Jaeger Rifle?

[montanatim]

My wifes client brought his rifle over to me for a look see. The only thing he knew about it was what his father told him before passing away. That is that a buddy of his (the father) had liberated it from a wall hanging in a German castle during WW II. The client said that his father said he had fired it.

I would like to know as much as any of you are willing to tell me about this rifle. I believe it is a Jaeger, but was under the belief that these were predominately flint.

About the rifle:
Barrel-length from breech joint to muzzle 29 7/8"
Swamped- breech 1.14" narrowest point .948" muzzle 1"
Rifled-1:40 8 lands 8 grooves right hand twist
O.A.L.- of rifle 46 5/8"
Caliber-undetermined, a .535 naked ball will just roll down the barrel, I believe it is in the .54 to .56 range.
Length of pull-14 3/8"
Ramrod-metal deeply coned on seating end.


And now the pictures. I have 28 of them in all, and am unfamiliar with picture posting rules. I will post what seems most useful and start another post if needed. Please don't spank me if I do wrong, I take correction easily.

This nose cap appears to be made out of horn of some kind.

This and the same thing engraved on the lock are the only visible markings w/o disassembly.

This sight arrangement interests me, the long range sight appears to friction fit between the barrel and short range sight. No pins or set screws are in evidence.

Another view of the sight.

The lock screw is .206" in diameter and the thread guage for 24 TPI fits perfect. 1.0m/m fits pretty good too but not with the perfection of the 24 TPI. Could this be a 5m/m screw with 24 TPI?

And now the hidden markings.

Just under the short leg of the mainspring you should see a symbol that looks like a golf ball just above it's tee, and a "G.L." these are the only markings on the lock plate. There is a hole that was filled for the frizzen spring pin on this plate.

This photo shows something that intrigued me, the link is through pinned to the tumbler, I've never seen this before. The sear spring appears to be hand made.

This is the under side of the barrel. On the extreme right is what could be a "W" but looks more like an upside down "M". there is a symbol? and the 13.0 I'm sorry this one is not very clear.

That's all folks.

 

[nkbj]

OK. I will go first. With expertise, I can assure you that it is what is commonly known as a lovely rifle from the good taste period.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I would say that the 13.0 is the caliber in millimeters, but that comes out to just over .51 cal. and you said a .535 ball would fit. The picture is a bit too blurry for me to make out the proofmark.

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

I agree with everything said so far. As far as the term "Jaeger", remember that means "Hunter" and this is certainly a high quality sporting or hunter's rifle of the mid-19th Century period or as GoodCheer said, "from the good taste period." It is extremely nice and in excellent, original condition and, with proper care and reasonable loads, could probably be shot occasionally, but I wouldn't, the value is pretty high and it is not a common gun.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I probably wouldn't shoot it much either, but I believe I'd have to try it out and see how she did. :grin:

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Oh, yeah..... :wink:

 

[montanatim]

Any thoughts on the script on the barrel?

Was this a maker or the name of the first owner for vanity's sake?

Anyone read German? What does it say?

 

[Tumblernotch]

Most likely it is the name of the maker. It says M. Zeller in Julich. The J was often spelled as an I back in the day. That habit was carried over here and was quite common on old guns made here as well. For instance J.J. Henry spelled his name I.I. Henry. Anyway, Julich is a town in western Germany on the French border in Duren District, in the state of Rhineland/Westphalia. I've not seen anything about M. Zeller yet. There is of course a possibility that he was the owner of the rifle, but I feel comfortable saying he was the maker. I've seen several signed by the makers in the same manner though usually the word im is in place of in.