poor boy nail in nose of buttstock

[Rndball]

Howdy all, been doing some research and found a poor boy gun where they had used deer antler for the toe plate and then it said it had a nail in the nose of the but stock??? Can any one explain or have a pic. I'am not wanting to use a butt plate on my build.
Thx

 

[Pete G]

They are speaking of a (usually) square cut nail driven into the heel to absorb some of the impact from loading or grounding the rifle.

 

[Notchy Bob]

I have seen a few southern rifles, but by no means a large number of them. Of the ones I have seen, none had a nail in the heel of the butt, as described. That's certainly not saying none exist, just that I haven't seen or heard of an original that had this. The first time I ever heard of this was in a brochure from Green River Rifle Works, back in the seventies. They marketed a "Poor Boy" rifle that featured a hand-wrought nail in the heel, as well as an iron toe plate to protect the butt in the absence of a buttplate. I hope plmeek won't mind if I "borrow" this image from the GRRW Collectors website*:

You can barely see the nailhead in the picture, but it is noted in the rifle's description. GRRW was among the first of the commercial riflemakers, as far as I know, to have the audacity to offer a rifle this plain, but made of best-quality components.

That's about all I can say about nails. There are a few rifles out there that have bone reinforcements, though. Check out Boons best FREN, in the collection of the Kentucky Historical Society:

While the claimed association with Daniel Boone has been pretty much ruled out, this rifle is a genuine antique, built in the southern vernacular, and it has a bone heel plate. This next rifle, by P. Hoy of Spartanburg, South Carolina, has bone toe, heel, and butt plates:

The relatively few old guns I have seen, and most of those I have seen pictured, that did not have buttplates didn't have any extra reinforcement at all. there was a discussion of this on the ALR forum some months ago. The professional gunsmiths who weighed in on the conversation indicated that most of the split rifle butts they had seen were on guns that had buttplates. The split in the toe was usually in line with the lower buttplate screw.

This is interesting. I'll look forward to reading what others have to say.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob



*The apparent "glare" spots on the barrel of this rifle are my fault. I got a little messy with the "spray paint" in de-cluttering the image.

 

[tenngun]

A nail taken from a coffin and added to the stock will prevent your gun from getting hexed. Should you fight with your wife she can hex your rifle with an extra knot in her apron string. But a nail will ward off her hex.
Iron is a pretty powerful magic source and iron put to a sacred purport even more powerful. The coffin nail is an old ozark myth, but the ozark settlers may well have brought the story with them.

 

[hawkeye2]

Should you fight with your wife she can hex your rifle with an extra knot in her apron string. But a nail will ward off her hex.

I'm fortunate my wife doesn't own an apron but if she ever gets one I'll cut the strings off.

https://www.casketbuildersupply.com...fDNUMgbMbI4HM85sUBFUSlzm-49NLSJAaApzjEALw_wcB
Though it may be very tempting this is not the way to use the nail:

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Here's an SMR with bone and iron protecting the butt.

https://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2010/06/hershel-c-house-southern-mountain-rifle.html

 

[plmeek]

Here is a picture in the heel of a GRRW Poor Boy such as Notchy Bob mentioned. It is a hand forged nail with a larger than normal head. The nail is driven into the very point of the heel of the butt. There is an iron or steel toe plate protecting that area.

I haven't studied Southern rifles that much, and like Notchy, I don't know how common this was on rifles of the period. It does seem to go with the notion of a poor boy rifle, though.

 

[Rndball]

Thank you gentlemen for all the info, that’s exactly what I was looking for.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Do not know about a knot in her apron string, I would be more worried about her putting a knot on my head.

 

[nhmoose]

Why would a wife want to hex that what brings back food to her table and family?

That would make her a Witch and in those time not a good thing to be, at least not in New England.