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What is a "California" Rifle?

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Most of the phenotypical traits of the possibly California rifles suggest an Ohio or Midwestern style. The fish belly stock in one post above is an Ohio trait. The buttplates on the rifle above are Ohio shaped ( Not the pickle fork aberrations of the Vincents.) The two styles of trigger guards seen above are like those commonly used in Ohio. Further the half stocks with relatively long barrels is another Ohio style.

The main difference between the Ohio and California rifles is bore diameter.

A gunsmith in Leavenworth, KS, made rifles in Ohio style in the 1850s with bigger bores for folks headed west. Perhaps they couldp be classed as California rifles.
 
I have researched the California Rifle extensively. Apparently, it must be made for extremely small balls and have a left hand twist. Such rifles are most desirable if ambidextrous, bilingual and have a ram "thing" however, they may be deemed illegal if they can shoot more than ten of such aforementioned tiny balls...
 
Yeah, it may have been just a name for any rifle that a guy was "goin' to Californey" with.
I know Missouri has Huston, Texas County,Mexico,California, El Dorado Springs. Named when west bound groups going to some place west, only to get bogged down before they got too far. They christened the ground Texas or California or what have you. This they obtained their goal.
 
I inherited a 'California rifle' made by Dale Storey, but a contemporary Storey Sidehammer.
Fat guy fell on it and broke the stock years ago. Trying to get triggers to fit mortice and guard as well.
Stock was blond maple, but Turnbull did the stock repair, and stained it dark to cover the repairs. Trigger guard and trigger were lost at that time. Dale can't remember what he used, as it was his 15th gun.
 
Good post, Dave. I had forgotten that about the old-time "California buckhorn" rear sights mentioned in Major Roberts' book. The sights that came to my mind were the "California sights" made and sold by the late Andrew Fautheree (1939-2014), a highly-respected west-coast muzzleloading gunmaker. This is a picture of his California front sight, from an old Track of the Wolf catalog:

View attachment 147097

Track still carries these front sights, but the Fautheree California rear sight is no longer available. If I remember correctly, this was a nicely machined adjustable semi-buckhorn sight. The adjustment mechanism was very subtle, so as not to offend traditionalists. I regret that I don't have a picture. However, there was a nice little half-stocked percussion rifle which sold on this forum recently (see .40 caliber price drop again... ) which I am pretty sure had a set of the Fautheree California sights.

I'm not so sure about the conical projectiles, though. I'm not aware of any rifles intended for sugar-loaf bullets coming out of the Hawken shop. At last report, the original Hawken rifling bench or guide, with a uniform and non-adjustable 1-48" twist, was still in existence and in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society. However, I would not be too surprised to learn of rifles for conical bullets being produced by some of the more progressive builders in Philadelphia, Denver, or California.

Regarding the gain twist, @Loyalist Dave makes a good point. This old rifle by J.J. Freitas (the only Portuguese-American gunsmith I know of) is marked "GAIN TWIST" on the top barrel flat:

View attachment 147098

Incidentally, this rifle conforms very well to our hypothetical "California Rifle" style; half-stock, heavy barrel, brass mounts with the "hook & scroll" triggerguard, and no frills. One thing you can't really appreciate in this photo is that the end of the barrel has been turned round, to accept a precision bullet starter. At least two of the rifles pictured in my previous post had similar treatment, although the Hawken is not one of them. You can see this clearly in another image which is a part of a series of photos of the Freitas rifle on Mr. Curtis Johnson's Flickr page: J.J. Freitas Rifle

I think Mr. Johnson put up five excellent images of this rifle in the series, with some written commentary on the page below each picture. It's worth taking a look.

A lot of people will look at this rifle and think, "that looks like a Dimick." It is true that Horace Dimick of St. Louis built rifles that were very similar. Here is an example:

View attachment 147115

I would submit that Mr. Dimick was following a trend rather than setting one when he designed and built these rifles. I think this general pattern, which may be the "California Rifle," was a style that became popular in the 1850's, and gunmakers from Philadelphia to San Francisco were trying to give their customers what they wanted.

That pretty well sums up my own take on the "California Rifle" as it currently stands. However, as far as I'm concerned, the topic is still open for discussion.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
A. Fautheree rifle with what I would guess are his sights.

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@AZ Muzzleloaders , that is a nice rifle! I have no doubt Mr. Fautheree made the sights. The rear sight conforms to my idea of his "California" rear sight. The Fautheree California front sight with which I am more familiar is non-adjustable. Yours appears to have a windage adjustment screw, from the look of it. I've not seen one like that before, but again, I have no doubt that Mr. Fautheree made it. He was a talented guy.
A gunsmith in Leavenworth, KS, made rifles in Ohio style in the 1850s with bigger bores for folks headed west. Perhaps they couldp be classed as California rifles.
Maybe John Birringer (or Biringer)? He was originally from Germany but immigrated to the US in 1847. He set up shop in Leavenworth and built fine rifles. This is an example:

Biringer Rifle.jpg

This man is also holding a Birringer rifle, which had been passed down in his family for several generations, and was believed to have been owned by Tom Tobin:

Charles Mondragon & Toben Rifle.gif

The bottom rifle in this photo is also a Biringer:

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There is a nice, short biographical article about John Biringer on the Kansas History website: Kansapedia: Gunsmithing Tools

Interestingly, Mr. Biringer's stock pattern template has survived and is pictured with some of his other tools.

Notchy Bob
 
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John Miller was a gunsmith in early Jacksonville, Oregon, a gold rush town just over the border from California, and the Southern Oregon Historical Society has or had in its collections a couple of his heavy percussion hunting rifles. I would consider them to be "California" guns, built for hard use in mountainous terrain where grizz still had their way.
https://sohs.catalogaccess.com/objects/41325
 

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