Flintlock Rifle Prices around 1750 to 1800

[William Joy]

I was wondering what a Flintlock rifle in 1750 to 1800 was costing in todays money/ value......

 

[spugnoid]

Yes, and to be completely period correct, vendors should charge those same prices today. :grin:

 

[Toomuch_36]

Without being able to confirm this, the most common quote from people who should know is about 1 year's earnings.

Shoot Flint
.............
Toomuch

 

[B Shipman]

Obviously, this depends on the rifle and the person's earnings. But in general, a rifle from an established maker, with patchbox and carving, would cost less than 20 dollars. But this was the earnings of a working man in the better part of a year in the late colonial and Federal period. Not a large farm or plantation owner which was actually profitable back then, but a simple tradesman or shop ownner.

 

[Toomuch_36]

Obviously, this depends on the rifle and the person's earnings. But in general, a rifle from an established maker, with patchbox and carving, would cost less than 20 dollars. But this was the earnings of a working man in the better part of a year in the late colonial and Federal period. Not a large farm or plantation owner which was actually profitable back then, but a simple tradesman or shop ownner.

Spot on. :surrender: :thumbsup:

The large plantation owners would have had more funds to deal with and their rifles would have likely been more highly ornamented (several brass, or silver, inlays and the like).

Shoot Flint
.........
Toomuch

 

[Coot]

If I recall correctly, Wallace Gusler remarked that he had seen a 1770s contract for a rifle that specified that the maker would deliver the completed gun in exchange for the buyer clearing five acres of the gunsmith's land AND splitting three thousand fence rails. Sounds like a modern custom rifle might be underpriced! :shocked2:

 

[Okwaho]

You might want to look at "Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in its Golden Age" by Joe Kindig Jr.PP.13-19 for excerpts from the account book of Leonard Reedy of the Womelsdorf School who worked in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Gratz,Dauphin County,Pennsylvania. The account book lists guns built, restocked,and repaired as well as other work in the community.It is a fascinating insight into the gunsmith's world.
Tom Patton

 

[user 922]

George Weicker was a gunsmith in Bucks County c.a. 1790 - 1800. He and other Bucks gunsmiths usually signed their work on the (side opening) patchbox. George sometimes went one step further and added the price for the gun. Usually it was $15 for a sooothbore and $18 for a rifle.

I'd pay twice that today for one of his guns.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

After the Rev War is when the silver inlays and other ornamentations really took off. Before that, there was rarely more than a thumbpiece on the top of the wrist and/or perhaps a hunter's star on the cheekpiece. "Fancy" ornamentation tended to be more in Rococo relief carving and fancy patchboxes than anything else.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[hawkeye1755]

The most expensive rifle that Baynton,Wharton and Morgan sold in Kaskaskia 1768 to the Long Hunters was £7 10s .They sell 'A Fusee' for £2 5s or a 'Neat Fusee' for £3.There are also rifles for £2.
The wages for the Long Hunters range from £3 to £7 for the most experienced hunters.
1 pd. powder costs:7s 6d
1 pd. lead costs: 1s 3d
The rate powder to lead was 1 to 2.

The price for the carriage of a rifle from Philadelphia to Ft. Pitt was 7s 6d.
:hatsoff:

 

[KHickam]

That is good info.

Makes one wonder if alot of the longhunters weren't carrying smoothbores instead of rifles. :thumbsup:

 

[William Joy]

Definitive, a gun was big purchase! seems prices acctually went down....

 

[broknaero]

Gun makers of the time must have made a fair earning. Im sure allot of work went into the rifles but a years wages now on average are probably $40-$50K. Folks now-a-days couldnt afford to spend that on a rifle. The world has changed so much we forget the value of a reliable rifle in 1700's. man... I was born 250 years too late.

 

[barebackjack]

George sometimes went one step further and added the price for the gun. Usually it was $15 for a sooothbore and $18 for a rifle.

I'd pay twice that today for one of his guns.

:rotf: Thats funny right there. :thumbsup:

 

[hawkeye1755]

That is good info.

Makes one wonder if alot of the longhunters weren't carrying smoothbores instead of rifles. :thumbsup:

I don't think so.
In 1768 Bayton,Wharton and Morgan pays for:
Beaver..................6s6d
Red Deer Skins..........1s6d
Otter cased............12s
Dress'd deer Leather....2s6d
Racoons.................1s6d
Saltet Buffalo Meat..... 6d per pound

On a horse you can load 100 red deer skins= £7 10s.
Or you can make it like the Long Hunter Timothy Coffield.He was engage at Ft.Pitt for £3 per month in 1768,21st Feb.
In May,27th he returned his rifle for £7 10s.
Most hunters who worked for BWM get a credit at the high of their monthly wages.

:hatsoff:

 

[Pat McCoy]

The word "dollar" was originally a definition of a specific amount of gold, that being 1/20 of an ounce. At that rate the $20 rifle in the 1750s would have cost an ounce of gold. today you should be able to get a plain rifle for an ounce of gold (if anyone is building plain rifles). Today all the gunsmiths seems to be building rifles that would have been top of the line presentation quality firearms in the 1750s and on (and would certainly have cost more that $20).