Accessories for a Under Hammer?

[jon math]

I’ve bitten the bullet and have a under hammer rifle on the way to me. I want to put a pouch set together for it. According to the description of the rifle their time period was the early to mid 1800’s. Would a powder horn still have been the correct way to carry powder at that late date or had the flask really taken over?

Mine is a .32 caliber and my intended use is day hunting for small game. I’m considering a small belt pouch along the lines of the Lemuel Lyman style, although the original was in use 100 years earlier. I don’t need much more of a pouch for the fist full of tiny balls, a tin or caps, some patching material and a patch screw as I keep being told the little bore needs a fair amount of swabbing to keep fouling to a minimum.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Would a powder horn still have been the correct way to carry powder at that late date or had the flask really taken over?

YES :haha:

OK probably more a geography question, than a date question. Where you are in New England, probably a flask. Now out west, 1840 or a few years earlier, Alfred Jacob Miller painted a lot of white men carrying horns, AND in his painting Presents to Indians (based on sketches made in 1837), the white fellow is wearing a flask.

So probably more likely in New England you'd have a flask, but not impossible to have a horn... perhaps a flat-horn to fit inside your hunting coat's pocket?.

LD

 

[Grenadier1758]

A horn is correct.

A flask is correct.

Underhammer guns were a product of the percussion era, so the time period is mid to late 1850 to 1880.

By now you should know that you need only a small container of powder for your days use. A powder container should be small and only needs to hold a quarter of a pound of powder or less depending on how many shots you intend to fire. A 1750 grain container will provide close to 60 charges of 30 grain loads for your 32 caliber rifle.

Whatever you decide, use a measure to transfer powder from your container to load the rifle.

 

[jon math]

You must have hunted with me. A half dozen shots is a big day. I could get by with a pistol flask

 

[hawkeye2]

A horn is correct.

A flask is correct.

Underhammer guns were a product of the percussion era, so the time period is mid to late 1850 to 1880.

By now you should know that you need only a small container of powder for your days use. A powder container should be small and only needs to hold a quarter of a pound of powder or less depending on how many shots you intend to fire. A 1750 grain container will provide close to 60 charges of 30 grain loads for your 32 caliber rifle.

Whatever you decide, use a measure to transfer powder from your container to load the rifle.

Grenadier I'm in agreement with all you say except the timeline for underhammers. :v Here is a link to a page on The Underhammer Society webpage which gives a brief history of underhammer production and as near as I can determine from my research is correct. Right now I'm holding a fine .33 caliber underhammer clearly marked by Asa Story (may well be the same rifle illustrated on pg. 192 of "The Underhmmer Gun" by Logan) with a windage and elevation apreture sight. Story was one of the earliest makers of underhammer percussion guns and may have started his career as early as 1830. He was active till about 1845 and Nicanor Kendall who began his own enterprise in 1835 was his apprentice, there being many similarities among their guns.

New England was the manufacturing center of the United States at the time and if I were portraying an individual carrying an underhammer in The Northeastern U.S. prior to the Civil War I would opt for a manufactured flask. If it were anywhere else in the country I might lean to a horn.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Thank you for the time line clarification.

I don't think we can date original manufacture of an under hammer rifle much earlier than 1830 and to match up when percussion caps became more widely available.

How many were made and what was the distribution of under hammer rifles?

Most likely powder would be carried in a flask or in a small flat horn that could be carried in a pocket.

 

[hawkeye2]

As long as we confine the discussion to percussion underhammers I agree that 1830 would be about the earliest. They were somewhat common in the northeastern states, New England specially and I believe rare elsewhere.

A hunter in the relatiavely populated N. E. wouldn't have ranged far from home and would have only needed enough powder for a day's worth of squirrels. easily carried in a small flask or pocket horn.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I did a bit of looking through my copy of Maine Made Guns and Their Makers.

Maine was pretty rural until 1830 when the earliest gunsmiths showed up in Maine. Most gunsmithing consisted of repairs and conversions of flintlocks to percussion locks.

Several gunmakers around 1840 opened up shops for the manufacture of guns. The most notable of these were from Bangor and include, Wm. Neal, C. V. Ramsdell, Malcom W. Long, and Joseph Graves.

Ramsdell was in operation from 1848 to 1886. Neal was the earliest of the Bangor gunsmiths and the heyday of the under hammer pistols was late 1840 through the 1860's. There are two William Neal and Charles Ramsdell rifles pictured. These are in the buggy rifle configuration with short barrels (22 to 25.5") and over all length of 37 to 45". The Neal rifle has a tang mounted peep sight. The calibers were 40 and 45.

All of this long post leads to support that underhammers were a bit later in the 19th century than Jon Math was first told. This really should take nothing away from his first post or what he would need for taking his rifle to the field

 

[Gene L]

I would get an archery arm guard to protect the arm from cap blast.

 

[azmntman]

GREAT idea :thumbsup:

 

[jon math]

Yes, that is very sound advice. I suppose in a heavy hunting coat I’ll be fine; but this weekend, with bare arms, it was an adventure in discomfort.

 

[FishDFly]

Interesting (?)

In a National Pistol Agg. a person shoots 100 shots.

I have never been harmed or maimed by cap fragments nor I have found a need for forearm protection. Only thing I have found is some burned hairs on my index finger from shooting a flintlock pistol.

 

[M. De Land]

I put up with burned wrist for many years with my underhammer and finally after catching a good Karhardt sleeve on fire I got serious about inventing a proper flash diverter. I milled mine out of solid brass.
I can now shoot in a sleeveless shirt without burning my wrist.
The tab on the bottom is held on with a machine screw and covers a slot that allows the T handle nipple wrench to remove the flash diverter for cleaning. The nipple doubles as the nut to hold the flash diverter into the bottom three flats of the barrel for which it is nest milled to secure against pivoting. The arrangement is simple,solid and effective.