old muzzleloader
My roomate has a model 1860 U.S. Bridesburg.
Can anyone give me an idea of what its worth?
Can anyone give me an idea of what its worth?
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Bought an old percussion rifle a while back off a guy whose dad had died and left him several guns.
Got it apart right now to clean it up a bit, and can't find many markings on it. The lock is a silver color with "H. Elwell" and "Warranted" surrounded by a circle, and has a pheasant and a couple of geese near the rear. Underneath the barrel is an "H T", and on the side it looks like a very small bird's head is stamped.
The barrel is 28" long, about 45 caliber. The nose cap is held on by two screws from the inside of the stock under the barrel. The stock is longer than a half-stock, more like a 3/4, and held in place with a wedge. Looks like maple, has a nice grain to it. The trigger guard is held in by pins, not screws, crosswise through the stock. the tang has a wood screw, not one that goes all the way to the trigger. The percussion system is a drum and nipple, neither of which are frozen by rust (luckily!).
The guy I bought it off of knew nothing about it, looks to be fairly old but in decent shape. Barrel has some surface rust, and looks to be developing a patina, bore is bright and shiny with 8 lands.
The ramrod is very small, about a 1/4 inch in diameter, with the last 4 inches or so swelling out to about 5/16 inch. The brass bolsters are also 1/4 inch, and are on dovetails on the rail which runs under the barrel held on by 2 screws. Can't remember the name at the moment. Don't know how someone managed to use the rod, it looks very flimsy to me.
The hardware is brass, and it has the double trigger. I can't remove the trigger housing from the stock, looks like the wood has swelled around it, its certainly stuck anyway. Everything else came off fairly easily. Looks like the wood has been refinished at one time, there are remnants of a reddish color under the nose-cap.
Any info would be much appreciated. I know H.Elwell was a lockmaker in the middle 1800's, but thats about all I know.
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WJOHNS1940,
The only reference that I could find to a gun maker by the name of "Coons" is Joseph Coons who worked in Philadelphia Pennsylvania as a general gunsmith in about the year 1810. This information is from two different references i.e. A.M. Carey and Stephen Van Rensselaer.
It seems to me that your rifle was made much later then the date given for Joseph Coons. The small bore (caliber .32,.33,.36) muzzle loading rifles did not become popular until nearly the end of the muzzle loading era. In the area in which I live they were still makeing rifles of at lest .40 caliber well into the 1880's.
N.H. Coons could have been a son or even a grandson of Joseeph Coons as the gunsmith trade tended to follow family lines.
Sorry that I couldn't come up with more information.
All the best,
Scout0
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