Oregon Historical Gunmakers' Guild giveback...

[TFoley]

Fascinating stuff here from Prineville OR -
http://pamplinmedia.com/ceo/165-sports/180409-gunmakers-give-back

tac

 

[Zonie]

Interesting but a lot of assumption was being made in the comments.

No one knows what Louis and Clark actually took with them on their Expedition West.

There is no historical document in writing anywhere that says they carried modified 1792 Contract Rifle.

Had the people in the article prefaced their comments with "It is believed...", or "They may have carried...", or "The guns may have been modified..." it would have added much to their credibility.

Giving them the benefit of doubt, perhaps they did phrase their comments like this and the author of the article didn't hear it?

 

[fleener]

I hate giving interviews as they almost always result in a quote that is not accurate or quite what I said.

fleener

 

[LeRoy 58]

http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/2356

So, for the convenience of handling the rifles in close quarters, he would have had the 42" barrels shortened by six or eight inches and had the bore enlarged from .49 caliber to .54 caliber. Lewis does mention "short" rifles several places in the Journals.
If Lewis had ordered the full stocks to be cut back to half stocks, the forward portion of the barrel turned round to reduce weight, and a metal rib installed under the barrel to protect the ramrod, the result would have been a prototype of the U.S. Model 1803 rifle which appeared soon after Lewis left the Armory.

No one knows for certain if Lewis 1) designed a rifle to be newly constructed in the form which later became the U.S. Model 1803 rifle; 2) took 15 standard 1792”“1794 contract rifles; or 3) selected 15 contract rifles and had them shortened and modified to suit his needs for the expedition.

Interesting....