I am looking for some History on Percussion Rifles

[Rudyard]

About the 1820's the new-fangled percussion cap came in; so many great Flint rifles were converted to percussion; nowadays there's lots of scholarship out there and craftsmen who can convert back to flint a nice rifle. Not to mention the selection of locks from L&R, and others.

Pardon my mentioning it but you seem to imply that all converted in their working life guns need to be put back to flintlock ? This is perhaps desirable in moneytary terms but it is against preservation . The originally converted gun is an' evolved gun' it is its history . Even if very skilled hands can put it to flint lock it is inexcusable .And so many cack handed back shedders have utterly ruined guns just to have' a Flinter .' I once aquired a fine double shotgun by Wm Parker London it was put to cap by the makers .But the owner wanted a flintlock so a garage meccanic utterly botched it up with the most ugly cocks. and appauling work ' .You can't Do these things Nemo!' If its new you can but Originals we have in trust to preserve not mangle for our vanity .. .
Rudyard

 

[Feltwad]

Pardon my mentioning it but you seem to imply that all converted in their working life guns need to be put back to flintlock ? This is perhaps desirable in moneytary terms but it is against preservation . The originally converted gun is an' evolved gun' it is its history . Even if very skilled hands can put it to flint lock it is inexcusable .And so many cack handed back shedders have utterly ruined guns just to have' a Flinter .' I once aquired a fine double shotgun by Wm Parker London it was put to cap by the makers .But the owner wanted a flintlock so a garage meccanic utterly botched it up with the most ugly cocks. and appauling work ' .You can't Do these things Nemo!' If its new you can but Originals we have in trust to preserve not mangle for our vanity .. .
Rudyard

i can see where you are coming from the drum and nipple conversion from flint to percussion is part of the guns history and converted them back to flint mostly for money gain is butchering the guns history. It seems that this is quite common in the states mostly on imported guns from Europe because they are not their heritage only the flint lock rifle is their only heritage and that is a Jaeger hybrid. They do not value their gun heritage of the flint and period period because they do not have any . Here in the Uk we value our gun heritage but reconverting back to flint is been done by some on a small scale and it comes down to money but things are changing some of these reconversion are now coming up at auction and buyers are more wise and keeping off them ,and the drum and nipple originals are making more money
Feltwad

 

[andy52]

Both Rudyard and Feltwad make valid points and it's a point I've pondered more than once. I buy antique guns oftentimes one has been altered, so should I let the history of the gun speech for its lineage or return it to what it was at conception. It's not an easy choice, I don't do this for money so that isn't part of my thinking, the history is. So I fall into the let it be group. Gather as much history as you can about any given gun, moderately clean it, keep it safe and if you decide to sell one let the new owner have all the history you have and it will be their choice after that.