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My Remington ML Cap Lock Half-stock Rifle – A Brief History

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Clint Meier, thank you for telling the story and starting this thread! We wish these old rifles could talk, but this one is speaking to us! I am interested in tracking down the history of individual antique guns, and I envy your success with this one. Persistence pays!

researcher35, welcome to the forum and by all means show us pictures of the things you and your husband have found.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
 
Hello all! Thank you for letting me join your forum. I just wanted to add a bit to this story. My husband, Al, and I love everything about history. Anywhere from glass collecting, to metal detecting, to privy digging. There is this gentleman, whom I won't name, that we've been detecting his 5 acre yard since 2011. On the first day we met him, he took us on a tour of the inside of his house, which is red brick. Anyway, we now have him over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Then, earlier this year, my husband and I got permission from him to dig his privies. The first hole was amazing! We found an emerald green bottle 6 inches under the surface! Long story short, we did research on his house and found that it was owned by A. G. Edwards! I know what I have added isn't about muzzleloaders. But, the history and insight into the man that made the gun. My husband did find, this past Sunday, September 13, 2020, a bullet, very large, and by what he says, is civil war era. Possibly made by A. G.? Since I am new to this forum, are we allowed to post pics! Are any of you interested in pics from A. G. Edwards's privy finds?
 

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Howdy and welcome researcher35,
Yes!!! I, for one, would be very interested in you posting any/all pictures regarding the privy finds and the house, etc. of A.G. Edwards of Corunna, MI. If the moderator thinks this inappropriate, then I can tell you how you can get my email from my profile and send them to me that way. I am just amazed that we have connected in this way. What are the odds???? Thanks for posting!
Clint, I would like your email address. The pics I posted are only a teeny tiny portion of what we've found.
 
Howdy Notchy Bob and Researcher35! Sorry, I sometimes get busy and don't have the time to get back on the forum as frequently as I'd like, so my apologies!

NB, it was my pleasure to be able to do so, sir! Thanks for your comments and I too find it very rewarding to be able to look back into the history of something I now own that was owned by others long before me! Now, the added findings from Researcher35 are just icing on the cake!

Researcher35, thank you so much for posting those photos of your privy excavation finds. They are truly amazing! I would never have thought that such a source could yield so many interesting artifacts! It is great to also see photos of the house itself! You have made my day!!! And I am anxious to see what else you have found!

I don't know if just putting my email address in a post would be allowed on the forum, or not. I could find no way to send you a private message either, as is possible on other forums I visit, or to send you to the email address shown in my account details, so I'll provide instructions on how to find it from here, which I hope are not too cumbersome.
Click on 'Members' at the top left of each forum page (this one included) in the dark gray band. Type my name as shown in the 'Find Member' box on about the middle left of the page. Then click on my avatar and name, which will appear below, to go to my 'page'. Click on 'About' in the dark gray band below my avatar. My website will be shown, so click on that link. Once there, scroll down to near the bottom of the page for my contact info. Thank you! Clint Meier
 
Just click on your atavar and hit the "start conversation" tab. The message will show up in the upper right side of this page,
a red star or something will show in the envelope next to your name just click on it.
 
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I have an old cap-lock half-stock rifle that my dad gave to me on a trip back to Boulder, Colorado to visit him and his wife in 2008. It was part of my step-mother’s brother’s estate and the man’s family had tagged it to be sold at an upcoming garage sale for $25. My dad asked them if he could buy it so that he could give to me, if nothing else, as a wall-hanger, knowing that I had a keen appreciation of old rifles in general, especially MLs. They gladly just gave it to him to pass on to me, and I’m very grateful!

View attachment 27387

View attachment 27389

When I got it home, I removed the barrel, lock and tang to clean ages of gunk out of the lock and off of other pieces, being very careful to not remove any finish or patina. I noticed that it was missing the nipple, drum, and clean-out screw, and that the lock screw was almost totally stripped at the end and barely held the lock into the stock and a that a Phillips head screw held the hammer to the tumbler. The ram rod was an old tapered wood one, with no cupped end or brass ferrule threaded for attachments. The breech plug/tang unscrewed from the end of the barrel without much effort, and looking down the barrel was worse than looking down a hand-dug well. After a thorough cleaning of ages of dirt and grime, all the rifling looked pretty decent, no bad rust or deep pitting, and I thought maybe I had a shooter here and not just a wall hanger! I gave the outside of the stock a quick wipe down with a cloth dampened with a little Kramer’s Best Antique Improver. I know, I know, what does that do to the original finish, you ask? Well nothing, except clean dirt and grime off the surface and it soaks into the wood to moisturize and rejuvenate it and what finish is still there. It adds no build-up to the old finish nor does it dissolve anything away from it either, aside from making it look much better! (BTW, I am not affiliated with Kramer’s in any way, it is just a very good product for 100+ year old stocks that I am not afraid to use on anything of my own!!)



View attachment 27391

View attachment 27397

After this initial disassembly, this is what I could determine about it on my own. It had a 32” long full octagon barrel that is 1-1/8” across the flats at the breech end and tapers to 1-1/16” at the muzzle. After pounding a .45 caliber lead bullet through the oiled bore with a long brass rod, I measured its groove diameter right at .40”. Several parts are stamped “REMINGTON”. These are the lock plate (on the outside at lower right), the inside of the patch box lid and the barrel (upside down on the LH side vertical flat near the breech end, just covered by the stock). The “REMINGTON” barrel marking is the hardest to see, with only some of the letters still faintly present. Plainly visible on the top flat of the barrel just ahead of the lock and behind the rear sight is stamped “A.G. Edwards CORU_ _A MICH.”

View attachment 27392

View attachment 27393

View attachment 27394

View attachment 27395

View attachment 27396

I really enjoy trying to find out anything I can about the history surrounding things that I own, that is, if there is any history to be found. This old rifle has started me on a rewarding arm-chair adventure and history lesson! I looked at a Michigan state map with a city index and found that there still is indeed a city with the name Corunna in Michigan. This would seem to satisfy the two unreadable letters in the barrel stamping. I am on a roll!

Now, to try and look-up A.G. Edwards in Michigan. Googling Michigan gunsmiths, I saw on-line somewhere that the American Single Shot Rifle Assoc. (or ASSRA, which I am also a member of, along with the NMLRA) might have a copy of Michigan Gunsmiths of the 19th and 20th Centuries by James Kelly in their library. I contacted Laurie Gapko, curator of the ASSRA archives and he found this info for me in their copy of that book:

Edwards, A.G., Corunna Village 1860 census
Shiawassee County 1860 census shows A.G. Edwards 32 Gun Smith, born in England. His wife Emaline 28, and first son George H. were born in New York. Three younger children Ida F. 4, Mary 2 and Walter 3 months, were born in Michigan. In 1869 he was still located in Corunna, and made at least one half-stock percussion rifle.

Looking further on my own I found the following excerpt:
American Gun Makers, page 57: Edwards, A.G. - Corunna, Mich. 1869 Half-stock percussion rifle.

This excerpt was taken from the book:
American Gun Makers, copyright 1953 by the Stackpole Company, Second Edition.

I wanted to learn a little about Remington and his business too. Eliphalet Remington II, a blacksmith by trade and working for his father, had forged his first rifle barrel at the age of 22 in Aug. of 1816. By the mid-1840’s, several of Remington’s sons had joined the company, then E. Remington & Sons, which specialized in making rifle barrels which carried the distinctive ‘REMINGTON’ stamp near the breeches. Many independent gunsmiths purchased Remington barrels and assembled them into custom ordered arms for their customers. With increased demand, other parts were added to their inventory, first percussion locks made in Birmingham, England and marked with their ‘REMINGTON’ stamp, then later brass furniture, was added, i.e. trigger guards, butt plates and patch boxes.

The previous owner of this rifle was Harold (Bud) Wilson, who was my step-mother’s brother, and who passed away I believe in Arizona, presumably in 2007 or 2008. Bud had once told my dad (who passed away in 2018) about how this rifle had belonged to his (Bud’s) grandfather, Gus Bluske, and that Gus had lugged the rifle across the plains when his family came to settle in the Fort Morgan area of Colorado from Wisconsin in the early 1900’s.

Through my dad’s request, someone in the family was able to supply the following additional information about Gus Bluske:
He was born on Oct. 20, 1869 in Vernon County, WI. He was married in Viroqua, WI on Mar. 11, 1902. The 1910 census shows him living in Fort Morgan, CO, and that he was a carpenter. He had also lived later in Greeley, CO and had moved on to California in 1929. He died in Eagle Rock, CA on Jan. 17, 1973.

This rifle was evidently passed on at some point, presumably to a married daughter of Gus Bluske’s and her husband (with the last name of Wilson), who then would be Bud Wilson’s parents, and then on to Gus’ grandson (Bud Wilson), then to my dad and finally to me. This rifle has certainly made the rounds and has traveled quite a bit in its time, originally from Corunna, MI circa 1860’s, to Wisconsin circa the early 1900’s, then to Fort Morgan, CO circa 1910, then on to Arizona, then to Boulder, Co and now in Lone Jack, MO. Wow, how I wish it could talk!

I was still curious about the maker though, A.G. Edwards, and knowing that Sarah Ritter did research for people on old guns and gunsmiths from reading her articles in every issue of MuzzleBlasts, I emailed her with what I already knew. A few months later I got my Nov. 2017 issue and was surprised to read Sarah’s findings about A.G. Edwards inside! Sarah did find his full name in Frank Seller’s book, American Gunsmiths, which was Antrobus George Edwards (no wonder he went by A.G.!). He is listed as having lived in Rochester, NY from 1849 to 1853, and in Counna, MI from 1853 to 1879. There is also a John Miller listed in Seller’s book who lived in Rochester, NY from 1829 to1853, and who patented a revolving rifle on June 11, 1829. A.G. Edwards had been an employee of John Miller’s prior to him buying Miller’s shop from him in 1852, and was known to have made Miller patent revolving rifles and normal percussion rifles.

So, it appears that my A.G. Edwards rifle was made sometime between 1853 and either 1869 or 1879. (Much past 1869, the demand for percussion rifles would seem to me to be rather limited.) Could my rifle be the ‘one’ half-stock percussion rifle mentioned in both the Shiawassee County 1860 census and the book American Gun Makers? I guess we will never know! Boy, what a ride!!

Since 2008 I have replaced the drum, nipple, clean-out screw, ram rod, hammer screw and lock screw. The fit of all metal parts to and within the stock shows a very high level of skill and craftsmanship throughout. Now, I have to find the time to go out and try shooting it again!
(I say ‘again’ because I will admit to having taken it out to the range once several years ago. My wife wanted to shoot her TC Cherokee .32 cal. rifle, so we loaded up all the gear and off we went. We got to the range and after we got my wife started shooting I discovered that I had forgotten my balls, .390s and .395s, left them on the work bench sure as the world! Before we left the range that afternoon, I did take one of her .310 balls and nested it in several .50 cal. patches, seated it over a mild charge of powder and pulled the trigger. I was amazed that the tiny ball hit the target paper at 25 yds.!)
Thanks for reading!

Clint
Now, this is the kind of history that I like. What caught my eye at first was "Remington".

I inherited a Remington barreled 1/2 stocked rifle that belonged to my great grandpa. It even came with a "Picket" mold and a worm eaten powder horn. The barrel is 34" and stamped "Remington Cast Steel". In the top flat is stamped "G. Spangler Monroe". The rifling is 1-48" and it's also a .40 caliber. Weight of rifle is 17-1/2 lbs. Tapers from 1-1/4" at breech end to 1-1/8" at the muzzle. Turned round for 1-1/4" at the muzzle. I blasphemiosly made a little cutter in my machining class, imbedded it into a 3/8" dowel and freshed out the rifling one winter. This rifle came with a Swiss style diopter sight so figured out that it was meant to be a target rifle. It shoots probably better than I can but 1-1/2" at 50 yds. with a round ball is what I got out of it so far. We drove up to Monroe, Wisconsin and found George Spangler listed in an old newspaper article as a local gunsmith and a member of the Odd Fellows as well as a target shooting club. A local gun store told us that a guy stops by once a year to buy any G. Spangler gun he has collected over the course of the year. Story is that my Great Grandpa Tom traded a 10 gauge to an Indian for it and that they used to shoot it. I thought it was real great that both my brother and I got to shoot it. History lives on.
 
I have an old cap-lock half-stock rifle that my dad gave to me on a trip back to Boulder, Colorado to visit him and his wife in 2008. It was part of my step-mother’s brother’s estate and the man’s family had tagged it to be sold at an upcoming garage sale for $25. My dad asked them if he could buy it so that he could give to me, if nothing else, as a wall-hanger, knowing that I had a keen appreciation of old rifles in general, especially MLs. They gladly just gave it to him to pass on to me, and I’m very grateful!

View attachment 27387

View attachment 27389

When I got it home, I removed the barrel, lock and tang to clean ages of gunk out of the lock and off of other pieces, being very careful to not remove any finish or patina. I noticed that it was missing the nipple, drum, and clean-out screw, and that the lock screw was almost totally stripped at the end and barely held the lock into the stock and a that a Phillips head screw held the hammer to the tumbler. The ram rod was an old tapered wood one, with no cupped end or brass ferrule threaded for attachments. The breech plug/tang unscrewed from the end of the barrel without much effort, and looking down the barrel was worse than looking down a hand-dug well. After a thorough cleaning of ages of dirt and grime, all the rifling looked pretty decent, no bad rust or deep pitting, and I thought maybe I had a shooter here and not just a wall hanger! I gave the outside of the stock a quick wipe down with a cloth dampened with a little Kramer’s Best Antique Improver. I know, I know, what does that do to the original finish, you ask? Well nothing, except clean dirt and grime off the surface and it soaks into the wood to moisturize and rejuvenate it and what finish is still there. It adds no build-up to the old finish nor does it dissolve anything away from it either, aside from making it look much better! (BTW, I am not affiliated with Kramer’s in any way, it is just a very good product for 100+ year old stocks that I am not afraid to use on anything of my own!!)



View attachment 27391

View attachment 27397

After this initial disassembly, this is what I could determine about it on my own. It had a 32” long full octagon barrel that is 1-1/8” across the flats at the breech end and tapers to 1-1/16” at the muzzle. After pounding a .45 caliber lead bullet through the oiled bore with a long brass rod, I measured its groove diameter right at .40”. Several parts are stamped “REMINGTON”. These are the lock plate (on the outside at lower right), the inside of the patch box lid and the barrel (upside down on the LH side vertical flat near the breech end, just covered by the stock). The “REMINGTON” barrel marking is the hardest to see, with only some of the letters still faintly present. Plainly visible on the top flat of the barrel just ahead of the lock and behind the rear sight is stamped “A.G. Edwards CORU_ _A MICH.”

View attachment 27392

View attachment 27393

View attachment 27394

View attachment 27395

View attachment 27396

I really enjoy trying to find out anything I can about the history surrounding things that I own, that is, if there is any history to be found. This old rifle has started me on a rewarding arm-chair adventure and history lesson! I looked at a Michigan state map with a city index and found that there still is indeed a city with the name Corunna in Michigan. This would seem to satisfy the two unreadable letters in the barrel stamping. I am on a roll!

Now, to try and look-up A.G. Edwards in Michigan. Googling Michigan gunsmiths, I saw on-line somewhere that the American Single Shot Rifle Assoc. (or ASSRA, which I am also a member of, along with the NMLRA) might have a copy of Michigan Gunsmiths of the 19th and 20th Centuries by James Kelly in their library. I contacted Laurie Gapko, curator of the ASSRA archives and he found this info for me in their copy of that book:

Edwards, A.G., Corunna Village 1860 census
Shiawassee County 1860 census shows A.G. Edwards 32 Gun Smith, born in England. His wife Emaline 28, and first son George H. were born in New York. Three younger children Ida F. 4, Mary 2 and Walter 3 months, were born in Michigan. In 1869 he was still located in Corunna, and made at least one half-stock percussion rifle.

Looking further on my own I found the following excerpt:
American Gun Makers, page 57: Edwards, A.G. - Corunna, Mich. 1869 Half-stock percussion rifle.

This excerpt was taken from the book:
American Gun Makers, copyright 1953 by the Stackpole Company, Second Edition.

I wanted to learn a little about Remington and his business too. Eliphalet Remington II, a blacksmith by trade and working for his father, had forged his first rifle barrel at the age of 22 in Aug. of 1816. By the mid-1840’s, several of Remington’s sons had joined the company, then E. Remington & Sons, which specialized in making rifle barrels which carried the distinctive ‘REMINGTON’ stamp near the breeches. Many independent gunsmiths purchased Remington barrels and assembled them into custom ordered arms for their customers. With increased demand, other parts were added to their inventory, first percussion locks made in Birmingham, England and marked with their ‘REMINGTON’ stamp, then later brass furniture, was added, i.e. trigger guards, butt plates and patch boxes.

The previous owner of this rifle was Harold (Bud) Wilson, who was my step-mother’s brother, and who passed away I believe in Arizona, presumably in 2007 or 2008. Bud had once told my dad (who passed away in 2018) about how this rifle had belonged to his (Bud’s) grandfather, Gus Bluske, and that Gus had lugged the rifle across the plains when his family came to settle in the Fort Morgan area of Colorado from Wisconsin in the early 1900’s.

Through my dad’s request, someone in the family was able to supply the following additional information about Gus Bluske:
He was born on Oct. 20, 1869 in Vernon County, WI. He was married in Viroqua, WI on Mar. 11, 1902. The 1910 census shows him living in Fort Morgan, CO, and that he was a carpenter. He had also lived later in Greeley, CO and had moved on to California in 1929. He died in Eagle Rock, CA on Jan. 17, 1973.

This rifle was evidently passed on at some point, presumably to a married daughter of Gus Bluske’s and her husband (with the last name of Wilson), who then would be Bud Wilson’s parents, and then on to Gus’ grandson (Bud Wilson), then to my dad and finally to me. This rifle has certainly made the rounds and has traveled quite a bit in its time, originally from Corunna, MI circa 1860’s, to Wisconsin circa the early 1900’s, then to Fort Morgan, CO circa 1910, then on to Arizona, then to Boulder, Co and now in Lone Jack, MO. Wow, how I wish it could talk!

I was still curious about the maker though, A.G. Edwards, and knowing that Sarah Ritter did research for people on old guns and gunsmiths from reading her articles in every issue of MuzzleBlasts, I emailed her with what I already knew. A few months later I got my Nov. 2017 issue and was surprised to read Sarah’s findings about A.G. Edwards inside! Sarah did find his full name in Frank Seller’s book, American Gunsmiths, which was Antrobus George Edwards (no wonder he went by A.G.!). He is listed as having lived in Rochester, NY from 1849 to 1853, and in Counna, MI from 1853 to 1879. There is also a John Miller listed in Seller’s book who lived in Rochester, NY from 1829 to1853, and who patented a revolving rifle on June 11, 1829. A.G. Edwards had been an employee of John Miller’s prior to him buying Miller’s shop from him in 1852, and was known to have made Miller patent revolving rifles and normal percussion rifles.

So, it appears that my A.G. Edwards rifle was made sometime between 1853 and either 1869 or 1879. (Much past 1869, the demand for percussion rifles would seem to me to be rather limited.) Could my rifle be the ‘one’ half-stock percussion rifle mentioned in both the Shiawassee County 1860 census and the book American Gun Makers? I guess we will never know! Boy, what a ride!!

Since 2008 I have replaced the drum, nipple, clean-out screw, ram rod, hammer screw and lock screw. The fit of all metal parts to and within the stock shows a very high level of skill and craftsmanship throughout. Now, I have to find the time to go out and try shooting it again!
(I say ‘again’ because I will admit to having taken it out to the range once several years ago. My wife wanted to shoot her TC Cherokee .32 cal. rifle, so we loaded up all the gear and off we went. We got to the range and after we got my wife started shooting I discovered that I had forgotten my balls, .390s and .395s, left them on the work bench sure as the world! Before we left the range that afternoon, I did take one of her .310 balls and nested it in several .50 cal. patches, seated it over a mild charge of powder and pulled the trigger. I was amazed that the tiny ball hit the target paper at 25 yds.!)
Thanks for reading!

Clint
 
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