Author Topic: What Is the "Acorn" or Knob Usually Found in a Schuetzen's Butt Plate Heel?  (Read 448 times)

Offline Tanselman

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Most Schuetzen style rifles have a small knob, or device, in the heel of the butt plate, often shaped like an acorn or elongated knob. I've never known what the knob, which usually can be removed, is there for. Can anyone enlighten me?

Shelby Gallien

Offline Seth Isaacson

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Like this?

I don't recall ever seeing an explanation, but I always figured it was just a way to make hook/extension at the heel more decorative. Some I've looked at have the heel screw securing the buttplate into the stock concealed underneath, and some that decorative piece is the screw.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2024, 11:10:30 PM by Seth Isaacson »
I am the Lead Historian/Firearms Specialist at Rock Island Auction Co., but I am here out of my own personal interests in muzzle loading and history.
*All opinions expressed are mine alone and are NOT meant to represent those of any other entity unless otherwise expressly stated.*

Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

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Perhaps it is to provide a second contact point against mother earth when the rifle is being loaded.
D. Taylor Sapergia
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Offline Seth Isaacson

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That advantage would be the same as just having the full-double hook Swiss/Schuetzen butt plate. I think the question here "why make it a separate piece?"
I am the Lead Historian/Firearms Specialist at Rock Island Auction Co., but I am here out of my own personal interests in muzzle loading and history.
*All opinions expressed are mine alone and are NOT meant to represent those of any other entity unless otherwise expressly stated.*

Offline Tanselman

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A reason for asking this question is because I have several Louisville, KY Schuetzens, two by Balthasar Auer. I purchased "The American Percussion Schuetzen Rifle" book by Rowe and Hamilton [which shows a couple Balthasar Auer guns] but in all the details about locks, sights, muzzles, etc., there was no mention of the knob up on the butt plate heel... either what it is called, or what it is there for. I've guessed it may complete more of the butt plate curve to lock the gun on the arm better, but it would be informative to really know what the knob was intended to do.

Seth, thanks for your thoughts and the image. Here is one of my Louisville Schuetzens by B. L. Auer.

Shelby Gallien



Offline Roger B

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Re: What Is the "Acorn" or Knob Usually Found in a Schuetzen's Butt Plate Heel?
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2024, 09:12:25 PM »
Perhaps it gave some advantage in supporting the rifle & was revealed to comply with local rules of competition.
Roger B.
Never underestimate the sheer destructive power of a minimally skilled, but highly motivated man with tools.

Offline Seth Isaacson

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Re: What Is the "Acorn" or Knob Usually Found in a Schuetzen's Butt Plate Heel?
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2024, 10:26:43 PM »
A reason for asking this question is because I have several Louisville, KY Schuetzens, two by Balthasar Auer. I purchased "The American Percussion Schuetzen Rifle" book by Rowe and Hamilton [which shows a couple Balthasar Auer guns] but in all the details about locks, sights, muzzles, etc., there was no mention of the knob up on the butt plate heel... either what it is called, or what it is there for. I've guessed it may complete more of the butt plate curve to lock the gun on the arm better, but it would be informative to really know what the knob was intended to do.

Seth, thanks for your thoughts and the image. Here is one of my Louisville Schuetzens by B. L. Auer.

Shelby Gallien



Oooooh I like that one! Very cool.

By the mid-19th century, we're seeing buttplates often secured via two screws at the rear, one often up into the heel unlike earlier buttplates that had the upper screw come down from the heel extension/tang. Some "Swiss/Schuetzen" buttplates don't have as much of projection at the heel where the screw goes into the buttstock. You could add an upper "hook" by just using one of these "knobbed" screws which then also only requires one visible screwhead on the buttplate. If someone didn't like the upper projection, a regular screw fits in the same spot.

Here is an image I found that I thought illustrated this quite well, but you'll have to click on it as inserting it in as an image wasn't working:
https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0513/01/swiss-martini-schuetzen-target-rifle_1_9bd81905f93c61ff34e0d68e84d71899.jpg

This Charles King rifle restored by Turnbull has the same kind of setup:
https://www.turnbullrestoration.com/gun/charles-king-percussion-schuetzen-rifle-log-31733-turnbull-restoration/
« Last Edit: September 03, 2024, 10:32:52 PM by Seth Isaacson »
I am the Lead Historian/Firearms Specialist at Rock Island Auction Co., but I am here out of my own personal interests in muzzle loading and history.
*All opinions expressed are mine alone and are NOT meant to represent those of any other entity unless otherwise expressly stated.*