Toe Plate on your rifle

[Grenadier1758]

My Kennedy butt stock has July 1837 Engraved on the total plate.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Here's a picture of the toe plate.

 

[SNoopy22]

Because there is someone in every thread who only wants things done his way. All of us have that weakness. My particular hatred is those brass or iron 1990 era rings on shooting bag straps. Never seen on originals, unlike toe plates, but I digress.

Most of my shooters have toe plates to protect the wood. I still lift, tilt the rifle and give it a couple light slaps before loading the ball whether flint or percussion. Habit of 40+ years developed when I only owned a CVA MR. Made a difference, so kept doing it.

I would think the toe plate had many uses..tapping with foot sure why not...protects that piece of stock that chip easy. ...keep the stock together smacking one of Santa Anna's troops on the head coming over the wall Etc. I've allways do like you do a couple taps on the side and onto the ball.

 

[mikesto44]

Several originals had them. Just attend an antique arms show for proof if you need it..

 

[smo]

Here's a picture of the toe plate.View attachment 359259

Was this gun made in Greenhill Alabama or in N. Carolina?

Thanks for posting


As too the OP like many others have said…

I’ve always heard toe plates were installed too protect the buttstock from chipping…

I can’t recall them being referred to as kick plates..

 

[duca]

I have a real gun with a flat faced breech plug. I don’t need to kick my gun.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Was this gun made in Greenhill Alabama or in N. Carolina?

Thanks for posting


As too the OP like many others have said…

I’ve always heard toe plates were installed too protect the buttstock from chipping…

I can’t recall them being referred to as kick plates..

Too many parts were lost to determine the exact identity of the maker. It has been confirmed that the architecture of the buttstock is that of the Kennedy family of gunsmiths by the six pointed hunter's star inlay. The triggers were marked Fehr and are also of North Carolina provenance.

 

[smo]

Too many parts were lost to determine the exact identity of the maker. It has been confirmed that the architecture of the buttstock is that of the Kennedy family of gunsmiths by the six pointed hunter's star inlay. The triggers were marked Fehr and are also of North Carolina provenance.

Thanks for the reply

 

[AZshot]

I collect Appalachian School (southern mountain) long rifles. They almost all have toe plates, from 3 1/2" to all the way to the triggerguard rear foot. I've also read a lot of books by experts of the muzzle loading era, some of them now written 100 years ago or more. The authors spoke to people who actually shot them during the era. People like Cline and Roberts books. Many of them give explicit instructions on how to load. As do military manuals of the period. I'm fairly certain the toe (of the buttstock) plate is not for kicking against, haveing never heard of that until this thread. I started shooting muzzleloaders in the 1970s as a youth. Never heard or saw people kicking their rifles during the great Buckskinner craze or the rendezvous period, where blackpowder it was extremely popular. And techniques pass down through the generations quite accurately, lock, stock, and barrel.

The purpose of the toeplate is much simpler. Men used and carried their guns daily. They leaned them against rocks or trees. They leaned ON them when talking to people. They used them as a cane to stand up, as a crutch when injured. They put them in "stands" if they had stacking swivels, or racks. They threw them in wagons, or carried them across the saddle. The gun was basically often standing on it's butt. In rocks, gravel, brush, cactus, briar patches. The ground was often wet or soggy or muddy. Secondly people often shot laying down prone. In battle, in over the log matches, hiding from indians or game, you often had to get down on the ground with your rifle. The toe gets there first.

The toe plate protects the toe from excessive, rapid wear. If you look at old long rifles without toe plates, or occasionally without buttplates, you'll see lots of wear, scratches, chips, rot.

 

[Banjoman]

I collect Appalachian School (southern mountain) long rifles. They almost all have toe plates, from 3 1/2" to all the way to the triggerguard rear foot. I've also read a lot of books by experts of the muzzle loading era, some of them now written 100 years ago or more. The authors spoke to people who actually shot them during the era. People like Cline and Roberts books. Many of them give explicit instructions on how to load. As do military manuals of the period. I'm fairly certain the toe (of the buttstock) plate is not for kicking against, haveing never heard of that until this thread. I started shooting muzzleloaders in the 1970s as a youth. Never heard or saw people kicking their rifles during the great Buckskinner craze or the rendezvous period, where blackpowder it was extremely popular. And techniques pass down through the generations quite accurately, lock, stock, and barrel.

The purpose of the toeplate is much simpler. Men used and carried their guns daily. They leaned them against rocks or trees. They leaned ON them when talking to people. They used them as a cane to stand up, as a crutch when injured. They put them in "stands" if they had stacking swivels, or racks. They threw them in wagons, or carried them across the saddel. The gun was basically often standing on it's butt. In rocks, gravel, brush, cactus, briar patches. The ground was often wet or soggy or muddy. Secondly people often shot laying down prone. In battle, in over the log matches, hiding from indians or game, you often had to get down on the ground with your rifle. The toe gets there first.

The toe plate protects the toe from excessive, rapid wear. If you look at old long rifles without toe plates, or occasionally without buttplates, you'll see lots of wear, scratches, chips, rot.