• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Help With Plains Rifle ID?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Feb 20, 2009
Messages
356
Reaction score
217
Location
Cane-tuck-ee
What have I got here?

Recently acquired plains-type rifle that appears to be quite old. Rough as a cob, broken, modified, etc. I like the look of it and picked it up for what I thought was a very fair price.

20211001_153722.jpg



Stock appears to be walnut with iron triggerguard and buttplate.

20211001_153735.jpg



Left side of the gun showing several more old repairs.

20211001_153944.jpg



Barrel has one key, silver (?) escutcheons, and a pewter nose cap. Original ramrod is long gone.

20211001_153747.jpg



Barrel signed in script "S. McK" is my best guess. Full buckhorn rear sight.

20211001_153859.jpg


Barrel is 1-1/8" AF and approximately .45 caliber with 7-groove rifling, unknown twist. Has been cut down to 24" and the rear sight moved back 8" which suggests an original barrel length of 32" to me. Just conjecture on my part, of course.

20211001_154025.jpg
 
The bore could probably be made somewhat shootable and I may consider that later. I feel like the stock has quite a story to tell but sadly, that's lost to the mists of time. I haven't seen any discernible maker's marks anywhere on the gun. After removing the barrel I did notice an unused dovetail on the bottom flat, which may suggest a re-purposed barrel? That'd be my guess. By the way, you should be able to click on these photos to open them full size.

20211001_173029.jpg



A shot of what's under the wood. Tenon looks spot welded in the photo, but is just heavily staked.

20211001_173043.jpg



The lock is badly worn and has no fly for the double-set triggers, so no half-cock notch. The tumbler doesn't appear to have ever had one, either.

20211001_173545.jpg
 
Back
Top