Pennsylvania long rifle

[Robby]

Looks like it was made somewhere from western Pa to Ohio in the early 1800's. The lock looks to be a replacement as it doesn't fit the original mortice. Was it originally percussion or flint? It has nice lines to it overall, I like it. Were it mine, after careful study, it would most probably return to flint.
Robby

 

[tenngun]

Often guns don’t come in ‘schools’. IMHO many guns were restocked or made from cast off parts.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Often guns don’t come in ‘schools’. IMHO many guns were restocked or made from cast off parts.

I have an acquaintance that took a pine framing stud, a pile of parts rescued from the "old parts bins" of his grandfathers long shut down gunsmith shop and built a decent looking muzzleloader. I can easily see where over many decades guns that were scrapped, damaged and salvaged would get used to assemble functional weapons. Back then, they used what they could find. It's only a few "modern" traditional gun shooters that are all wound up in the HC/PC illusion....

I agree with @Robby - this particular gun would look great with a firelock as a striker.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I see a lot of shading around the lock where the lock plate sits above the lock mortise. Just how precise is the fit in the stock? I would need to examine the lock and lock mortise before I would determine that the lock is a replacement. As I speculated earlier, that rifle was built as a percussion rifle. Even if it was originally a flint lock, I would leave it as a percussion rifle so the rifle can tell its own story.

 

[oldwood]

There was some mention of the shiny metal washers behind the drum where it threads into the barrel. This shiny metal most likely is "shim stock".. Shim material comes in sheets of various thickness. I have it in my shop in .005 in , .010 ,etc. Had a guy come in to the shop and complain his percussion drum was rotating loose. First thing I asked him , what do you do to clean the rifle?? He said he always unpinned the barrel from the stock , unscrewed the drum , and placed the breach end into a can of soapy hot water and pumped a rag on r/r back and forth in the bore. Asked him why he didn't just take out the #10 clean out screw in the end of the drum , remove the nipple and pour some hot water in the bore w/a funnel and just push it through and out the drum w/ the drum still attached in the barrel ? He simply said there wasn't anyone at the place where he purchased the new rifle to instruct him how to clean a percussion rifle ,and it seemed logical to use the leverage of the nipple to easily unscrew the drum for cleaning. I explained to him , that m/l barrels are cut from "lead bearing" steel alloy for easy machining. The steel is soft enough it will not stand continuous loosening , and tightening of the drum. The drum is made of a harder steel alloy and will eventually tear the threads out of the barrel..............So , the next half hour was spent educating the newbee how to care for his .36 squirrel rifle. Any way , back to the shiny washers mentioned above . The fix for a loose out of position drum is make washers out of shim stock and through trial and error , the drum will tighten in to the right position under the hammer nose. Hope all this will help some unknowing person with a loose drum to understand what's happened..............oldwood

 

[oldwood]

The shim stock I have is 70 + years old and has no corrosion on it. I'm not sure when stainless steel was invented , but I'm pretty sure the shim stock I have is made of stainless steel. The repair to the above rifle could easily been fixed by modern smith using shim stock.??????..........oldwood

 

[Robby]

In my book it has another chapter to write, as a flintlock, a shootable flintlock. Then I would name it, 'Roots'.
Robby

 

[Dyk11stra]

Speculating based on the very nice fit of the lock in the stock, that rifle was always a percussion lock rifle. A lot of percussion rifles were made with the drum system of percussion locks.

Taking nothing away from your rifle, that is a very nice example of an early percussion Pennsylvania rifle.

Sure appreciate this discussion , all comments are appreciated and certainly contribute to my greater knowledge about long rifles.

Speculating based on the very nice fit of the lock in the stock, that rifle was always a percussion lock rifle. A lot of percussion rifles were made with the drum system of percussion locks.

Taking nothing away from your rifle, that is a very nice example of an early percussion Pennsylvania rifle.