Would this rifle be ok for a awi impression?

[Md80runway23]

After talking with a fellow member on this forum I believe we have struck a deal on this beautiful rifle. Just a quick question I know this rifle is pennsyvlania styled with an early germaic lock. Would this be ok for my AWI militia impression? Thanks

 

[Brokennock]

Rifle? Pennsylvania style rifle? I don't see a rifle style trigger guard, nor a rear sight. And, someone forgot the butt plate.

I could be wrong but, I have the impression in my head that single lock bolts are a later thing when guns became slimmer with smaller locks.

Not sure about the lack of a side plate either.

Just how historically accurate do you want to be? (Guns are expensive, if you think your historical interests may grow and/or get more serious,,, get the gun correct sooner rather than later) Maybe more research is needed into what you really need.
What is the nature of your historical use of the gun? Are you just planning to do your own historical trekking and hunting and target shootin? Or are you planning to join reenactment groups or present to the public?

 

[tenngun]

Often call that a barn gun, or a German-Pennsylvanian Dutch name I can’t spell, best shot schmial. is it a smooth bore?
There seem to have been p’poor boys’ but I think they are more common today then the past.
However I wonder that a lot of old plain guns didn’t die in metal drives of the first and Second World War. So MAYGE there were more of these guns in the past
It’s unlikely that even a juried event would kick you out for this gun. Although a particular militia group may refute it.
Some features are atypical of eighteenth century guns.
I would be proud to carry it but I would place it as nineteenth century restock from makeshift parts.

 

[Md80runway23]

Im wanting to present to the public. Im switching from CW to rev war era.

 

[Tumbledown]

It looks similar to the generic "trade gun" of the colonial era. You could add a sheet brass butt plate and serpentine side plate, and those would go a long way towards appearances. For a civilian who is bringing his own equipment to a poorly supplied new militia unit, it should do.

 

[Brokennock]

It looks similar to the generic "trade gun" of the colonial era. You could add a sheet brass butt plate and serpentine side plate, and those would go a long way towards appearances. For a civilian who is bringing his own equipment to a poorly supplied new militia unit, it should do.

I like the trade gun style sheet brass butt plate idea.
Nailed on would be correct I believe?
Where would one get appropriate nails?

 

[PathfinderNC]

It looks more like a Fowler than a rifle

 

[Md80runway23]

It is a fowler my appologies. Just wanted to make sure the styling was appropriste for awi.

 

[tenngun]

I like the trade gun style sheet brass butt plate idea.
Nailed on would be correct I believe?
Where would one get appropriate nails?

I think Track of the wolf sells them. Be sure to pre drill

 

[Md80runway23]

What about the thickness and curve of the buttstock? Many colonial examples I see appear to be thicker and with less curvature?

 

[tenngun]

It is a fowler my appologies. Just wanted to make sure the styling was appropriste for awi.

Style is generally appropriate. You can get way in to the weeds on this, but few of us have a perfect copy of a gun.
I have a Centermark TFC. It passes at events but it’s far from an accurate copy of a real TFC. I have made some modifications to get closer but still not a TFC
Now you can buy a French 63/66 charley. But for many years the 77 was the only one available to ARW reinactors. That’s life in the twentyfirst century

 

[Rató:rats]

I like the schimmel-style sans butt plate. You’ll just have to be careful the toe doesn’t crack off if it’s dropped. If this is a concern you might want to get some sheet brass and square nails and do as the gentlemen above have suggested

 

[toot]

I would guess that it would pass muster, unless the [deleted term] would chime in at an event?

 

[Brokennock]

Yes God forbid someone have and try to uphold some standards.

 

[Md80runway23]

Well thats why im asking from what I gather and research it would be fsirly correct other than the one lock screw and no buttplate.

 

[Brokennock]

Well thats why im asking from what I gather and research it would be fsirly correct other than the one lock screw and no buttplate.

A lockplate can easily be added and the forward lock bolt faked. The trade gun butt plate idea someone mentioned seems a good one.

To me, this whole "poorboy" or "barn gun" thing with the theory that there were tons of plain cheaply made, guns missing buttplates and other furniture, all over the place in colonial America and during the AWI, sounds more like justification on most people's part than it does research based hypothesis, much less evidence based conclusion.
Our "logic" is not the same as then, our economics is not the same, our tastes, sense of style, ethics, mores, and values are not the same. What "stands to reason," or seems like a "logical conclusion," to us, in no way means the same would have been true in 1680, 1750, 1777, or 1880, or even 1910.

 

[tenngun]

I would guess that it would pass muster, ..., would chime in at an event?

If it’s a juried event that means a group got together to set standards for what was and wasn’t acceptable at that event.
To play on their field is to follow their rules.
A group may have rules based on their research as to what a militia in an area would have had, again your asking to join their group
Most events would not reject unless it’s grossly wrong
Again it depends on how deep you want to go.
I have cotton breaches but never kicked out of an event

 

[Jaeger]

I would guess that it would pass muster, unless the [deleted term] would chime in at an event?

Uh Oh....

 

[Daryl Crawford]

To me, this whole "poorboy" or "barn gun" thing with the theory that there were tons of plain cheaply made, guns missing buttplates and other furniture, all over the place in colonial America and during the AWI, sounds more like justification on most people's part than it does research based hypothesis, much less evidence based conclusion.

Perhaps, but there is evidence of plain guns, shimmel guns as they were called where I live, usually in smoothbore. Few farmers afforded the expensive examples, but older smoothbore guns fit the bill for general protection of homestead and livestock.
I've seen very simple examples, quite unadorned, that have a charm to me that later rifles (bedecked in brass and carvings) just don't hold. As one gunsmith told me, "We have examples of fancy rifles because they were expensive and well cared for, we have parts of shimmels because they were worked to death." Could be true, could just be anecdote. Sort of like people preserving a muscle car but not a Ford Pinto.
As to the OP, mounting a forward screw for the lock would make it appear more historically accurate. Butt plate would be fine but perhaps not necessary.

 

[Brokennock]

If it’s a juried event that means a group got together to set standards for what was and wasn’t acceptable at that event.
To play on their field is to follow their rules.
A group may have rules based on their research as to what a militia in an area would have had, again your asking to join their group
Most events would not reject unless it’s grossly wrong
Again it depends on how deep you want to go.
I have cotton breaches but never kicked out of an event

But standards mean judgment and judgment is now a bad thing.......
At least to those who now refer to anyone espousing something they don't like as a Nazi. Though they are the 1st ones to want to erase or ignore any reminders of the horrors that real Nazis committed and rewrite history in general.

So folks, remember, no standards and no judgements... When you head to the new gender neutral F&I event, go ahead and wear polyester pink and neon green skirt and a toga for a hunting shirt, be sure to carry a long full stalk sunflower instead of a longrifle because guns are bad (this judgements is allowable), and find an environmentally responsible substitute for a powder horn (can't hurt that cow or bull), accessorize with a sustainable hemp fabric "shot pouch."
Unfortunately no short ball starter is allowed. Not for lack of historical correctness, but the act of forcing it into the muzzle symbolizes rape and male domination.




I can't stand our current "society"
We make me sick.