Leman Rifle information needed

[cmick101]

I have in my shop a percussion rifle with a heavy octagon barrel, 1” across the flats and a small-caliber measuring at 0.350-0.367”. The lock is very worn but i can make out H LEMAN. There is some other decorative engraving on the lock also very worn.
The barrel is 33.25” muzzle to breech.
The brass fixtures are well preserved.
The stock is puzzling as it looks much newer but fits perfectly and shows significant wear near the percussion area where the nipple would be.
It is missing the powder barrel and nipple as well as the hammer. I have a number of photos but am in need of any information anyone can provide about it.
I would like to know what caliber the dimensions account for.
I did an endoscope of the bore. The octagon barrel is echoed in the bore but had no twist.

[rich pierce]

Leman made guns and sold locks. They stamped the barrels on the guns they made. Some said Conestoga, I think. On the barrel.

A picture of the gun, full length, both sides, would help. Also a view of the breech, barrel tang, and wrist from above.

[Tanselman]

The maker would have marked/stamped the top of the barrel perhaps 5 or 6 inches behind the rear sight. With the short barrel in your gun, the original barrel was likely shortened or cut off at the breech, perhaps removing 6 inches of more of the barrel, so the maker's name may have been lost in the shortening process. But it's worth inspecting the top flat of the barrel back toward the breech to see if any trace of a name or initials are still there. There is also the possibility, based on the good shape of the walnut stock, that this is a later restocked gun that used some earlier parts.

While we really need to see the entire gun to know if it might be a Leman product [his stock shape and cheekpiece help identify his work], based simply on the triggers you show, I doubt this is a Leman rifle since he didn't use a curl at the tip of his front/hair trigger. It is more likely a gun that used a commercially sold Leman lock. As the first poster stated, we really need to see the entire gun to have a better idea of who and where it was made. Sometimes details such as the tang behind the breech, the rear ramrod pipe, and the toe plate under the tail of the butt, can help in establishing an attribution of an unsigned rifle.

Shelby Gallien

[cmick101]

Here are some additional photos.
















rob bell libros en español

[Tanselman]

Your rifle has limited specific details that might help identify it. It seems like I can see a slight "fish belly" or convex curve in the butt's toe line, which with the longer two-screw tang, rules out a Leman rifle. The rifle is nicely stocked, but my guess is that it is a later rifle built from earlier parts including the barrel, lock, perhaps triggers, and probably assembled in the late 1850s or 1860s based on the condition of the walnut stock, flat front end on the cast pewter nose cap, and short barrel. You can argue the barrel may have been slightly shortened in this configuration based on spacing between the ramrod pipes, but if so, it was only a minor loss and the barrel was still short to begin with... which along with the smaller caliber and walnut stock suggests a later rifle. When I see a Pennsylvania lock plate, even when reused, I tend to place the gun in PA... but that's always a little "iffy."

Shelby Gallien

[cshirsch]

Only the lock was made by Leman 

[smokinbuck]

I have several identified Ohio rifles that are definitely not Lemans rifles but have well marked Leman percussion locks.