The mountain regions from North Carolina to Tennessee produced a unique longrifle, without elaborate inlays, incised carving or decoration of late schools. Often trimmed in iron rather than brass, examples well vary from very basic utilitarian "poor boy" rifles to finely forged examples with patchboxes This example is a very utilitarian rifle. It has a modest caliber with a heavy barrel for "over the log" shooting. The forged furniture is very basic in design. The stock architecture is also very basic and rather chubby on the wood. This heavy barreled rifle weighs 11.9 pounds with a trigger reach of 13-1/8".
This antique Southern Mountain rifle is stocked in maple. The stock has a traditional scraped appearance on the forend and stock through the lock panels. The right hand side of the buttstock has some additional scraping with quite a few tool marks visible as the rifle is rolled in the light. The wrist and forearm have been worn smooth from handling and use. The 47" barrel measures just over 1" octagon. The .37 caliber bore has a very coned muzzle and measures .42 caliber at the muzzle. The bore is rifled with seven lands and grooves. The grooves are dark with mostly bright lands. A semi-buckhorn rear sight is dovetailed 13" ahead of the breech. A very low fine silver blade sight is mounted behind the muzzle.
The iron buttplate has a long tapered heel in early to mid 19th century style. The stock has a few open drying checks and tool marks are visible as it is rolled in the light. The stock is drilled for a grease hole near the buttplate, typically these were filled with grease, or tallow to lubricate patching material. The tang of the breech extends to the mid-point of the wrist. The wrist on this rifle is very thick, which gives the rifle a chunky appearance. The stock does have some cast-off for a right hand shooter. The lock panel behind the right hand side of the breech has eroded away from repeated cap flash. The bottom view reveals the well worn unprotected toe of the rifle. The hand forged iron triggerguard is wide, mounted with screws at front and rear. The stock has a broad flat that extends from the lock panel into the forearm. This triggerguard has a classic shape found on many similar rifles with offset grip rail and curled spoon on the end. The ramrod entry pipe has no skirt and matches the other two rod pipes. The entry pipe is sometimes omitted on Tennessee longrifles. The ramrod has a barber pole stripe and has been broken and is not long enough to serve the bore. The sideplate is missing, but was a washer style that would have been inlet flush. Finished with minimal decoration typical of a Tennessee longrifle, this firearm does not have inlays, carving or engraving.
This antique Southern Mountain rifle is fitted with a drum and nipple ignition. The drum is a antique style with no screw on the end. The end of the drum has a engraved star burst design. The breech of the barrel and lock plate below the drum have a well textured patina from corrosive antique percussion caps. The lock plate has some very faint die stamped designs remaining on the tail. We could not make out any name on the lock. The style of the lock is a early percussion lock with a curved inside corner ahead of the drum. Later percussion locks typically have a square corner. The tumbler screw has been replaced by a copper washer and a smaller screw. This is a very basic hardware store lock and the mainspring can hang past the bottom edge of the plate. You can see visible chipping from this occurring. This lock does not have a half cock notch. This was to simplify the lock design for use with set triggers. The single lever double set trigger will only fire the lock from the set position. Due to trigger backlash holding the sear up the lock can only be cocked after the triggers are set.
This antique Southern Mountain rifle is a very representative example of early to mid 19th century rifle with a heavy barrel for "over the log" shooting. It would make a excellent display, or study piece Order it for a ten day visual inspection. You will be delighted. Else if it does not fit you, return it in unfired condition for same-day refund. Postage is your only risk, when you order any one-of-a-kind gun from Track, whether new, used, or antique.