Please help me identify my family heirloom.

I was recently given a family musket that has been in my family for years. I was told my great great grandfather modified it to percussion to put down hogs to butcher. Other than that I have little information. Can anyone help me find when and where this was made and by who? (Picture #8 has a name engraved). Also does anyone know where I can find replacement parts for it? It is missing small decorative pieces and the patch door. Any help is much appreciated!

Welcome to the forum & that is an outstanding family heirloom ! I am just a student, the SME's- subject matter experts will be along to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that rifle and lock was ever a flintlock. The Frank Sellers book lists a Daniel Derr in Bellefonte, PA listed in the town directories from 1861-1868 who built percussion fullstocks. Might be a match.
As far as replacement parts anything for that rifle would need to be fabricated. We have folks here on the forum who have the chops to do a professional preservation on a long gun of that era. Please don't let an amateur get their hands on it. You would be destroying history.

Thanks,
O.R.

She's had a hard life.

She has scars from being mildly abused.

She shows signs of being visited by thieves.

She deserves to be left alone.

.02

nice family history piece

Most any attempt to restore will ruin value. It would take a museum level advanced knowledge restorer to do anything that would not devalue that piece. Cherish it and preserve it for posterity.

If it is a Danial Derr , Bellefonte Pa. , it's a local gun for us that live here. Nice find.. With out careful consideration and the proper skills , this gun can be destroyed by an amature restorer. If you want a gun like it , I'de have a copy of it made to shoot. W/o research , the stock style looks like a Susquehanna Valley School rifle.

One reason some of the inlays may be missing, have a fellow shooter who has a family heirloom with missing inlays, is they were taken out during the depression and sold traded for the metal content. Folks needed money badly. Could be a reason for the missing inlays.

Thank you for the information. I can’t find any information at all on Daniel Derr but there’s a lot of info for John Derr. I’m guessing they were related both being gunmakers from Penn. Where can I find out more about Daniel the maker of my rifle?

A wonderful honest heirloom!!!

Nobody else has mentioned this, so I'm going to. That's NOT A MUSKET! It's a very nice, original long rifle with a percussion lock. There are no drop-in parts. Others have mentioned this:
Get a skilled muzzleloading gunsmith to restore it if you choose to do that. Someone from your area who is on this forum should be able to help you find one.

bbarnz said:

Thank you for the information. I can’t find any information at all on Daniel Derr but there’s a lot of info for John Derr. I’m guessing they were related both being gunmakers from Penn. Where can I find out more about Daniel the maker of my rifle?

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I suggest contacting the Center County ,PA Historical Society. Link below Very often the. County Historical Society’s will research for you and only charge an hourly fee. If they do it gratis I always make a donation.

Thanks,
O.R.

https://centrehistory.org/

OldRust said:

I suggest contacting the Center County ,PA Historical Society. Link below Very often the. County Historical Society’s will research for you and only charge an hourly fee. If they do it gratis I always make a donation.

Thanks,
O.R.

https://centrehistory.org/

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Great idea. Thanks!

Don't clean it, polish the brass or anything else and check to see if it is loaded. Many of the old guns ARE loaded, I found one loaded at a pawn shop, the shop owner said about 40% of the B/P guns they got in were loaded.

Eric Krewson said:

Don't clean it, polish the brass or anything else and check to see if it is loaded. Many of the old guns ARE loaded, I found one loaded at a pawn shop, the shop owner said about 40% of the B/P guns they got in were loaded.

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The best advice given on this post so far. Be sure it's not loaded ! Almost all of us old-timers know and do this but forget to state it.

Thanks,
O.R

BARNZ,as you probably know the name Derr was common in Pennsylvania, with several different "Derr" makers of percussion guns. I can't tell you if the afore-mentioned Daniel Derr actually made your specific firearm, but I did pull up a bit more info on the one that lived in Bellefonte from at least 1850 until his death in 1882 at age 76. Your gun is well worth getting a SKILLED craftsman to replace the typical "Upper Susquehanna type" inlays and the patchbox door!

That's a nice Derr rifle you have there! And actually, in pretty nice original condition!
I know some say to leave it as is, while others think replace the missing parts and make it look a bit better, more complete. Generally speaking, for working guns like this one, a complete rifle is valued more than an incomplete one as this is. Unless there is some compelling or historically known reason to keep it as is, ( say Jessie James held the owner up, and stole the inlays out of the rifle replacing the missing parts would add to the collectability and overall look, and value of the rifle.
To that end, the missing inlays are easy, though time consuming, to replace. They are either silver or German silver, so the correct metal need be used. The missing patchbox door and side plates are relatively straight forward to replace, though again, time consuming to replace. Judging from the remaining part, there was just minimal engraving around the edge. As for the lock, the rifle has most likely always been a percussion rifle, and never a flintlock.
By the time D. Derr made this rifle percussion was all the rage, and this lock shows none of the hints that it was ever a flintlock. Some of those hints are a single lock bolt construction, engraving on the forward end of the lock plate where the flint pan, frizzen and frizzen spring would have been, and no filled in screw holes for those parts.
All in all, you have a nice rifle!
John

I see zero reason to not replace the missing inlays, and patch box parts.

Of course done properly

I may have some of the missing inlays, or close, they could be worked down to fit

I can take a picture of all the o es I have