JW VanMeter picket rifle

[Teutoniciron]

.36 caliber JW VanMeter half stock rifle. To my understanding it came out of Darke county, Ohio, 1840-1850.

I've had this a bit over a year and have been slowly getting it back to shootable condition. There was a lot of missing screws and bolts, plus 2 missing plates at the barrel pin. Please ignore the modern shiny hardware and the lock plate screw bushing.. slowly replacing these with correct pieces.

German silver accents.
Brass trigger guard.
Poured nose cap.

Golcher lock with no half cock. The hammer/ cock had been repaired in times past with a visible forge weld.

Remington barrel. Not marked cast.. just remington. I'll snap a photo next time I take her apart.

51" overall, 34.5 barrel to end of breech plug.
Nominally a .36 but likes a .340 round ball.

 

[Teutoniciron]

 

[tom in nc]

Lose that damn phillips screw asap!

 

[Teutoniciron]

Working on it

 

[nhmoose]

Bore and twist?

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Very nice rifle!

 

[Teutoniciron]

Bore and twist?

I need to slug the bore again. When I got it, it looked SMOOTH. working through the rust had been a process.
Last slug was .354 groove to groove

On the subject of twist... what specifically do you look for to identify gain twist? I was told it's not uncommon in this style rifle.
I'll get a photo to complete documentation for this rifle, as well as the Remington stamp.

This has 7 groove rifling, still lots of pitting.

 

[rickystl]

This one looks like it's just begging to be back in shooting condition. LOL

Rick

 

[VA Hawken]

What a neat old rifle! Glad to see it's coming back to life.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I need to slug the bore again. When I got it, it looked SMOOTH. working through the rust had been a process.
Last slug was .354 groove to groove

On the subject of twist... what specifically do you look for to identify gain twist? I was told it's not uncommon in this style rifle.
I'll get a photo to complete documentation for this rifle, as well as the Remington stamp.

This has 7 groove rifling, still lots of pitting.

The only way to tell for certain is to de-breech the barrel and measure the helix angle of the rifling at the breech and muzzle.
Anything else is just a guess.

 

[Anne VanMeter Truitt]

.36 caliber JW VanMeter half stock rifle. To my understanding it came out of Darke county, Ohio, 1840-1850.

I've had this a bit over a year and have been slowly getting it back to shootable condition. There was a lot of missing screws and bolts, plus 2 missing plates at the barrel pin. Please ignore the modern shiny hardware and the lock plate screw bushing.. slowly replacing these with correct pieces.

German silver accents.
Brass trigger guard.
Poured nose cap.

Golcher lock with no half cock. The hammer/ cock had been repaired in times past with a visible forge weld.

Remington barrel. Not marked cast.. just remington. I'll snap a photo next time I take her apart.

51" overall, 34.5 barrel to end of breech plug.
Nominally a .36 but likes a .340 round ball.
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[Struitt1972]

Very interested in any and all of my gggreat grandfather JW VanMeter’s rifles.
Please contact me here or [email protected]
Thanks!