smoothrifles

[CoyoteJoe]

I've been studying up on Bucks County rifles in preparation to building one, just love the lines of those rifles. The book "Kentucky Rifles and Pistols, 1750-1850" has many great photos and they also designate the caliber and whether rifled or smoothbore. Of 45 photos from the Allentown/Bethlehem school, 27 were smoothbores and only 18 rifled. Calibers varied from .40 to .70 but 86% fell between .44 and .54 caliber. Those bores are too small to have much use with buckshot, they could certainly take small game with birdshot but were not really very handy for "shooting flying". I believe these smoothrifles were built primarily for use with ball.
Can anyone add insights or speculations on smoothrifles in general and Allentown/Bethlehem/Bucks County rifles in particular?

 

[rice1817]

Contrary to the popular image of the dead-eyed frontiersman with his trusty longrifle, I think guys that could shoot like that were few and far between, just like today. Go to the range sometime and watch the kind of groups that guys with highpowered scoped rifles get and are satisfied with and you will know what I mean. Powder and lead were expensive, and most guys could not take full advantage of the accuracy capabilities of a rifle, nor did they have need for it.

Couple that with the idea that rifling might have been a more costly option, a lot of customers may have decided that they could not justify the expense. Most deer were (and are) shot at close range, under 50 yards, and it has been proven that a properly loaded smoothbore is perfectly adequate for deer sized game at that range. As far as loading shot goes, the modern hunter often uses a .410 gauge shotgun for small game and does quite well with it. Wingshooting may require a little more shot in the pattern to get consistent kills, but I know guys who have no problem shooting grouse with a 28 gauge and even 410s. However, wingshooting did not really become popular until the advent of the percussion lock.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

However, wingshooting did not really become popular until the advent of the percussion lock.

Not exactly. Wingshooting was firmly established in all of Europe by the beginning of the 18th century.

 

[rice1817]

However, wingshooting did not really become popular until the advent of the percussion lock.

Not exactly. Wingshooting was firmly established in all of Europe by the beginning of the 18th century.

Not saying you are wrong, but was not most shooting in Europe performed by the nobility? People for whom the expense of powder and shot were no object? One of the founders stated that the difference between Americans under the constitution was that in America, unlike Europe, the PEOPLE were permitted to keep and bear arms.

I believe in this country, in the period in question, the idea of shooting birds in flight for the sport of it took second place to shooting the proverbial "sitting duck" (or grouse, or turkey) for the express purpose of putting food on the table.

But, to return to the original thought, I still maintain that the smooth rifle was perfectly suitable for the type of hunting likely to be engaged in by the vast majority of 18th century Americans.

 

[Sherlock]

Smooth bore rifles were very common as barrel making was cheaper, thus the rifle was too, and even more so, if a very plain common rifle. As working guns they sure didn't survive like high art guns. Think of smoothbore trade guns. They were mostly just used up. Trade guns were something close to 50 caliber smooth on average. If you ever read eastern frontier hunting accounts from F & I and later You see they shot RB mostly, and buckshot and buck & ball in big bores. Squirrel rifles were a late invention, Although M. Lewis took a .36 flint with him to the pacific in 1804. Wonky

 

[Many Klatch]

I think the other thing to think about is that there weren't any good optometrists available back then. What is the point of having a rifle that is accurate to 150 yards if you can't see more than 25 yards clearly. Look at all the people you know that wear glasses or contacts or have had laser surgery. That's a pretty good percentage of the population.

I know that if I didn't have glasses to correct my vision, I'd be carrying a blunderbuss.

Many Klatch

 

[mazo kid]

I have an original SXS percussion, Belgian made, and one barrel is heavier and smaller caliber than the other. When I got it, the previous owner called it a smooth rifle/shotgun, This was used for hunting and thus the user would be prepared for either small or large game.

 

[Sherlock]

Not all were that skilled to shoot 150, and certainly not all guns capable of it . LOL. Books are full of accounts of "dumb" hunters screwing up everything imaginable, including loosing their lives through personal error. How about several notables getting lost? Let's remember the bitter work of the frontier and the unknown heroes. Wonky.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Long Carbine,

Was not trying to start anything but we were coming at something from diferent ends of the rope. Just wanted to clarify wingshooting being around longer.
Shooting flying or wingshooting has always been sport shooting and not meat shooting. Many fine fowling guns came over here prior to the nineteenth century and were used by the wealthier for sport shooting. I understand what you are trying to say about meat or subsistance shooting.
Even today, there are fewer wingshooting hunters compared to deer and turkey hunters. Wingshooting started as and still is considered a more genteel sport than other types of hunting.

For sure, cheap fowlers, surplus muskets, trade guns and smooth bored rifle styles were in droves for the common man as they were cheaper to obtain and would put meat on the table. They could be loaded with just about anything they could get down the barrel.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

All good thoughts but let me clarify one point. None of the guns in that book could be considered to be cheap guns. Nearly all had engraved patch boxes and at least some carving, often extensive carving, of the stock, a cheek piece inlay and a wrist inlay or thumb piece, mostly engraved. I doubt that economy was the reason for the lack of rifling in a high grade gun. These were not "gaudy" guns but not "barn guns" either.
Now the fact that this book was published for the "Kentucky Rifle Association" may explain why they are all high end guns. But my point still holds, among the guns in this book, the smoothrilfes were not in any way cheap or inferior to the rifles.
One other characteristic stands out. Of the 45 photos, only two have double set triggers, and one of those does not at all resemble the general style of the area, so it's really more like one in forty-four. I've yet to find a smoothrifle with set triggers but in this locale it seems rifles also mostly used single triggers.

 

[Runner]

Reality dictated the need for smoothbores I think.
You roosted the birds last night. Well before dawn you are moving towards the tree they are roosted in. As soon as you can see to shoot, you kill the first adult turkey you can place a bead on. Those little patterns work fine for that. You pack the bird back to the wife, split some wood to boil water, fill the wood pile, clean the gun, reload, and then you are off to shake out the harness so you can haul that pile of tiff you are going to dig. About noon you get a snack, something to drink, and a dip n the creek. You spend the evening cutting and splitting wood after you care for the horses and the harness is put away. After dinner you dress and let the dogs loose to go catch a coon so you have hides to use as cash money. If you had a good night, after you take care of your game and hides, you finally get to sleep. Since you have turkey leftovers and two coon carcasses hanging, you have an hour or so to kill before dawn the next morning repairing the stitching on part of the harness before setting off to dig some more tiff or to plow, harvest, gather, hay, tend the animals, and create the things your group needs. I don't think they had time or money for challenges they did not need.
A smoothrifle allowed him to spot a covey of quail huddled under a bush on his way to the south 40, pull the ball, load with shot, and save five shots by killing 6 at once. Woods hunting is pretty much close range, so the smoothbore was not a problem with ball.
Like most things back then. Practical decisions based on comfort and survival pretty much rules in the settlers world.
That is why I figure there were so many smoothrifles.