Early New England rifle

[John Tice]

This link is to a Muzzle Blast article from 2000 on a late 18th-century rifle from Vermont. It looks like a typical New England fowler of the period, but it has a rifle barrel and patch box. I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts as to whether there was a short lived tradition of making rifles like this in New England, or if maybe this was just an anomaly. Interesting rifle though :hmm: :
http://www.muzzleblasts.com/archives/vol4no6/articles/mbo46-1.shtml

 

[rabjr]

Thats a cool find John. Wish that site wasn't on such an old out of date server. :haha: Damn takes forever to load pages. Looks like that gun was stocked in cherry too.

 

[John Tice]

It is very slow, :haha: but they sharpen up well after a little while. I also wish there was a good pic of the buttplate tang and trigger guard, but in one pic the trigger guard sort of looks looks like the typical French style found on so many. You're right Swampy, it is cherry.

 

[Vtsmoker]

Wow John, Thanks for posting that. I'm blown away with the history of my state contained in that article. I wonder if that is a custom rifle made for him personally? Who was it made by? Lots of good info to research there for me. Wish I could stumble on something like that.

 

[Mike Brooks]

Much caution must be used when looking at any New England "rifle" of that era. There was a faker named Teff that was rifling the muzzles on guns to turn them into "rifles" which brought more money from collectors. The sight with sliding adjustments is highly suspect also.

 

[Vtsmoker]

:cursing: why do people have to do things like that?

 

[rabjr]

Money.... :shake:

 

[John Tice]

The earliest mention of rifles in New England that I have found is 1782, two advertisement, one in Hartford, the other in Boston. I think, maybe, that Yankees saw southern rifles while serving in the Continental Army and admired them, there was a small market after that. I suspect these early rifles sold up here were imports from down south, however, like Philadelphia. Perhaps some local Yankee gunsmiths made a few rifles to meet demand, based on old familiar fowler forms, interesting thought.

Mike's warning concerning fake rifling by Teff is an important point to consider, the barrel is octagon to round which would be unusual for rifling in New England at this time. If Teff is dead and is reading this forum, its from hell I'm sure.

 

[Okwaho]

The earliest mention of rifles in New England that I have found is 1782, two advertisement, one in Hartford, the other in Boston. I think, maybe, that Yankees saw southern rifles while serving in the Continental Army and admired them, there was a small market after that. I suspect these early rifles sold up here were imports from down south, however, like Philadelphia. Perhaps some local Yankee gunsmiths made a few rifles to meet demand, based on old familiar fowler forms, interesting thought.

Mike's warning concerning fake rifling by Teff is an important point to consider, the barrel is octagon to round which would be unusual for rifling in New England at this time. If Teff is dead and is reading this forum, its from hell I'm sure.

The ubiquitous Mr. Teff didn't limit his efforts at enhancing fowling pieces with fake rifling {usually just far enough above the muzzle to fool a casual inspection}so as create the illusion of their being very rare rifles. He also added names and dates gathered from early documents etc.Tom Grinslade {FLINTLOCK FOWLERS} mentions him with a gun possibly enhanced with added engraving. and in THE NEW ENGLAND GUN by Merrill Lindsay he is mentioned in the introduction.Additionally Lindsay shows a gun in Chapter 6 {example #12} purporting to have an inscription on the trigger guard extension.It is obvious that most of the extension has been added and engraving probably added.
Tom Patton

 

[JV Puleo]

Exactly...

Teft worked with Kimball of the Kimball Arms Co. - they are often called the Kimball-Teft fakes. Obvious things to look for are the fake rifling at the muzzle and makers names engraved on lockplates (which is extremely rare on original NE guns). The names are often taken from the makers list in Sawyer's "Firearms in American History" which came out in 1910 and was one of the few sources for historic gunmaker names available at the time. The fakes themselves go back to at least the 1930s, and maybe as early as the 20s, so many have now acquired the prestige of having been "in an old collection" or local museum for many years.

The guns were all old... the idea was to enhance them, since "named" arms always brought more than un-named examples. No attempt was made to alter the style of the engraving so all the signatures look as if they are in the same handwriting... which is no help to most people unless they have seen one. I have seen them but don't own an example to post pictures of.

The late William G. Renwick, who came from Massachusetts, gave up collecting American arms when he discovered to what extent he had been cheated.

I don't think rifles were actually made in NE until about 1790 or maybe even 1800, although I am certain they were known. At least I've never seen convincing evidence of an earlier rifle. Complete rifles were being imported from England as early as 1792. A rifle is known that is supposedly dated somewhat earlier (1779?) on the escutcheon, but whether or not it was actually made in NE is highly questionable.