Here is a rifle that I picked up recently that had a broken wrist (3-pieces) but was actually a pretty easy repair as the breaks were clean. The rifle came out of Georgia from a family that had had it for quite some time. But they really didn't have any information on the history. The rifle was used in a school play years ago and while leaning against the wall, fell over and broke the wrist. Thankfully, they didn't throw any of the pieces away, or worse yet, throw the rifle away. The rifle itself has lots of features of a Henry Ledford rifle, but I don't think that is who made it. At least not this version of it. It doesn't have the typical incised line along the comb terminating into a teardrop at the wrist that he used. That being said, I did see a picture in the second addition of Bivins book, Longrifles of North Carolina of one of his rifles that doesn't have that feature either (page 210 and 211). So he must have made at least one that didn't have it. The patch box on the rifle is a dead ringer for the one made by Jesse Regan shown in Bill Ivey's book, North Carolina Schools of Longrifles 1765-1865 (Rifle 130). The engraving is a match as well, except Jesse's name isn't engraved in the lid of this one. The lock is obviously not the original lock. The tang on this rifle is similar to what the Bulls used on their rifles. So who made this half stock rifle? The name S M Davis is stamped behind the trigger guard and behind the lock bolt. According to Jerry Noble and Tom Moore's book, Gun Trade in America, there was a Michael Davis (1805 - 81) that worked in Salisbury NC and later in his life, Iredell County NC. He was close enough that he would have been familiar with Ledford's work and maybe with Regan's as well. The tang on the barrel is what is really throwing me off though. Was it an older barrel that was reused? Could it have been a Ledford or Regan that was damaged beyond repair and Davis restocked it using their hardware but re-breeched it and used a different style tang. Who knows. Some things will never be known but it sure is interesting to think about. At least for me. I posted a separate post for showing the patch box release mechanism and another showing the breech plug thread length. That one for me would have been scarry. Here are a few pictures of the rifle If anyone has any information on S M Davis, I would appreciate it if you would share it with me.
