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Enterprise gun works half stock

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Thagomizer

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I have an Enterprise gunworks halfstock rifle. It is brass mounted, plain maple stock, and has a 36" barrel. I have read a little about this manufacturer from Pittsburgh-they made many rifles for west bound settlers for several decades. They would be a contemporary with Henry Leman as to years of operation. My question is: this rifle has the number 130 stamped on the muzzle next to the bore. i vaguely recall this as being the caliber in balls to the pound. This would put it between .32 and .36 caliber-which it is. Anyone else confirm this? also any other info on this company would be much appreciated.
 
The book "American Gun Makers" says this about Enterprise Gunworks:

"
ENTERPRISE GUN WORKS— 136-138 Wood St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Established 1848 by Bown & Tetley. In 1862 James Bown be-
came sole proprietor; in 1871 his son William H. Bown was ad-
mitted to partnership and the firm became James Bown & Son,
until at least 1879. Firm trade mark was "KILL" over a buck
deer. Rifles bearing the Enterprise Gun Works marks are known
marked "BROWN & HIRTH," successors to James Bown & Son.
The following extracts from "Industries of Pittsburgh 1879."
"For more than thirty years the name of Mr. Bown has been
identified with the gun business in the Iron City, The Enterprise
Gun Works having been established in 1848 by Bown & Tetley.
In 1862, Mr. James Bown became the sole proprietor, and in
1871, Mr. Wm. H. Bown, his son, was admitted and the firm be-
came James Bown & Son, under which style it has continued to
the present day. They occupy three floors of the large double
store, 30x60, at Nos. 136 and 138 Wood street, employing twenty-
six skilled workmen, and their weekly pay-roll amounts to about
$275. Their stock, which is full and complete in every variety of
Guns, Rifles, Revolvers, Fishing tackle, Sportsmen's articles in
General . . . While they are large manufacturers of rifles, Rifle
Barrels, Shot Guns, etc., they also deal extensively in the best
articles of foreign and American make . . . Mr. James Bown was
born in England in 1823 and at the age of ten years came to this
country with his parents, and in 1843 became a resident of
Pittsburgh. Mr. Wm. H. Bown was born in the Iron City and
has never lived in any other place."

Here is a link to the text in that book. It is an excellent source of information and I suggest that anyone interested in old guns should book mark it for future reference. It's a very large amount of information and it might take a bit of time to load.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/BP%20GUN%20STUFF/Full%20text%20of%20_American%20gun%20makers%20including%20Supplement%20of%20AMerican%20gun%20makers_.html
 
I see Zonie posted much the same info while I was still typing mine.

The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle
by Henry J. Kauffman probably has the most information on Enterprise Gun Works. He dedicates at least a page and a half to it giving the history of the various owners and illustrates some advertisements of the firm. Kauffman reprinted a section of an 1883 catalog that has some interesting information such as what Kauffman stated as the earliest record he knew of a manufacturer calling his products "Kentucky rifles". Of course we know of an earlier reference in a song about the Battle of New Orleans plus there's some unpublished research that has found the term "Kentucky rifle" used even earlier than the War of 1812. But to Kauffman's point, this is a gun manufacture using the term.

The firm started in 1848 by Bown and Tetley. An 1855 advertisement is specifically directed to people passing through Pittsburgh on their way to the newly opened West. By 1862, the firm was solely owned by James Bown. Bown subsequently brought some of his sons into the business when they came of age in the mid-1870s and in 1883.

Below is a scan of part of what Kauffman published.
Enterprise-Gun-Works-Kauffman.jpg


The section above in the catalog where they are touting the benefits of a muzzleloader over a cartridge gun for small game hunting is interesting. The catalog also states that they made their own barrels, locks, triggers, and mountings. Of course, other large gun makers such as the Henrys and Leman did the same to one degree or another.

Kauffman doesn't give any information as to the scale of the Enterprise Gun Works production, but it was probably much smaller than Leman, Tryon, Henry, and Deringer since they specifically state they have trouble meeting the peak demand during hunting season for their rifles.

Concerning the number 130 stamped on the muzzle, it's possible that represents the number of balls to the pound that the rifle took. In the mid-1800s, England passed a law that required the bore or balls-to-the-pound be stamped on English guns, but it wasn't common for American gun makers to so mark their guns.

The best way to tell would be to slug the bore of your rifle and measure it size. A rifle that carried 130 balls-to-the-pound would have a bore size (land-to-land diameter) of .34" to .35". That includes a windage of 0.015" to 0.020". The ball itself would have a diameter of 0.330". Bore diameter equals ball diameter plus windage.

Another way to get a pretty accurate estimate of bore diameter is to use a set of go/no-go gauges. I've successfully used a set of brass cleaning jags like those shown below.


1b26732e-2640-4543-b752-9b1c983c6d67_1.230f66de88892a299496ca0473b00440.jpeg


I have an antique Leman squirrel rifle. The .40 caliber jag from the set above has four rings separated by grooves like the two jags shown in picture above. The two rings closest to the male thread are 0.340" in diameter. The next ring is 0.350" diameter and the ring nearest the end is 0.360" diameter. The jag will go into the muzzle of the Leman barrel up to the end ring, so the bore diameter at the muzzle is between 0.350" and 0.360". In the period terminology, it would be about 120 balls-to-the-pound. In modern jargon, I would call it a nominal .36 caliber, though it's probably more accurately a .357 caliber. But I wouldn't call it a magnum.

Of course in the day, the numbers they used were nominal sizes. Their tolerances and/or their ability to measure accurately were probably plus or minus a hundredth of an inch. Even the process of weighing a certain number of balls to equal a pound had some error in it, depending on the type of scale used. When one is dealing with bores this small, the difference in diameter of the ball between 120 and 130 balls-to-the-pound is less than a hundredth of an inch.
 
Thanks again for taking the trouble to provide all this info. I'm still in the process of slowly cleaning the junk out of the bore,so will have to wait for an accurate measurement. It's under 3/8" as a rough measure , so .34-.35 is very close. The lock, by the way, looks to be a Golcher but has enough corrosion that I can't make out a name. There is an engraved dog at the tail of the lock.
Unfortunately, it looks like the brass was cleaned up and the stock has been refinished but not real recent. maybe about the time of the bi-centennial when a lot of guns came out of the closet and got "improved". It might clean up good enough to shoot.
 
I'm new and still learning the site navigation. Haven't even looked at how to post photos, but when I get there I will. I'm old school and still use a camera not a phone.
 
Finally got around to taking some pictures:
Tried to load some others but said file was too large.
IMG_8740.JPG IMG_8741.JPG
 
20190903_173939.jpg
Mine is a little different. It looks like it has an old liner.
 

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I see that line on the muzzle-it looks to be very large to be a liner.
Maybe it is. Not just a decorative touch?
 
I have another similar rifle that has an additional mark that looks like T&A Louisville KY. Also has the Enterprise marking.

IMG_8744.JPG
 

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