1850ish signed Ohio rifle

[brazosland]

Picked this up last year in needy but not terrible condition. Wood cracks, a few missing pieces, lock needed some tuning and the nipple and drum were one solid mass of carbon and oxidation.

That’s the bad news. The good news is the finish appears very original. It hasn’t been sanded and the bore is in very serviceable condition.

It’s a .32 with a coned muzzle. Very old if not original ramrod. The patch box is wonderfully done.

I did what I could and then handed it to a pair of local master rifle builders. They repaired it with an eye on not damaging its historical nature. The only part replaced was the nipple.

They soaked the barrel to clean it up and the stamps on the muzzle appeared, see photos, along with a signature on the top flat. The side of the barrel is stamped J & D Little. They made rifles and barrels for the trade in the 40’s and 50s.

The signature on the top flat has my attention. I just can’t make it out. The dots, or periods, seem to indicate 4 characters. In the pics below are some close ups...any help interpreting them would be appreciated.

J. D. McKahan is a well know builder known to have used Little barrels. The first letter appears to be a J. The last an M. I could only find one example of his mark and it is a stamp, not script. But I am sure there must be other rifles by him out there.

 

[brazosland]

 

[brazosland]

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Looks good. I’m a fan of the Ohio rifles:

 

[TFoley]

That is nothing less than absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I DEMAND that you make a Youtube video with you shooting it. Well, I'm asking nicely, OK? Please?

 

[Ames]

You guys keep tempting me to build one. That is sweet!

 

[gemmer]

Here's mine. I'm thinking Ohio or western PA. It was a full stock when I got it but the forend had too many splits to salvage. I believe the barrel was longer at one time because the bottom of the barrel showed several different pin lug locations as did the stock. Bottom line I turned it into a half stock I added the oval pin inlays to cover up a huge chipped out pin hole. I reused the nose cap. It was a .32 in poor shape do I had Bob Hoyt fresh it out to .45. The triggers needed a backlash screw to get the lock to cock without setting the trigger. It's a single phase with no half cock notch on the tumbler. There was a large burned out section of the stock along the lock panel behind the drum that I had to cut out and replace. The drum was installed too high on the barrel flat and it leaked. I had Bob weld the hole and I drilled and tapped it for a new drum with a smaller diameter thread.