Random locks

There is a thread on right now about replacing a centermark lock.
Got me thinking.
Guns were transported to all points west. That’s of course what we think of. What gun went where when. Besides guns locks were sent out. Many American guns were made with British locks. Cocks broke, springs broke, frizzens wore out. Locks got replaced.
now I have an SMR with a German lock on it, but I like the gun and have no need to replace it over a minor detail.
I would say that we, as a whole, try to match all the gun parts. But I wonder if we’re doing an historic misrepresentation by poo-pooing mismatched guns.
Don’t think that this is a justification of my mismatched gun. It’s not. German locks were compleatly out of style by the time SMR were made, and an old one stuck on to a gun would most likely been worn out by then. My gun is totally not correct in any way.
Would you,on purpose build a mismatched gun?
I know when I build I try to get it historicly correct. But I wonder if we had a time machine and could walk through a fair in Kentucky in 1790 how many ‘wrong’ guns we would see.

I agree totally. People are quick to jump on others because they aren't what they consider P.C. People some time ago often would decorate or make changes through necessity or just because they wanted to make it their creation. Just because we don't have documented proof, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Also allot of people back then were illiterate or maybe they didn't think it was important enough to write it down.

And many a smith had the needed skills to make new springs and fit them to locks.

I think for the Hawken brothers, gun repair kept them in business.

Mismatched parts happen commonly in 2 circumstances:

1) A cheap parts gun is made with a combination of new and old parts to save money or because parts are in short supply. Here the gun has some parts obviously older than the styling of the gun. Perhaps an older lock or barrel was used.

2) A newer part is added to repair an old gun. Usually this will be an updated lock. Here the part that stands out is newer than the overall gun styling.

Just think what we would be seeing if they would have had duct tape around back then!

They had rawhide.... their version of duct tape. I have seen several weapons in museums with rawhide repairs

Great question.

I've taken an interest in some of the "Boone rifles" that are out there. One in particular was owned by Marshal Ralph Hooker of Missouri. Provenance for this rifle was excellent... Boone, who lived in Missouri between 1799 and his death in 1820, reportedly traded it for a hog, and the rifle stayed in the family until Marshal Hooker acquired it. I don't have a photo handy, but this was a very plain flintlock longrifle with a curly maple stock, double set triggers, a hand forged soft iron barrel, brass buttplate and triggerguard, and a grease hole in the right side of the butt. I think of that grease hole as a southern trait. Hooker said (in his book, Born Out of Season) that this rifle shot a .457" ball, it was made in 1775, and the barrel was marked ELISA BUELL. I think that spelling was a typo... I found records of a gunsmith named Elisha Buell, in the right time frame, but based in Hebron and Marlborough, Connecticut ! This rifle is most assuredly not a typical New England rifle ! I think it is likely that a barrel made by Mr. Buell was restocked somewhere between Connecticut and Missouri, and before Boone's death in 1820.

In his book, Adventures in the Santa Fe Trade 1844-1847, James Josiah Webb (a Santa Fe trader) reported that his rifle, "Old Blackfoot," had originally belonged to an AFC trapper, who was killed by the Blackfeet. They took his weapons, and later traded the rifle to Bent, St. Vrain & Co. The rifle was restocked (full length) and converted to percussion at Bent's Fort, where it was kept for a few years as a target rifle. Webb acquired it, and in 1846 had it freshed out, "half-stocked," and a new "breech pin" and lock installed. We speculate that the original mountings and triggers may have been retained, and obviously the original barrel was kept, but this rifle was pretty heavily modified over the course of its working life.

Lewis Garrard, in Wah-To-Yah and the Taos Trail, also described carrying a rifle that had been restocked and repaired in the field:




Comments by both Webb and Garrard make me believe a lot of the old-timers really appreciated a rifle with some character.

There was a longrifle described years ago in the "Longrifles of Note" column in Muzzle Blasts which was built from an assortment of parts, including some from a trade gun. I can look up the citation, if anybody is interested. Jack Brooks, a very talented and creative contemporary builder, has experimented some with mixed assemblages of parts. This first rifle combines an English trade gun lock and ramrod pipes with an American triggerguard and a French thumb piece. It has no buttplate, side plate, nose cap, or entry pipe:



The next one, also by Jack Brooks, has a German lock with a guard and buttplate from a German trade gun, a serpent sideplate and ribbed ramrod pipes from an English trade gun, and a French thumbpiece:



I thought both of those rifles came out really well. You can get more complete descriptions with scads of detailed photos of both on the Contemporary Makers BlogSpot. Click right here: Frontier Rifle by Jack Brooks #1

...and here: Frontier Rifle by Jack Brooks #2

So, in my opinion, new rifles built in the settlements probably would have adhered in form and selection of components to local traditions and demands, or would have at least reflected the builder's training. I think repairs and rebuilds out on the frontier would have focused more on producing a functional weapon out of parts that were available. Depending on the location, if borders were contested or cultures intermingled, I could visualize a mix of parts that may have come originally from Britain, France, Germany, or Philadelphia.

That's just the view from my saddle, though. Other perspectives are welcomed.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

I would'nt be over stateing by saying the re use of barrels was extremely common . By taking out a gun barrel you often find one two or more grouves that allowed the side nail to pass under the barrel even when the current gun has no need of it. What the original lock was you can only guess but it means it had several locks each restocking
.It could be I just happened onto guns so reworked but Iv'e had a few over the years and worked on many others . The more' down market' Farmers, country folk pieces . Not so much the ' Best' guns in the Squires house .But they got refashioned as styles changed & a lot where passed onto the Gamekeeper. A gun maker can read a gun like a book or at least take a good guess .Ime not saying build a mix match but a mixed match could very well be plausible historically depending on the circumstances .
Rudyard