richardtl
32 Cal
I got my hands on a very very interesting and unique piece in South Africa.
A .54 half stocked percussion rifle. This was in the Leman trade rifle style, with a maple, lightly tigered, stock and included a patch box.
This has a very smart heavy barrel. 7 Groove slow twist. The lock and barrel had a "P" in an "O" logo and CC Ltd marking.
I tracked the logo and details to a Ron Paull. Ron Paull is one of the original surviving gunsmiths who worked for GRRW. Green River Rifle Works used to make high end muzzleloaders in the 70s, but had since closed down.
I am extremely pleased with this rifle, as it is something of a rarity and I was always in awe of US shooters and what was within their grasp. I snapped this up, although it cost a bit. And I am extremely pleased, and it shoots like a match rifle at 100m.
A website explaining the history is found here: https://grrw.org/
After a lot of research I found an E-mail address for Ron P from 2017, and I took a chance bearing in mind he will be around 71yo now. I didn't have to wait long and got the following reply.
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Hi Richard,
If you could send me a couple photos I could probably tell you a little more about it. I originally built it for a giant of a guy by the name of Ron Eleric. He was a missionary in Malawi for some time as I recall. When he returned to the states he sold or gave it to a friend there. This guy was 6’9’’ tall so the distance from the trigger to the butt plate could be quite long. Say around 15” or maybe more.
That rifle has an original Green River Rifle Works barrel on it so if it’s still in good shape it should be capable of good accuracy. As I recall those barrels were pretty slow twist so could deliver good accuracy with heavy charges (100 or more grains of FFG). The ball size would be .526 or .530. I built the rifle sometime in 1978.
I know the original owner got at least one blesbok with it. I also seem to recall him mentioning something about being in an area where monkeys of some kind were a problem and the rifle made short work of many of them.
Hope this gives you a little enjoyable history on the gun. I’m glad someone ended up with it who will enjoy using it. If you happen to take some nice trophies with it I would most certainly love some photos. It was one of the first guns I built after leaving GRRW and going on my own.
My wife and I currently live in rural Alaska doing missionary work among Athabaskan Natives. I still build guns but only occasionally.
Stay in touch - if you can get any more recent history on the rifle I -would appreciate hearing it.
Ron
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A .54 half stocked percussion rifle. This was in the Leman trade rifle style, with a maple, lightly tigered, stock and included a patch box.
This has a very smart heavy barrel. 7 Groove slow twist. The lock and barrel had a "P" in an "O" logo and CC Ltd marking.
I tracked the logo and details to a Ron Paull. Ron Paull is one of the original surviving gunsmiths who worked for GRRW. Green River Rifle Works used to make high end muzzleloaders in the 70s, but had since closed down.
I am extremely pleased with this rifle, as it is something of a rarity and I was always in awe of US shooters and what was within their grasp. I snapped this up, although it cost a bit. And I am extremely pleased, and it shoots like a match rifle at 100m.
A website explaining the history is found here: https://grrw.org/
After a lot of research I found an E-mail address for Ron P from 2017, and I took a chance bearing in mind he will be around 71yo now. I didn't have to wait long and got the following reply.
--------------------------------------
Hi Richard,
If you could send me a couple photos I could probably tell you a little more about it. I originally built it for a giant of a guy by the name of Ron Eleric. He was a missionary in Malawi for some time as I recall. When he returned to the states he sold or gave it to a friend there. This guy was 6’9’’ tall so the distance from the trigger to the butt plate could be quite long. Say around 15” or maybe more.
That rifle has an original Green River Rifle Works barrel on it so if it’s still in good shape it should be capable of good accuracy. As I recall those barrels were pretty slow twist so could deliver good accuracy with heavy charges (100 or more grains of FFG). The ball size would be .526 or .530. I built the rifle sometime in 1978.
I know the original owner got at least one blesbok with it. I also seem to recall him mentioning something about being in an area where monkeys of some kind were a problem and the rifle made short work of many of them.
Hope this gives you a little enjoyable history on the gun. I’m glad someone ended up with it who will enjoy using it. If you happen to take some nice trophies with it I would most certainly love some photos. It was one of the first guns I built after leaving GRRW and going on my own.
My wife and I currently live in rural Alaska doing missionary work among Athabaskan Natives. I still build guns but only occasionally.
Stay in touch - if you can get any more recent history on the rifle I -would appreciate hearing it.
Ron
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