Original Southern Rifle

[bama]

 Hi guys, I had this rifle come into the shop the other day. I believe it to be of Southern heritage ( it's been in the same family here in Alabama for a long time ) and it has some nice southern traits. It has a great set of southern style triggers, copper side plate, Original length 40.25" barrel approx. 38 caliber. Someone in the family had some restoration done on it as the lock is not original and the forestock has had some wood replaced and there appears to be some glue in some of the cracks. The ram rod has been with the rifle a long time. Triggers and lock work and the bore is dark but good rifling can be seen. I believe this little rifle could be a shooter if someone wanted to shoot it. Nice little silver inlay.
 

[Paul from KY]

The rear sight is rather odd... a large dovetail and a long tang.  I wonder why it was made that way.  Was it originally meant to be an adjustable sight with an elevation screw?

[bama]

I don't think it had any elevation adjustment and its hard to know the thinking behind the sight configuration and its placement. In my way of thinking at some point in time someone wanted the rear sight closer to the breech so instead of cutting a new dovetail and moving the sight, they made a new sight and kept the old dovetail. I also think that this sight has been with the rifle a long time and that this sight could be the original sight. Its all just a guess.