Help Me Identify This

[slimfixins]

Quandry. ANSWERED SEE BELOW IN REPLIES
I purchased this half stock on one of an online auction sites. Based on the description I assumed that I was buying a short stocked a little over 1" dia. heavy 30 1/2" barrel .45 cal. "chunk gun" or target rifle. I was intrigued by the pictures of the tang area which looked very odd and took it be some type of rear target sight. So, I bought the gun, anxiously awaited for the shipper to tell me that they had damaged or lost it. But wonder of wonders is showed up and it was undamaged. I took the about 40 feet of bubble wrap off of it and was not too impressed. Loosey goosey lock, rusty bore, stock a little rough and most disappointing of all was what I thought was some sort of rear sight was actually a wood block in the oversized and complicated rear tang. Took it apart and looked closer at the gun parts traveling together and the more I looked the more I wondered. That heavy machined tang with the wood in it actually screws onto the breach plug which looks like it might have been bored through. And when the barrel is removed, under the barrel in the lock area is a metal trough like a cartridge guide. The tang part has holes drilled though it as something pivoted to allow loading a breech loader. My less than perfect memory these days brought to mind the old English Monkey Tail single shot breech loading rifle muskets and carbines that the Brits looked at adopting before they settled on the Snider breech loader. Might this be the remnants of a smaller sporting version of that gun? Any help you experts out there can give me on this, please don't hesitate to do so. Thanks

 

[Gtrubicon]

Looking forward to learn more about this rifle. I think it’s a very nice piece.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I am guessing that rifle has the appearance of being an attempt to make a hooked breech without the hook. Is the breech plug threaded into the barrel and fully sealing the bore?

The curved butt plate is consistent with an offhand target rifle. The supporting hand would be right at the schnable at the end of the forearm.

 

[Metalshaper]

That tang looks suspiciously like the breech of a Jenk's carbine/Rifle?? Here are "parts" I have made in an attempt to build one for myself??

 

[slimfixins]

Quandary is Answered!!
A poster on another site where I posed the same question, responded to one of the pictures of this gun with the suggestion that the gun might be a modified Merrill action, similar to the Merrill Carbine of the civil war. Or possibly a sporting version of that carbine. After researching the Merrill carbine and sporting rifle, I believe that he is correct for the following reasons. 1. A picture of the Merrill Carbine action appears to be very similar to the incomplete action of my gun. 2. The remaining portion of the breech loading device screws directly onto the screw portion of the breech end of the barrel, This indicates to me that the barrel is original to gun and the bore was plugged to turn it into a muzzle loader for easier use after Merrill cartridges became less available.
3. There is a plug on the top flat of the octagon barrel in the exact location of the breech locking device of the Merrill carbine.
Any way that is my story and I am sticking to it.
Here are some additional pictures to support my thought.
.
Thanks.

 

[slimfixins]

I am guessing that rifle has the appearance of being an attempt to make a hooked breech without the hook. Is the breech plug threaded into the barrel and fully sealing the bore?

The curved butt plate is consistent with an offhand target rifle. The supporting hand would be right at the schnable at the end of the forearm.

That was my first thought also. As a matter of fact I bought the gun assuming that it was a hook breech. You can imagine my surprise when I found that when I took the barrel wedge out the barrel still would not lift up and be removed. A responder on the other site where I posted this same stuff, identified the gun, he thought, as a Merrill Carbine sporting version and after further consideration I have to agree with him. The barrel and the breech portion of the rifle appear to be original and the guts of the breech loading device were removed, a breech plug installed in the original barrel and it became a muzzle loader. Because of it's heavy barrel weight weighted forward, I would guess that this is a gun made to shoot from a rest. The forend does not appear to have be cut off. I have posted a couple more pictures along with further info on a reply to the original post. Thanks for your response.

 

[slimfixins]

That tang looks suspiciously like the breech of a Jenk's carbine/Rifle?? Here are "parts" I have made in an attempt to build one for myself??

No, as I posted in a reply to the original post, I feel very strongly that this is a sporting rifle version of the Merrill Carbine used in the civil war. Comparing it to other Merrill Carbines, I think we can safely assume that it started out as a Merrill style action and based on the screw on the barrel that screws into the remains of the breech, I think that it started out as a Merrill breechloader. Thanks for your thought.

 

[slimfixins]

Looking forward to learn more about this rifle. I think it’s a very nice piece.

I think I have the true identity of this interesting gun. I have put my assumptions in a reply to the original posting. Thank you for your response.

 

[Metalshaper]

Slim,

I agree it very well could be a Merrill breech, but since the Merrill is a development from the Jenk's???

 

[andy52]

Bench prototype may be a one-off, certainly shows the signs of an experiment with several types of mechanics of the time. Project in the works of an inventive mind.

 

[slimfixins]

Slim,

I agree it very well could be a Merrill breech, but since the Merrill is a development from the Jenk's???

Yes, when I responded to your earlier post, I wasn't aware of the relationship between the Jenks and the Merrill systems. You may be correct. It might actually predate the Merrill carbine and actually be a Jenks sporting rifle version. Thanks for your thought provoking comment.

 

[Metalshaper]

Slim,

most people don't associate one with the other. The Jenk's used loose powder and ball, while a Merrill was able to accept a
paper cartridge/round. all things equal, the Merrill is an improvement. much faster to load and the breech seal is improved.

in its original form the Jenk's was designed as a flintlock, but the percussion lock made it a functioning rifle.

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan