Old rifle from a friend

[dleach]

This should be a fun one for you all....
A fella I work with was getting ready to move and knew I liked old guns. He said it belonged to a few generations back in his family and was a muzzleloader. I expected a a Thompson from the seventies of course well not so much..... http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0 http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1 http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=2 http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=3 http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9 http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=7 http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=5

 

[dleach]

Missed one... http://s123.photobucket.com/user/D...[user]=139050250&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9
William Reynolds & Co is the name inlaid on the barrel from Greenbriar County West Virginia http://hampshirecountylongrifles.blogspot.com/2013/09/william-reynolds-greenbrier-county-west.html

This maker was active in West Virginia in the Early to mid 1800's.... The barrel is his work but it's been restocked and turned into a half stock with a Leman lock. I can only find two pictures of his work which were very ornate and equal of the inlaid barrel on this.

 

[azmntman]

SCORE! :thumbsup: Good friend, sad to see him move

 

[excess650]

I've seen the photos except the 3rd. What is it about the rifle that suggests to you that it was a restock, and by other than the named maker on the barrel?

You might want to try imgbb.com for hosting your photos.

 

[dleach]

The makers work matches the barrel and lock plate but not the rest of the gun. It has leman lock and stock. The barrel is 44 inches and hand forged with a silver inlay engraved by the maker. Someone restocked this and turned into a quasi plains rifle with the parts they had laying around. It has a sling stop added to the barrel which could make this civil war conversion.

 

[excess650]

Reynolds still had his tools until at least the early 1860s per the article. I suspect that one of the rifles pictured was a North Carolina rifle, but he was living in western Virginia during his later career.

I wouldn't be too quick to write it off as a re-stock by someone else unless its that crude so as to be obvious. Can you see evidence like dovetails under the under rib to suggest it was ever a fullstock? The Leman lock means nothing in that it would have been available sometime after the mid 1830s, and more convenient to buy a lock than to make one. "Plains gun" style was pretty common in those years, and more utilitarian guns seem to have been more common than they were during the "Golden Age".

 

[dleach]

If you held it in hand and saw the inlay as well as the side plate then compared it to the rest of the work its like old chevy rims on a new mercedes.... The inlay in the barrel looks to be real silver and the side plate matches the pictures of his other work perfectly. The trigger guard is Jaeger like and has a added prong for a trigger finger rest cut and pinned on it.
The rib hangs over the flats a bit and is sweated on so I can't see any barrel pin cuts.
The main screw through the lock and side plate is off kilter by a 1/8 of inch or more and always has been. I just don't see the same hand doing this work compared to what I saw in the known works by him. The stock is busted at the neck but I think I can dowel and bisquit it together to where it will hold enough to shoot.

 

[excess650]

My impression of the drum/nipple/breech is such that I wouldn't care to shoot it without close scrutiny to them.

 

[dleach]

I took it apart and there are old barrel pin cuts under the stock besides the one pin on the stock.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o284/Dave_Leach/20180716_2013211_zps4nrdc7ox.jpg?t=1531702859

 

[dleach]

Ah whats the worst that can happen

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Too bad to see it's a percussion gun. There may be locks available to get it back to a flintlock which this gun deserves.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I believe that this gun deserves to show the history that has been accumulated through the modifications that have been done through its existence. While I love flintlocks, I see no benefit to planning on a conversion back to a flintlock for this rifle. In its condition, it is better to leave it as it is so the rifle can tell its true story over the approximate 150 years of its existence.

Far better would it be to build a replica of what it may have been in 1830 as a full stock flintlock.

 

[Heelerau]

Ditto with Grenadier. What a lovely gift, looks like it has had a long useful life. What is the bore like? I found a lot of the photo bucket pictures would not come up. Looks like it is a well made rifle, and you have provenance which is most important. Great win.

 

[Gene L]

Better an old conversion on an old gun rather than a new flint lock on an old rifle. For no apparent reason.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Many old guns have been converted back to their original firelock condition and for good reason. The flint guns lasted for 200 years. The percussion guns lasted for 30 before they were gotten rid of. Such an old gun with those lines deserves an original flintlock mechanism, plus it'd be far more fun to shoot as many will echo here, the percussion guns have nothing on flint.

 

[Gene L]

I disagree on almost everything you said. Percussion guns have a lot of advantages to flint, which is why so many of them were converted. And I stand by my above statement: an original conversion to me is better than a 21st Century flintlock on an old gun, unless you're replacing a flint lock with a flintlock. Percussion rifles are fun to shoot, generally have quicker ignition, and win most if not all competitions they shoot in v flintlocks. You seem to have a misplaced bias against percussions. Flints are fun, sure, but so are percussions.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Many old guns have been converted back to their original firelock condition and for good reason. The flint guns lasted for 200 years. The percussion guns lasted for 30 before they were gotten rid of. Such an old gun with those lines deserves an original flintlock mechanism, plus it'd be far more fun to shoot as many will echo here, the percussion guns have nothing on flint.

The demise of the percussion (and flintlock) was due to the rapid conversion of the industry to cartridge based firearms. After percussion became available mass quantities of flintlocks were converted to percussion. The conversion of percussion to flintlocks was done only as a nostalgic retro. Flintlocks only hung around as long as they did because caps required a manufacturing process to produce. Black powder could be produced anywhere with minimal equipment. Once manufacturing became widespread the flinters were quickly replaced and did not enjoy a renaissance in popularity until black powder became a vogue retro thing to get into.
Smokeless powder pretty much ended both styles until hobbyists like us made them popular again.

 

[dleach]

This rifle belongs to the gentleman I got it from still. I've talked with him and he wants the stock repaired and I'm going to tune up the lock as it wasn't working properly and that's it.
The stock is broke clean through at neck and had hide glue o it which I steamed off.
I'm going to glue it and dowel it under the trigger and breech tang.
The rifling is great and I'm guessing it's about a 53 ball with a fairly high twist rate which males me wonder if it was rebored for minie balls...

 

[Grenadier1758]

What's a fairly high rate? 1 in 48 is very common for longrifles. Have you measured the rate of twist?

Old rifles such as you are working to preserve a lot of study during the preservation process.

Not all flint to cap lock conversions need to be refurbished to flintlock. Such action can adversely affect the value.

Good for you for working with the owner to preserve such an interesting rifle. Any markings under the barrel?

 

[hawkeye2]

"with a fairly high twist rate which males me wonder if it was rebored for minie balls... "

A mini doesn't require a fast twist like a solid elongated bullet (no they do not stabalize like a shuttlecock either). Springfield rifle-muskets had 1 in 70" and Hoyt's most accurate mini twist is 1 in 60" so a fast twist doesn't indicate a mini rifle and it would be unusual to find a rifle other than military designed to fire minies though not impossible.