Great Great Grandpa's Rifle

[Dr.Rob]

This is the oldest rifle in my collection, a .25 caliber squirrel rifle 'made by a blacksmith' sometime in the 1820’s-40’s most likely in Kentucky. The original inspection suggested the rifle may have been converted from flintlock due to the amount of damage to the wood around the lock. We know the rifle belonged to my great great, grandfather Alan Collins (1838-1914), who may have inherited it from his father--an Irishman who had relocated to Kentucky around 1820. We do not have an ‘official accounting’ of his name but in oral tradition it is Thomas Collins.
Now before anyone accuses me of 'destroying' this old Kentucky squirrel gun my family and I did a bunch of research and had the old girl appraised. She was valued by a reputable antique arms dealer at 100 bucks or so (in 2000), as was the horn, bullet-block and mold.
So there was no real 'value' in her except as a wall-hanger and as a piece of family history, and a much neglected one. This rifle had sat in a closet in WV for 100 years or more before I ever saw it, and my dad used to oil it once in a while when he was a kid. It is amazing to me that in the damp of WV, the stock didn’t warp as it stood in that closet. When he finally inherited it we put it over the fireplace but never 'did' anything to it.

 

[CmdrSlander]

I was expecting a bolt action .30-06, maybe a lever gun... but noooo...

Great Great Old Rifle friend!

 

[HB]

Sweet Rifle, Id have to shoot it once if it still functions! Its amazing to me how few of these old rifles remain but technology always seems to deem the last generation of rifles "obsolete". To me rifles of this era have the most history as hunters of the time were by and large hunting for subsistence.

HB

 

[Dr.Rob]

Several moves and several houses later, my dad fell into ill health and the rifle was sitting on a shelf in the basement collecting dust. I had been thinking a while on what we could do to preserve it. For father's day I decided to do a 'stabilization' of the wood and metal. The wood was so dry in places it was in danger of crumbling at the toe and all the iron parts showed a thick patina of rust and dirt. I consulted a few sources on how to go about cleaning up the old gal, and my brother and I built a display box to keep the dust and spider webs off of it.
One of the most interesting things you may note is a BULLETHOLE through the stock of approximately .22-25 caliber. We can't say if this was caused by a ricochet or by 'unfriendly fire' as the cause of it has been lost through the ages.
The ram rod was replaced sometime before 1900, and the nose repaired with brass (and not by a gunsmith, clearly a ‘home fix’) from the original iron fitting. The front sight appears to be silver and original to the rifle. The rear sight is pretty well worn but it points well, for being enormously front heavy.
After a good wash with a hot mix of Boiled linseed oil and turpentine the figure of the wood came out and you can see what a nice stock was under almost 200 years of dirt and grime. You can also clearly see that is indeed a bullet hole. I spent a couple days working slowly with paper towels and fine steel wool to get the gunk off and work that mix back into the stock and metal. The nipple is firmly rusted shut and the lock no longer works, though the set trigger does. I checked it for a charge by measuring the rod, and even dribbled some of the mix down the bore--but as you can imagine I don't HAVE a cleaning rod long enough to scrub it out completely.

 

[Dr.Rob]

The shadow box took a long afternoon and my brother and I aren't carpenters so it's not quite as pretty as we'd hoped. We bought some oak planks, lightly sanded them finishing them with the same BLO/Turpentine mix. The fabric I got from Michael’s and it’s synthetic but it had that crushed velvet look. The plexiglass cover was hard to fit, but I think it came out alright. It made for a great gift and is now proudly displayed in our living room.

My dad informed me last year he’d like to pass the rifle on to me.

One of these days when I have more money than sense I’d love to make a working copy of this rifle, complete with iron or mild steel fittings.

Just thought I’d share.

 

[wyohome]

Do you think that hole could have been drilled there to carry a bullet starter or some other tool?

 

[wlewisiii]

Absolutely beautiful.

When you want to make that duplicate to shoot, I'd suggest this place:

http://www.sittingfoxmuzzleloaders.com/

No connection except as a happy client. Good people in my experience.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Do you think that hole could have been drilled there to carry a bullet starter or some other tool?

You know, that never occured to me but if that were the case, the hole was so shallow in the stock that it cracked it through and splintered it. I am 99.9% sure it's a bullet hole.

 

[wyohome]

Just wondered. Nice keepsake.

 

[BCRider]

This is surely one of the more smile worthy threads I've seen on THR in a long time. What a FANTASTIC piece of family history for you and your kin! ! ! !

I can't imagine any sort of ricochet that would have the velocity to cut a groove of that sort for such a long way and through the stock and not deflect to any noticable extent.

More n' likely the rifle was sitting somewhere when someone else put a round thru it.... Otherwise it would sure be a story worth reading if your Great Great Gran'pa was holding it when that occured. It suggests someone in front of him or someone directly behind. Either way I'm guessing that he kept his right arm up in the classic old style or it would have resulted in some "leakage" on his part...

A copy you and yours can shoot would be a great way to go. But if the shadow box had you and your brother challenged to your limits I'd suggest that you don't try to copy the stock or much else other than shopping from a catalog

 

[Inebriated]

This is surely one of the more smile worthy threads I've seen on THR in a long time. What a FANTASTIC piece of family history for you and your kin! ! ! !

Agreed. That is just awesome.

 

[Dr.Rob]

working and staining a stock no problem.. but trying to cut one to stay true for that length? Nope, that's well beyond me.

 

[StrawHat]

Interesting old rifle. 25 caliber was not a common bore size, very small by muzzleloading standards and ramrods were likely to break. The hardware I can see is interesting, suggests the style of the poorboy rifle of the Appalachian regions. The nose cap was likley poured in place, possibly pewter, a large step away from the poorboy style and possibly a later addition.

A similar rifle would be a fun build, although the caliber would be tough to deal with. Nice job on the case, be careful with the plexi, it scratches so use soft brushes to dust it.

 

[BigG]

That's likely a converted flintlock as you said. The first caplocks were not until the late 1830's early 1840s and the flintlocks were still current. Very nice. Nice that you have the accoutrements, also. It looks like a larger caliber than 25 - say 45 judging from the loading block?

 

[critter]

Now, that's really neat!

 

[bikerdoc]

That is a great piece of family history.

 

[herkyguy]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

One thing i learned during the course of my grad school studies was that in centurie's past, military rifles paled in comparison to the rifles carried by backwoodsmen. European hunters were using rifled barrels long before armies ever did. and the same is true in the USA. it seems likely that your old rifle was probably cutting edge at the time and perhaps the envy of many of your kin's neighbors?

My understanding is that during the mid to late nineteenth century, the common caliber was much larger and perhaps more cumbersome. you say it is heavy, but i wonder how it compares to military issued rifles from the period?

 

[gp911]

That is so cool... I would love to have a piece of family history like that! I also love the idea of having a working replica built someday so you could see what it was like to shoot. Thanks for sharing the story & pics.

 

[taliv]

very cool

 

[snakeman]

That is too cool and a true work of art.

 

[Jim Watson]

Nice display.

I hope you manage a shooting replica.
I remember one I saw a number of years ago.
A gunsmith brought his latest project to the range. A ca 1740 flint fowling piece in excellent condition and the reproduction made with a longer stock so the 6'4" owner could shoot it better. It wasn't cheap, but it was a beauty.

If you can find a 1977 Gun Digest, you would enjoy reading 'Old Yellowjacket Shoots Again.'
Of course Hal Hartley was an expert stock maker and good general gunsmith. He did a LOT of work on Old Yellowjacket.

 

[MCgunner]

That's just awesome! Probably get more admirers on the BP board, I bet. It ain't an AR, so not too many on the rifle forum would appreciate it, I'm thinkin'.

 

[303tom]

The shadow box took a long afternoon and my brother and I aren't carpenters so it's not quite as pretty as we'd hoped. We bought some oak planks, lightly sanded them finishing them with the same BLO/Turpentine mix. The fabric I got from Michael’s and it’s synthetic but it had that crushed velvet look. The plexiglass cover was hard to fit, but I think it came out alright. It made for a great gift and is now proudly displayed in our living room.

My dad informed me last year he’d like to pass the rifle on to me.

One of these days when I have more money than sense I’d love to make a working copy of this rifle, complete with iron or mild steel fittings.

Just thought I’d share.

I don`t know how you all could have done your Great, Great Grandpa a better service than that. That is absolutely beautiful............Good Job Guys, now don`t ever let it go...............

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Man, that is cool on so many different levels.
Just awesome!

 

[osteodoc08]

Such an awesome piece. Priceless.