Jacobs Rifle

[Alan R]

Quite a while back I read about Brigader General John Jacods. One of the things that interest me about his life was his developing the ,Jacobs Rifle. John Jacobs was a certainly a man of his time a was part of the rapid development of firearms in the mid 1800's.
A Jacobs Rifle came up for sale in an auction in England last year. I put in my bid andl luckily won the bidding. It took nearly five weeks for it to arrive here in Sweden. The external condition was very good and as described by the auctioneers. Quite amazing condition for a rifle that in 164 years old. I ran the bore scope down each barrel and there was of course corrosion, corrosion that looks a lot worse veiwedd with a bore scope. I bought some Evaporust and after removing the barrels from the stock and plugging the nipples got to work removing the rust. Three weeks later and after Evaporust, scrubbing wit a 50 cal bronze brush and finishing with JB bore paste the barrels were free of rust. Although the barrels are quite pitted it's should still be a shooter.
Now the hunt is on for a Jacobs bullt mould and perhaps even the rare Jacobs bayonet.
I hunt with a double rifle but if nothing else John Jacobs certainly was a optimist to fit a double rifle with sights to 2000 yards

 

[BillinOregon]

Congratulations, Alan!
More on this fascinating rifle!
https://gunsmagazine.com/guns/the-mysterious-jacob-rifle/

 

[Alan R]

Congratulations, Alan!
More on this fascinating rifle!
https://gunsmagazine.com/guns/the-mysterious-jacob-rifle/

Thanks , I've read that article and it's surprising how much info there is available on the life of John Jacobs and his rifle. I was back in the UK before Christmas and saw a civilian big game version by either Daws, or Gardiner for sale.

 

[BillinOregon]

Alan, there is a lengthy discussion of this rifle here:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/britishmilitariaforums/jacob-s-rifle-t29038.html

 

[Alan R]

Alan, there is a lengthy discussion of this rifle here:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/britishmilitariaforums/jacob-s-rifle-t29038.html

I have read that before and was well worth a reread. I found the man in Blackpool who can make a Jacobs bullet mold phone number and email address so will give him a ring in the near future. I have bought a period leather covered powder flask in England and will pick it up when I'm back in the UK hunting in April
The only problem here in Sweden is that I would need to get a licence from the police and join a black powder club to shoot the rifle. Even though I'm a pensioner my spring, summer are taken up with my other range shooting and working on our hunting ground.
I'll need to find a friendly black powder shooter who can loan me the right powder and caps.

 

[cyten]

Congratulations on the acquisition!
I suppose you e probably seen this already.

 

[Alan R]

Congratulations on the acquisition!
I suppose you e probably seen this already.

Yes I've seen that video before. Handling the Jacobs rifle it's a real lump of a thing for being a short rifle. I can't see how it would make a good cavalry weapon but a interesting piece in the bevolopment of the muzzle loading rifle. I've also got a, B Cogswell .577 minne ball rifle that is sighted to 800yards. That rifle has a hunting rifle configuration. The mid 1800 seems like it was a great time for rifle development.