JJBNORCAL
32 Cal
Hello from Sonoma County, California.
In the 1960's my grandparents brought a muzzleloader from Indiana to California. They were Quakers and our family has been in the north America since before the revolutionary war. My father, who was born in 1917, said the gun was a "family heirloom" when he was a kid. It is a very small caliber long rifle. My father always described it as a "squirrel gun" and a "Kentucky long rifle". The gunstock was broken, the barrel has a hairline crack and the lock and other parts were missing. My dad gave me the gun and I cleaned the barrel and repaired the stock.
The barrel is stamped what appears to be either "J" or "T" "PAUL". I came across a reference to a "Paul" (last name) who was listed as a gunsmith in the 1800 census. I believe he may have made the gun.
I believe it was a flintlock because it was always described as such by my father. Also area of the stock around the pan/flash hole is burnt or worn away. The stock is made from curly maple but has no patch box in the stock and no ornamentation. The original lock side plate is brass without engraving.
For years I have wondered why and how the gun was damaged. The crack in the barrel, which is noticeable only under great scrutiny, is about in the middle of the barrel. I do not know why a barrel would crack in that location unless someone had used it as a prybar or someone had intended on damaging it. Similarly, the stock was cracked at the pistol grip so that when I received the gun as a kid, the butt piece was hanging down and in danger of breaking off from the remainder of the stock. The stock had been cracked for so long that the wood in the crack had become darkened with age.
Recently, my son has taken up hunting. He asked me to give him the gun, and so I decided to complete the gun by replacing the missing parts.
I came across the MLF in my search for parts to complete the long rifle so that it can be displayed as it would have looked a couple of hundred years ago.
I also have a very old percussion 13 gage ("13" stamped on the underside of the barrels) double barrel muzzleloader shotgun I acquired as a kid. A friend of mine who only hunts with black powder firearms has used it to hunt birds recently. I have been too afraid it would blow up to shoot it.
I may build a new muzzleloader so that I can hunt with it with my friend.
In the 1960's my grandparents brought a muzzleloader from Indiana to California. They were Quakers and our family has been in the north America since before the revolutionary war. My father, who was born in 1917, said the gun was a "family heirloom" when he was a kid. It is a very small caliber long rifle. My father always described it as a "squirrel gun" and a "Kentucky long rifle". The gunstock was broken, the barrel has a hairline crack and the lock and other parts were missing. My dad gave me the gun and I cleaned the barrel and repaired the stock.
The barrel is stamped what appears to be either "J" or "T" "PAUL". I came across a reference to a "Paul" (last name) who was listed as a gunsmith in the 1800 census. I believe he may have made the gun.
I believe it was a flintlock because it was always described as such by my father. Also area of the stock around the pan/flash hole is burnt or worn away. The stock is made from curly maple but has no patch box in the stock and no ornamentation. The original lock side plate is brass without engraving.
For years I have wondered why and how the gun was damaged. The crack in the barrel, which is noticeable only under great scrutiny, is about in the middle of the barrel. I do not know why a barrel would crack in that location unless someone had used it as a prybar or someone had intended on damaging it. Similarly, the stock was cracked at the pistol grip so that when I received the gun as a kid, the butt piece was hanging down and in danger of breaking off from the remainder of the stock. The stock had been cracked for so long that the wood in the crack had become darkened with age.
Recently, my son has taken up hunting. He asked me to give him the gun, and so I decided to complete the gun by replacing the missing parts.
I came across the MLF in my search for parts to complete the long rifle so that it can be displayed as it would have looked a couple of hundred years ago.
I also have a very old percussion 13 gage ("13" stamped on the underside of the barrels) double barrel muzzleloader shotgun I acquired as a kid. A friend of mine who only hunts with black powder firearms has used it to hunt birds recently. I have been too afraid it would blow up to shoot it.
I may build a new muzzleloader so that I can hunt with it with my friend.