest going.

[taterbug]

WOW!  just thinking about the inletting for that box and toe-plate makes me dizzy!  And then theres the engraving...

[JTR]

Shelby, I'm curious if the forestock is broken at that point, or if it was made that way? From the picture it looks like a very straight cut, and the wood color looks like it was covered at some point. I'm familiar with the open loop sliding barrel works having worked on a couple guns with this feature, and wonder if all the loops are open ended, or just the furthest one aft? 

I sure wish a cool rifle like that would pop up around here! (Wishful thinking at best)

John

[jdm]

Very cool rifle! We all dream of finding one like that.  I noticed the the top of the butt plate with the piece of steel enlet . Nice  Armstrong ( Maryland ) feature. 

[homerifle]

I could not find the release button at first. I looked at the other known Stonesifer rifles, then at the Daniel Marker guns since Stonesifer must have been associated with him/them or trained by them. I finally figured out the patchbox release "button" is under the patchbox's top side leaf near the butt plate edge. That portion of the side leave can be pushed inward slightly, kind of springy feeling. But I still can't get the lid open!

I'm still amazed at the quality of the patchbox when compared to all other known Stonesifer rifles. He was a great engraver, equal to, or slightly better than, the best of the Markers. His cheekpiece eagle is superbly engraved, and a couple of his other guns have similar well executed eagles in the cheek.

Shelby Gallien

I have always felt there may be an association with Glaze, since his shop was in the Oldtown area. A very short distance from Cumberland where Stonesifer was born and his father being a gunsmith and clock maker lived. Also Glaze used the hidden release in the bottom side leaf of the patch box. The interrupted fore stock molding seen in some of Stonesifer's work is also present on Glaze's work. Just food for thought. Thanks again for posting.

[Sequatchie Rifle]

What a beautiful gun. The Patchbox is so elegant. The engraved eagle is executed in some of the finest engraving I’ve seen.

[Tanselman]

John's question about whether the forestock is broken, or possibly cut, made me take a closer look at the separation. Actually, the "break" looks more like flat cuts on both ends that have chipped out in places along the edges to where it made me think it was a break. And then I began wondering if the forend pins used open or closed loops... so I tugged it until it came off, along with 150 years of orange dust underneath it, and the forward loops are also open hooks. I'm posting pictures below of the hook nearest muzzle. The rear two hooks on either side of the split in the forestock have had their ends broken off and look more like posts now.

And then I looked more closely at the odd rear sight... which looks beefy, well-mounted, and original to me (but I've been wrong before according to my wife) and it looks like an early, good quality gunsmith-made peep sight. I've attached different views of the rear sight, as well as the smaller front sight, and would appreciate opinions on whether it's original or added later. I guess I should have looked at the gun more closely when it arrived a couple days ago, but I was having so much fun looking at the patchbox and great silver work that the rest of the gun was ignored. Gee, maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Shelby Gallien