Plain Grade Half Stock Percussion Fowler?

Andrew hall

31.5" octagonal barrel, smoothbore that is approx. 3/8th of an inch in diameter. There are no visible markings but the letters G TON on the underside of the barrel in the area covered by the stock. It has an intact rear sight. The stock butt is a little bit different, extending further on the bottom than it does on the top. Does anyone see anything I don't or have any thoughts on what the lettering means?

swearengine

It is hard to say, but I am guessing the barrel is a REMINGTON and it has been cut for whatever reason. Remington supplied a lot of barrels to various gunmakers. Are there any other markings, I am guessing they would be very faint.

Andrew hall

That makes sense. Do you think other markings were cut off with the section of barrel that was removed? Why would someone cut of a couple inches of barrel from the business end?

westkybanded

I am going WAY out on a limb here and saying it's not a "Fowler". Rifle sights and a hooked butplate would lead me to think rifle.

mongrel1776

What you actually have was built around a rifle barrel of fairly small bore, and which appears to have been mounted originally in a full-length stock, judging by what I can see of the placement of the entry ramrod pipe and the shape of the wood around it, the positioning of the brass ovals surrounding the barrel pin location, and the rough way the forward pipes have been soldered to the barrel with no underrib. Had the barrel been installed in a halfstock originally the barrel pin placement by custom and to please the eye, both, would have been a few inches further to the rear. The barrel has almost certainly been cut down at the breech. I can see faint traces of what appears to be an "N" in front of the "G" in the lettering on the bottom flat of the barrel -- the tail end of a name ending "-ngton", either the barrel's maker or the place of its manufacture. In addition to the letters forming only a partial word, their location is further toward the breech of the barrel than was typical -- place or makers' names generally started at least several inches forward of the breech. And, the drum-and-nipple arrangement on this gun was generally used in the conversion of flintlocks to percussion -- or as a quick fix to a shortened barrel. Most (not all, by any means, but most) builders of the original percussion era went with hook-and-tang or, less often, solid bolster-type breechplugs.

Most likely this is a re-stock of various original parts, not necessarily all from the same original gun. The triggerguard, though I can't see its finials (the decorative ends forward and to the rear of the bow, the style of which helps in dating the guard), has the profile of one typically found on a musket or fowler of not much later than the early 19th century. That doesn't square with the full-octagon, small-bore barrel, though I have to say right here that anyone who uses the words "never" or "always" when discussing these almost entirely handmade guns is begging to be shown the error of his ways -- complete with photos and documentation. But, USUALLY, fowlers and muskets used one general type of hardware, rifles another. Not only that, but the buttplate appears to be a heavily-modified large target type, such as might be found on schuetzen rifles. Last, the lockplate doesn't match up, visually, with the percussion drum, and it's somewhat oversized for the panels of the stock -- which themselves aren't too expertly shaped. A used stock, meaning one of earlier vintage than the lock now on it, would probably have had a lock of distinctly different shape, and there would be gaps or visible patches in the wood below the barrel breech and percussion drum.

All in all, I'd guess an assortment of parts from several different styles of gun and several different periods of the muzzleloading era, put together with a new stock, by someone who wasn't a master of the gunmaking craft but did have the know-how to put a working gun together. When this was done is anyone's guess, though the stock does show some genuine age, meaning that even in this rebuilt configuration it's probably still a valid antique. If the barrel and breech are sound, the bore reasonably smooth, and the lock in working order -- all things to be checked by a competent gunsmith with knowledge of muzzleloading guns -- it'd be fine as a shooter, otherwise as a wall hanger. Collector value is more than likely nil.

My thoughts on the subject.... Bet by now you're sorry you asked [:D].

Reason for edit -- it's late, I'm tired, and the name "Remington" didn't occur to me when puzzling over the letters on the bottom flat of the barrel. That would be the most likely possibility.