set triggers – Mark Elliott

John Davidson Rifle

Shown here is a previously unpublished John Davidson longrifle. It was made for a farmer in Rockbridge county Virginia and is still in the family. While the rifle is the victim of a very poor restoration job many years ago, there is still considerable artistic merit to the gun.

The longrifle is mostly intact. The original nose piece is missing as is the trigger guard. The guard on the rifle now does not belong by any stretch of the imagination. It was just stuck on there so there would be a guard. Missing wood in the forearm and around the lock and tang was replaced with body putty, but the thimbles appear to be original as does the lock plate with a period conversion from flint to percussion. The best part of the longrifle is the butt stock. It has a typical John Davidson patchbox with some great engraving, and some unique floral cheek side carving.

Rather than further describe the longrifle, I will let the photographs speak for themselves. I do have to beg your indulgence for any deficiencies in the photographs. They were, by necessity, taken at the owners house, outside, on a sunny, windy day, in the partial shade of a large tree. It is amazing they turned out as well as they did.

PDF Data Sheet for John Davidson Rifle

Excel Data Sheet for John Davidson Rifle

Photos are Copyright 2011 Mark E. Elliott, All Rights Reserved, published with the permission of the owner. Please do not duplicate without permission.

Wm. Britton Rifle

Shown here is an original rifle attributed to William Britton of Hampshire County, West Virginia. It is published on page 64 of Gunsmiths of West Virginia by Lambert and Whisker. This rifle has been re-converted from percussion to flint. The Maslin lock shown is not original to the gun and is poorly fitted in the lock mortise. The forearm has been replaced forward of the rear thimble. Otherwise, everything else appears to be original. The best features of the rifle are the incised carving in the wrist and buttstock and the engraving of the side plate, toe plate and patchbox.

Overall Length: 61″
Barrel Length: 46″
Caliber: 50

Iron Mounted Eastern Tennessee Rifle

This is an original, fully iron mounted rifle most likely made somewhere on the border of southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee probably between 1820 and 1830.. The lines of the breech stock look Virginia while the mounts are typical East Tennessee. The stock is a plain piece of Black Walnut in pretty good shape with the exception of saddle wear through to the ramrod hole. They barrel has been shortened at the breech at least once about three inches. All the parts appear to be original, and the lock and triggers still work exceptionally well. The lock is a cheap hardware store variety with no fly or half cock notch. There is stamped decoration (circles) around the muzzle and the rear buckhorn sight. The barrel is particularly heavy and coned. The coning makes it difficult to guage the caliber, but I estimate it at about 38 caliber. Particularly when you consider that two or three inches were cut off this barrel lightening it some, it is pretty clear that this gun was not shot offhand. This gun had to be shot from some sort of rest. This rifle shows lots of honest wear and in-service repairs. I see no evidence of modern repairs or restoration.

Overall Length: 60″
Barrel Length: 42″
Caliber: 38