Percussion "rifle"

[union son]

The links below will take you to my Photobucket album with photos of an old muzzleloader. I'm hoping for some help to identify its origins. The lock appears to have been converted from flint. The octagon barrel tapers to round. I cannot see any rifling. The barrel is 37" long and the entire gun is about 53". It is not signed anywhere, except for "J Martin" on the lock, which I don't think is original. It's a family heirloom and the ancestors who are believed to have originally acquired it hailed from Dauphin County, PA (Harrisburg area). The muzzle measures .50 caliber.

The first link is basic photos. The second link has many more photos.
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh194/abaction/PA rifle photos/
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh194/abaction/

Thanks for your time.

 

[flintriflesmith]

The gun appears to be what is commonly called a "buck and ball" gun. They have the basic form of a longrifle (cheek piece, grip rail style trigger guard, patchbox)but were not actually rifled and most have the octagon to round barrel form that this one does. With the front and rear sight they could shoot a ball very accurately at ranges up to 75 yards or so and had the advantage of being able to fire shot for small game hunting.
Your family history is probably correct that it is a PA made gun. It would date from the 1820-40 period -- right at the end of flintlock period. I believe that the lock is original to the gun and started out as a flintlock.
Some of the posters over on AmericanLongrifle(dot)com may recognise the makers hand from the patch box. Post your pictures there.

Gary

 

[union son]

Thank you very much for your input, FRS. I've already had this posted at Americanlongrifle.org and the folks there tend to agree with you.

Personally, I think it originated in the Dauphin (Harrisburg) area. Those guns were known to be rather plain (like this one), but they had alot of Berks County / Upper Susquehanna influence. I hear that there are few examples of Dauphin guns for comparison. I sure wish I could narrow it down to a likely maker, but that may not be possible.