Target / Mountian Half Stock with a Manton Lock? Help!

[Harms Way]

Well guys,.... It happened again. I had to travel to the other side of the state to help a friend out. And passed a Gun Shop, I stopped on the way back and got to talking to the guy behind the counter. I told him I like project guns... He said "Stay right there !"

He went in a back room and came out with this old smoke pole. Covered with a lot of dust and dirt.. I look it over and asked "How Much ?"

Shocked with the price he told me, I was on it like a hobo on a ham sandwich !..... It has a "Joseph Manton" lock,... the barrel is 1 1/4" across the flats, And is 32" long,... its .45 Caliber and looks to have a 1 in 40" twist. Overall length is 48"

One very distinctive feature is that it looks to have a cheek piece on both sides of the stock,... In these pictures I cleaned it up a little. It looks like it was a very nice quality piece at one time... I cant find a name on the barrel but I haven't taken it off yet... this ol'girl weighs about 12 Lbs.

There you go,... Any ideas guys ?

Thanks

 

[Jim C]

Very nice, it definitely has the lines of a plains rifle.

 

[gunmaker43]

Ohio rifles are known to have cheekpieces on both sides occasionally....Tom

 

[Pork Chop]

That is a beautiful rifle. Nice score!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Joe Manton had nothing to do with that lock. He nor any of his family ever signed a lock, Joseph Manton Warranted. These were locks made in Birmingham, England for export long after Manton's death. Apparently, many made it to the US. They just cashed in on the Manton name. There is some documentation indicating that some were stamped with Manton's name by the American importer and retailer. Nonetheless, they were good locks and you have a nice rifle.

dave

 

[Zonie]

Interesting that it seems to have 10 groove rifling in the bore.

I believe that most of the old barrels were rifled with an odd number of grooves so that there was always the solid surface of the bore directly across the bore from the cutter.
This was needed to support the cutting blade and keep it from moving away from the material being cut.

Anyway, it looks to be a fine rifle, even if it is a bit on the heavy side.

 

[arw22lr]

New York State rifles occasionally had double cheek-pieces also. And often poured pewter nose-caps on the half-stocks. But hard to say w/o a makers name on the barrel. It's a nice rifle wherever it was built.

 

[galamb]

Agree - when I first took a glance at this I thought "Ohio".

But after looking at it a few different times I have changed my mind. While it does have a number of things in common with a latter 1840's/early 1850's Ohio, the forestock would be considered "uncommon" as most of the builders had adopted the (foot) at the muzzle end of the forestock such that it looked like they had simply cut down a fullstock, leaving 3 or 4 inches after it tapered down.

The trigger guard is of little help. It could have come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois or even many points south down into the Carolina's.

The sideplate looks "a little" Tennessee'ish and it being a (probably) 45 cal "might" tend to indicate something made on the eastern end of things compared to points west of Ohio.

On the lock side, immediately behind and in line with the cheek piece is that just a knot or is it the remnants of a grease hole?

If the latter, maybe Tennessee would move up in the list of "possibles".

 

[19 16 6]

By the looks of the lock, that's a peacock rifle. :grin:
O.