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Black powder rifle

PleasePlease Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
edited February 2008 in Ask the Experts
I am looking for information on a rifle I saw the other day. It was a breech loading Falling block black powder rifle. The shooter took a paper cartridge with the powder and bullet, inserted it in the breech, and when you closed the action, it cut off part of the paper cartridge to expose the charge.
Can you tell me what kind of rifle and what caliber operated in a like manner?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.[:D]
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Comments

  • PleasePlease Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a Black powder rifle replica that is 47 1/2 inchesl long, 50 CAL which says Conneticut valley arms Inc. and trying to establish an approximate value for a rifle like this in excellent condition.

    Thanks
    Larry
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  • PleasePlease Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am in possession of a black powder rifle(muzzle loeader) that has H O on the barrel, and the name Othnial Hiatt or Hialt, I am not sure which on the stockplate. Could someone please give me some information regarding year made, caliber, maker, and any other information about this rifle. Thank you much.
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  • PleasePlease Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a long rifle oxcation shape barrel Cal unknown the only
    marking I can fine is h Scott & sons what is it ???????

    Thanks
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  • Iroquois ScoutIroquois Scout Member Posts: 930 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hello Please,
    Need a ton more information like is this a flintlock or a percussion lock? How do you know that it is a rifle? Can you see the rifleing? When you say that the name is on the stock plate do you mean the plate on the opposite side from the lock or is this plate somewhere else on the stock? If the name is on the side plate it could be the maker's name, I have seen it there,but, it is a little unusual. The maker's name is usually on the barrel. However some rifles are not marked at all. If the name is on a plate somewhere else on the stock it is usually the owner's name. Is there a name on the lock? We need lots of good photos. Remember that we can only see this rifle thruogh your eyes. There are lots of good people on this forum that will try to help you but you must help us also.
    All the best,
    Scout
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  • PleasePlease Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    It is a percussion lock. H O is stamped 3 places along the barrel. On the stock by the butt palate on the same side as the hammmer is a compartment with a metal cover approx. 6 inches long by 1 in. wide with the name engraved in script on it. How do I distinguish if it is a rifle? There is no name on the lock. The diameter of the hole in the barrel is appor. 6/16 of a inch. I can find no other markings on the gun. How would I get pictures to you?
    Thanks,
    Please
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  • hrfhrf Member Posts: 857 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Genealogical data lists an Othnial Hiatt born 1804 in High Point, North Carolina who died there 1855. In the 1850 census he is listed as a Plow Maker.

    If block letters, maybe you are reading barrel markings from wrong side (backwards)?
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  • captkirk3@dslextreme.comcaptkirk3@dslextreme.com Member Posts: 3,804
    edited November -1
    One Photo is worth a Thousand Words.....Good Photos are worth More....
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  • PleasePlease Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    O H and H O are both possibilities now that you say I may be looking at it upside down. I took it as H O but you are probably right, it must be O H.
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  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,662 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Look at the top of this page for the sticky on "How to post pictures."
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  • Iroquois ScoutIroquois Scout Member Posts: 930 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Good Morning,
    hrf has done some good work here. I checked my two volumes of 'American Gunsmiths'and could not find any listing for Othnial Hiatt. However, not all people who made guns are listed. That Mr. Hiatt was listed as a plow maker is intrusting as this means that he was a blacksmith. In those days only the plow share (the part that went into the ground) was made of iron. The rest of the frame was made of wood. Here in the North East many gunsmiths doubled as the community blacksmith. The fact that the rifle is signed on the pathbox lid means to me that it is the owners name. In 45 years of studying the Pennsylvania long rifle I have found only two 'smiths who routinely signed their work on the patchbox lid. Even at the time when this rifle was built, there were firms supplying ready made parts to the gun trade. Jacob Dickert had a barrel mill in Lancaster Pa. in 1774 and Remington made barrels for the trade until the early 1900's. What I am trying to say is that Mr. Hiatt may have made this rifle himself by ordering parts just as we do today. Also High Point N.C. is on the edge of the area that was settled by Pennsylvania Moravian's many of who were gunsmiths. The long narrow patchbox sounds like a typical Southern mountain style. 6/16=3/8=.375, so we can say that the rfle is about 38 caliber, just about average for a rifle made in the 1840's-1850's. Please post pictures if you can.
    Scout
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