Unknown halfstock children's rifle. Not sure if it's an original or a contemporary

[Trapper1993]

I won this rifle and several others at an auction. Barrel appears to be somewhere between 36 or 38 cal. The buttplate is really small and doesn't fit my shoulder and i'm pretty skinny. Buttplate is about an inch smaller than my 54 cal fullstock. I do not see any markings on the gun and i've taken everything apart. Rifle did not come with a lock. Barrel is heavily pitted on the bottom and there are several cracks in the forestock. One thing I noticed on these old guns is that they really go to town when carving the lock mortice. Not sure if it's safe to fire, probably not.

 

[Trapper1993]

 

[Tanselman]

You have an original half-stocked rifle, stocked in walnut. These later percussion rifles circa 1850-1860 are difficult to locate without a name or initials on the top barrel flat, and without a patchbox. The small, scalloped-edge butt inlays are interesting, but don't fit into any regional location. When determining whether a gun is an adult rifle or a youth rifle, the deciding factor is NOT barrel length, but rather length of trigger pull, which is the distance from the middle of the butt plate out to the front "hair" trigger. If a child's rifle, it will normally be 12-1/2" inches or less. When it reaches 13" or more, it's an adult rifle.

Shelby Gallien

 

[Trapper1993]

You have an original half-stocked rifle, stocked in walnut. These later percussion rifles circa 1850-1860 are difficult to locate without a name or initials on the top barrel flat, and without a patchbox. The small, scalloped-edge butt inlays are interesting, but don't fit into any regional location. When determining whether a gun is an adult rifle or a youth rifle, the deciding factor is NOT barrel length, but rather length of trigger pull, which is the distance from the middle of the butt plate out to the front "hair" trigger. If a child's rifle, it will normally be 12-1/2" inches or less. When it reaches 13" or more, it's an adult rifle.

Shelby Gallien

that's amazing! thank you! i will take good care of it. The length of pull is 12 inches so it's definitely a kid's rifle