Original Item: Only One Available. Just purchased at a recent military auction! Here is a very nice octagonal barreled "Kentucky" style hunting rifle, more correctly referred to as a "Pennsylvania" Rifle. The design developed in Pennsylvania, and then spread down the Ohio River Valley to Kentucky, where it was very popular. It has a heavy octagonal barrel in .35" caliber with 8 groove rifling.

We estimate that this octagonal barrel rifle was made about 1835, and it features all brass mounts with minimal ornamentation. It does have a very nice brass patch box on the right side of the butt stock. The lock originally was the most decorated part of the entire rifle, with traces of lovely foliate engraving on the plate and hammer. Unfortunately the surface has now rusted over much of the lock plate, so the original markings have been removed. Examination of the lock plate and cap bolster lead us to believe that this rifle was originally made in flintlock, but then converted to percussion in the later 1840s.

The full length stock is very nice walnut, and has a lovely cheek piece on the left side of the butt stock. there has been some wood replaced around the barrel tang on both sides, as well as in front of the lock. There is also wood missing on the woodline on the left side near the muzzle, which looks to be a past repair that came unglued.

As with many Kentucky hunting rifles, this example is fitted with a "set trigger", where depressing the rear trigger first until it clicks and just touching the front trigger discharges the weapon, hopefully with great accuracy. It is fully functional at present, and the rear trigger must be "set" before the lock will fire at all. There is no half cock position due to this. The bore still shows rifling, but was quite rusted. Even after cleaning it shows a lot of corrosion, so it was definitely left uncleaned for a long period of time. There is a simple wooden cleaning rod installed, which looks to be just for display

A very nice example of a mid 19th Century "Kentucky" rifle with a lovely full length stock, ready to add to your collection and hang on the wall!

Specifications-

Year of Manufacture: c.1835
Caliber: approx .35" eight groove rifling
Cartridge Type: Ball and Powder
Barrel Length: 40 Inches
Overall Length: 56 1/2 Inches
Action type: Side Action Percussion Lock
Feed System: Muzzle Loading

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