John Small Rifles and Their Features

[Trench]

I thought I'd post some pictures of John Small's surviving rifles, since they tend to have features that make you want to date them later than what they were actually made. John Small was a rifle builder among other things to include Northwest Territory Representative, Sheriff, Militia Colonel, and Designer of the Indiana Seal and made rifles in Vincennes, IN from around 1785 to c.1815. He died in 1821.

This is called the Kindig rifle, since it was once owned by Joe Kindig. He dated it to the revolutionary period. It was found in England.

This rifle is referred to as the Girty Rifle and was found in Michigan. It's ownership by the Girty Brothers might be a stretch. This is the rifle that I asked Roy Stroh to interpret for me. Love it.

This rifle is referred to as the Grouseland Rifle and is dated to 1805. As of this year it is the official Indiana Rifle.

This is the rifle that was once owned by William Clark. It was donated to the Missouri History Museum in 1923 by William Clark's grandaughter. It is dated to 1800-1810.

This rifle is referred to as the Vigo rifle as was owned by Col. Francis Vigo of Indiana. He helped finance George Rogers Clark's attack on Fort Sackville. It's been rode hard and put up wet. The barrel has been shortened. It was thought to be 48in long. It was originally a full-stocked rifle.

 

[smo]

Cool Those are some nice rifles :thumbsup:

 

[nchawkeye]

Fasinating, thanks...

A couple of observations...I remember some talk years ago about William Clark's enty in his journal about shooting an elk with little effect to to it being his small rifle...

We knew he carried a Small rifle with him but didn't know for sure if this was reference to the builder or caliber...

Also, it's interesting that Vigo owned a Small rifle as well...As you note he was a big help to George Rogers...Wonder if William or George Rogers had John Small make that gun for Vigo???

Sure would be interesting to know more details...

Is there any mention of caliber with any of these???

 

[Trench]

Oops. I should have included the calibers. Kindig Rifle: .43 cal, Girty Rifle: .48 cal, Grouseland Rifle: .42 cal, Clark Rifle: .36 cal, Vigo Rifle: .47 cal.

 

[rf50cal]

Interesting, Thanks for your efforts. That's quite an elaborate patch box on the first rifle.

 

[wattlebuster]

I enjoyed the pics Trench. Thanks for posting :hatsoff:

 

[hanshi]

Good pics of some fine rifles. I especially find it interesting that the calibers were fairly small.

 

[Dausener]

Very cool! Thanks for the info. :v

 

[BFJ]

Thanks for great post. Very interesting.

BFJ

 

[Trench]

If there is a rifle that anyone wants to see more angles of, let me know.

 

[Captjoel]

Very nice pictures and great rifles! Thank you Trench for posting them. Do you know if any other rifles are known that were made by John Small? My favorite Small is the one with the elaborite silver floral planter inlayed on the butt, fanning out toward the cheek piece. It may be the same one as your first rifle posted. It recently sold at auction for well over 100k. I can't remember exactly the amount it went for.

 

[Trench]

Only these five rifles and one pistol is known. There are some powder horns and pipe-hawks attributed to his work, too.

 

[Jim Blair]

Here's the Small rifle sold last year-
http://jamesdjulia.com/auctions/catalog_detail_shots.asp?Details=41831&sale=303&lot=2500

 

[Trench]

One feature I find interesting on that rifle is the roller on the frizzen spring, given it's date back to The Revolution.

 

[nchawkeye]

I'm betting that lock was changed out or it doesn't date to the Revolution...I didn't see a date on it...Looks more 1800-1820 to me...

 

[Trench]

I'm betting that lock was changed out or it doesn't date to the Revolution...I didn't see a date on it...Looks more 1800-1820 to me...

Yes, all his rifles seem to beg a later dating. We know it was found in England. The speculation is that it was purchased before the Revolution ended and brought back England. It looks more like a post 1785 rifle to me. The urn inlay on the cheek piece seems to indicate that. The urn was a popular Federal Period decoration and can be found on wallpaper prints, etc. after the revolution.

 

[asbrown]

:hmm: Maybe I'm just to picky, or just ignorant of the norm, but I don't like the transition on the forend at the entry pipe. It just doesn't flow right to me. Not that I could do any better. I'm also amazed at how many of the "masters" rifles didn't come with set triggers. This one looks like it may have had one at some point, it certainly has the room in the gaurd. Do you know if it's been broken or changed at some point? :hmm:

 

[George]

Thanks, Trench. Very educational.

Spence

 

[Roy]

7 barrel keys...

 

[Dphar]

I'm betting that lock was changed out or it doesn't date to the Revolution...I didn't see a date on it...Looks more 1800-1820 to me...

The historical work and most if not all of the writing in Kindig's book was not done by him but rather Kauffman and others. I would hesitate the think Kingig's word was gospel in dating rifles.


So far as dating locks?
Pointed tail locks looking much like the Siler that Chambers sells were in use by or shortly after the turn of the 18th century in Europe. They continued in use into the 19th 100 years+- . So its pretty tough to date a lock that has no markings. By the 1780s locks like the L&R #1700 were being made. Semi-waterproof pans, roller frizzens or F. springs, tumblers with a link to reduce friction. They look a LOT like 1800- 1820s FLs used here and in fact a couple of JP Beck rifles have them, he died in 1811.
Import locks (almost all were) shipped to America were often decades behind state of the art.
Many features some see as indicating an early rifle are 50-60 years out of date when used on American rifles. So a lock with an unbridled frizzen may be newer than one with a frizzen bridle. The bridled frizzen pre-dates the Kentucky rifle.

Dan