Original Item: Only One Available. Just purchased at a recent military auction! This is a wonderful heavy barreled "Pennsylvania" percussion hunting rifle, often referred to as a "Kentucky" rifle. The design developed in Pennsylvania, and then spread down the Ohio River Valley to Kentucky, where it was very popular. The thin curved stock design was popular for close to 100 years in the region.

This is a great example, made by the rare and desirable gunsmith Joseph Long, who worked from 1826-1872, based in Beaver Springs, Pennsylvania. This area is located in Snyder County, though Long was also sometimes said to have worked in the adjacent Union County. It shows an extremely high level of craftsmanship, and is marked correctly with a script J. Long on top of the barrel, with script initials J. L. inside an oval "fish" engraved on the lock plate. Long is considered part of the Upper Susquehanna School of Pennsylvania Long Rifle makers, and Beaver Springs is located between the Susquehanna River and its tributary to the west, the Juniata River.

This wonderful Pennsylvania rifle by Long is fitted with a lovely highly flamed maple stock, which shows areas of flame, quilt, birds eye, and even burl style figuring. It is truly exceptional and shows a high level of chatoyancy. The rifle is fitted with all brass mountings, though it also features some lovely nickel silver ornamentations. It features a 37 1/2 inch long octagonal barrel with a bore of about 0.39", very common for these rifles, cut with seven groove rifling. Overall length is 52 inches, and the barrel is very heavy for accurate shooting, much like "bench rest" rifles of the day. It even has a brass resting plate on the underside of the fore grip to protect the wood of the stock. Overall condition is very good, with a lovely look and no major issues.

As with most 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. The mechanism is fully functional on this example, and the lock cannot be fired at all until the rear trigger is "set". For this reason there is no half cock position on the tumbler. The rear trigger can sometimes take several attempts to "set" it, and the front trigger is extremely sensitive at that point, so it may be slightly out of adjustment.

The barrel features a copper blade front sight and a simple fixed "flat-top" rear sight. We checked the bore, and it is in very good condition, showing a mostly bright finish with strong lands and grooves. There is some past oxidation and fouling, particularly in the grooves, as well as wear, but it's really in great shape considering the age. The lock has some lovely engraving on both the plate and the hammer, and there are also some hand engraved designs on the top of the barrel.

The stock is lovely, showing the "Tiger Flame" figuring clearly throughout much its length, and even "burl", "quilted" and "birdseye" type grain figuring. It is fitted with a lovely brass hook butt plate, and has a carved in German style cheek piece on the left side, which has a brass fitting on top of it. There is also a lovely patch box on the right hand side of the butt stock, with great brass ornamentation inside. The compartment is opened using the button on the right side of the butt plate, and does have a spring inside to make it pop open, however it is out of adjustment, so the compartment must be opened by hand. The brass trigger guard is very nice, and is with most we see, has a "pistol grip" style finial for a better grip. 

There is some stress cracking on the stock, but no major breaks or repairs we can see except for a a replaced bit of wood right next to the lock plate. There are also numerous nickel silver ornaments installed on the stock, including an oval on the cheek piece, a hunting horn by the lock side plate, an oval escutcheon on the back of the wrist, and four conical ornaments on each side of the fore stock. The cleaning rod is a display replacement.

A great example of an iconic early American gun design made by a rare and desirable maker from Central Pennsylvania. With the beautiful stock, ornamentations, and set trigger, this rifle is worthy to be apart of any early American collection. Ready to research and display!

Specifications-

Year of Manufacture: c.1830
Caliber: approx .39" seven groove rifling
Cartridge Type: Ball and Powder
Barrel Length: 37 1/2 Inches
Overall Length: 52 Inches
Action type: Side Action Percussion Lock
Feed System: Muzzle Loading

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