lSmoothbore lock style?

[Ohio Rusty]

I've ordered from Jackie Brown a Colonial Fowler, (Like the pennsylvania fowler) in 20 gauge smoothtube. My question is would a round face lock be more appropriate if that gun was
being built between 1775 to 1785? I'm trying to get all the parts correct for the time period above.
Ohio Rusty

 

[Stumpkiller]

Round face locks are of British design or influence. For that period we were at war with England, so the supply of new locks would have dried up. But there would have been some stock on hand from pre-war & reuse.

As you are going with a Pennsylvania Fowler IMHO the more angular Germanic or Christian's Spring style would be appropriate.

 

[Ohio Rusty]

I'm not all that familiar with the Christian Spring style. Did both of those styles have a brass end cap covering the end of the wood ???? I'm considering that also ...
Ohio Rusty

 

[tg]

I think most colonial fowlers as such were post Rev War,the English round faced lock like the Queen Ann was out of style by then, the flatfaced import locks or a Germanic type would work, most any lock earlier than the period of the gun could be used as a leftover from an earlier time.

 

[Okwaho]

The term "Christian's Springs" refers to a mid 18th century Moravian gun shop situated northeast of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa. with artisans such as Christian Oerter and Andreas Albreght. It does not refer to a style of lock.There were few Germanic fowlers made in Pennsylvania prior to the revolution due to the unsurpassed quality of English fowlers. The first advertisement for Pennsylvania fowlers appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette in 1773.German influenced gunsmiths in the 18th century whether in Lancaster,Reading, or Christian Springs used Germanic locks either of the "handmade" type or imported from one of the Germanic states.As has been pointed out with the coming of the Revolution the supply of English export locks dried up along with the importation of English fowlers themselves both the fine ones and the cheaper Carolina guns imported for trading and sale.What lock you use will for the most part be determined by the area in which your persona existed.
Tom Patton

 

[Stumpkiller]

I agree that Christian's Spring is not a style, but a place. So is "England" and "Germany" for the origins of the English vs. Germanic styles. Christian's Spring is the home of the "American" style of lock as some of the first colonial locks were produced there :imo:.

I was under the impression that many Pennsylvania gunsmiths are thought to have apprenticed at or apprenticed under masters who had apprenticed at the Albrecht, Oerter and Neihart shops in that area. The style was spread and retains the more angular "Germanic" influence.

 

[rich pierce]

I generally feel free to mix parts from some decades and set the age of the piece as the time when the "newest feature" was commonly found. I believe re-use of parts was fairly common for some guns, even high-end guns such as the Marshall rifle.

I'd think about using a flat-plate Ketland lock for post-war fowlers as I think they look good and are period correct. Plus they have that "fowler" feel because they were put on a lot of English smoothbores. I love "Silers" but they are so commonly used that something different that works well is attractive to me.

Extra blabber that is just opinion (but hey, so was the blabber above!)
I also think/have read that the majority of locks on guns built before the Revolution were imported. It just takes a lot of time to make locks and I don't think a small shop could make them as cheaply as they could buy them. Locks for export from England and Germany were made by many hands including very cheap child labor for polishing, etc. I am guessing locks were scratch-made here when style demanded it or supply was short. Certainly during the war it's possible that some supply lines dried up a bit and those who were properly trained, built some locks.

The locks I have seen on guns attributed to the Christian Springs "school" could have been built here but I do not see any identifying differences between them and germanic export locks. It has been noted that the repaired lock on the Marshall rifle is similar in detail to that of the Brass-Barreled Rifle which is very different in style.

If I have to think of an "American-style lock" about the only thing that comes to my old mind is a Bedford.

 

[Okwaho]

Actually when it comes to the chronology of Kentucky rifles,Christian Springs was a relativelly late comer having been established in 1762 by Andreas Albrecht in 1762. Albrecht left the shop in 1766 and resumed gun making in 1771 in Lancaster,Pa.,Shumway RCA Vol 1 No.46.The earliest signed and dated rifle is the 1761 John Schreit gun made in Reading,Pa.Wolfgang and Nicholas Hachen {Haga}came to Reading about 1750 from Switzerland and along with Schreit were 3 of the earliest documented rifle makers in Pa. As to whom Peter Neihart {1743-1813} was apprenticed isn't known but he was probably influenced by Albrecht. He worked from about 1763 until sometime before his death in 1813. He seems to have worked throughout his career near Allentown in the Lehigh Valley.Some of the earliest guns made in Pennsylvania were made in the Lehigh Valley in and near Reading.
I have never heard of "American" style locks on 18th century Pennsylvania rifles other than the very late 18th and 19th century Bedford County rifles many if not most of which were percussion.As to Germanic locks see Kindig," "Thoughts on the Kentucky rifle in It's Golden Age" PP.36-38,where he stated that most of the earliest and many Golden Age Pennsylvania rifles were made with imported German locks.These were made as a cottage industry in the German principalities such as the Thuringian Forest area in cities like Suhl.
For the period of 1775-1785, I would definitely consider a pre Rev.War English export lock either flat or round faced.There were a good many of these locks floating around and gunsmiths weren't loath to install earlier locks on their guns.I have a smooth rifle which I date in the last quarter of the 18th century with the lock,trigger guard,and butt piece from a 1750's English fowler. The lock is a fowler lock and smaller than the larger English export locks.It is signed "W. Ketland" and a similar lock is illustrated on P.71 of the Rifle Shoppe catalogue.The butt piece and guard,probably from the same gun as the lock,are illustrated in Hamilton,Coloial Frontier Guns PP.87 and 93.See also Shumway RCA Vol. II Southern guns for several guns built probably in the last quarter of the 18th century with English export locks.
Incidentally, there was no "Germany" until Jan. 18, 1871 when Wilhelm I was crowned as the first Kaiser and germany under the leadership of Bismark became unified

Tom Patton :thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I never should have said "American Style" lock. :redface: I was intending to imply "American Made", as in the first locks produced in this country.

From those Moravian guys, some of whom came from the place where Jaegers were made. :haha: (Good observation that Germany was a collection of smaller countries : At least I didn't say "Lehigh County". ::

I was under the impression that Christian's Spring was an older center of gunsmithing, predating the Bethlehem area. Appears I got it backwards.

Guess it's time for me to invest in some better reference material. :redface:

 

I believe that there is at least one early signed lock from the Christian Springs shop that has survived, indicating that at least some locks were made in the colonies at Christian Springs. Most locks may have been imported, but some were being made here. The French "invented" the flintlock, but most of our early gunsmiths seem to have been more Germanic/Swiss and English. They used the styles they were trained in, but were not averse to using what they could find.