Long rifle
Encyclopedia
The American longrifle , better known as the Kentucky rifle was described best by Captain John G. W. Dillin in the dedication to his seminal 1924 book, The Kentucky Rifle:
"From a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled with crude tools; fitted with a stock hewn from a maple tree in the neighboring forest; and supplied with a lock hammered to shape on the anvil; an unknown smith, in a shop long since silent, fashioned a rifle which changed the whole course of world history; made possible the settlement of a continent; and ultimately Freed our country of foreign domination.
Light in weight; graceful in line; economical in consumption of powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it sprang into immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often slightly varied but never radically changed.
Legend regarding this rifle which have never been confirmed have drifted out of the dusty past; inaccuracies have passed for facts.
Few writers have given more than a passing word to a weapon which deserves a lasting place in history, and it is a pleasure to present herewith the data collected during the past ten years and to dedicate this work to the KENTUCKY RIFLE."
of Virginia
, Tennessee
, Kentucky
, and North Carolina
, well into the 20th century, as a practical and efficient firearm for these still quite rural segments of the nation. Longrifles could be made entirely by hand and hand-operated tooling, in a frontier setting.
Although experts argue the fine points of origin and lineage, it is accepted that the longrifle was the product of German gunsmiths who immigrated to new settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia as early as the 1620s.
Initially the weapon of choice on the frontier was the smooth bore musket or trade gun—built in the thousands in factories in England and France and shipped to the Colonies for purchase. Gradually, however, a group of solitary frontiersmen, Indian fighters, and professional market hunters began using more and more rifles due to their longer effective range. While the smooth bore musket had an effective range of less than 100 yards, a good rifleman could hit a man-sized target out to three hundred yards or more.
There was a price for this accuracy, however. The longifle required a full minute to load, far longer than a musket's 20 seconds. Modern riflemen can shoot up to three shots a minute with a muzzle-loading rifle.
Among the earliest documented working rifle makers are Adam Haymaker, who had a thriving trade in the northern Shenandoah Valley
of Virginia
, and the Moravian gunshops at both Christian's Spring in Pennsylvania
and also in the Salem area of central North Carolina. All three areas were busy and productive centers of rifle making by the 1750s. The Great Wagon Road
was a bustling frontier thoroughfare, and traced this same route - from eastern Pennsylvania, down the Shenandoah Valley, and spilling into both the Cumberland Gap
into Kentucky
and the Yadkin River
(Salem) area of North Carolina. Rifle shops dotted this road and kept the frontier supplied with the tools of exploration and conquest of the frontier.
Martin Meylin's (Mylin's) Gunshop was built in 1719, and it is here that the Mennonite gunsmith of Swiss-German heritage crafted some the earliest, and possibly the first, Pennsylvania Rifles. The Martin Meylin Gunshop still stands today in Willow Street, Pennsylvania
, on Long Rifle Road. The Lancaster County Historical Society has an original Pennsylvania Long Rifle smithed by Meylin that was passed down within the family for seven generations before being donated to the society in the middle of the twentieth century. A document describing the history of Meylin, the Gunshop, and archeology of the shop is available online from Millersville University.
There is documentation stating that the first high quality 'Kentucky rifles' were from a gunsmith named Jacob Deckard, possibly of German, Pennsylvanian, or Virginian background. The name 'Deckard Rifle' was considered the brand name and 'Kentucky rifle' was the more broadly accepted nickname of this rifle.
The settlers of western Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina soon gained a reputation for hardy independence and rifle marksmanship as a way of life, further reinforced by the performance of riflemen in the American Revolution as well as the War of 1812
. In that war, the long rifle gained its more famous nickname the Kentucky
Rifle, after a popular song "The Hunters of Kentucky", about Andrew Jackson
and his victory at the Battle of New Orleans
.
Just why the American rifle developed its characteristic long barrel is a matter of some conjecture. The German gunsmiths working in America would have been very familiar with German
rifles, which seldom had barrels longer than 30 inches (762 mm), and often had barrels much shorter. The main reason is the longer barrel gave the black powder — which burns slower than modern powders — more time to burn, increasing the muzzle velocity
and hence the accuracy. (A rule of thumb
used by some gunsmiths was to make the rifle no longer than the height of a customer's chin because of the necessity of seeing the muzzle while loading.) The longer barrel also allowed for finer sighting and thus greater accuracy. Although some speculation would have it that a longer gun was easier to load from horseback by resting the butt of the rifle on the ground, this was not a consideration, as the rifles were not exclusively used from horseback, and making rifles long enough to be loaded in this fashion would make them inconveniently long to be loaded while on foot. For whatever reason, by the 1750s it was common to see frontiersmen carrying a new and distinctive style of rifle that was used with great skill to provide tens of thousands of deer hides for the British leather industry.
These woodsmen were also exceptional trackers and Indian
fighters, and played an important role in the French and Indian War
which was fought in many parts of the American back country as a guerilla war
. By the time of the American Revolution
, a strong tradition of riflery had been ingrained into the citizens of Virginia
, Pennsylvania
, and North Carolina
, and all lands extending westward into the Indian territories
.
A shorter, carbine
variant was the "Plains Rifle" or "Hawken rifle
" was popular among mountain men
and North American fur trappers
in the 19th century. Kentucky Rifles tended to be slimmer and more elegant than the later, more massive, and shorter-barreled Hawken variant rifles, the Hawken Rifles having evolved from the Kentucky Rifle for use against larger, more dangerous game encountered in the American West, against which more massive bullets and larger amounts of black powder were used. For firing heavier and larger diameter bullets and heavier powder loads, the barrel wall thickness was necessarily strengthened, and the barrel length of the Hawken was shortened, relative to the Kentucky Rifle, to keep the carrying weight manageable.
, and its ornate decoration, decorative inlays, and an integral, well-made patchbox that was built into the stock. The decorative arts of furniture making, painting, silver smithing, gunsmithing, etc. all took their style cues from the prevailing trends of the day, and as in most things the fashion was set in Paris
. Baroque
and later rococo
motifs found their way into all the decorative arts, and can be seen in the acanthus
leaf scroll work so common on 18th century furniture and silver. The American frontier, as remote as it was, was not divorced from this trend, and the best American longrifles have art applied to them that is fully the equal of any Philadelphia cabinet
or silver shop. Many people also would give their rifles names such as "Killdeer", the rifle of Natty Bumppo
from the Leatherstocking Tales
.
Originally rather plain, it did not take long for the long rifle to be a source of pride for its owner, and by the 1770s every surface of the rifle could be used as a canvas for excellent applied art. An accomplished gunsmith had to be a skilled blacksmith
, whitesmith
, wood carver, brass and silver founder, engraver
, and wood finisher. While the European shops of the day had significant specialization of the trades, leading to many separate tradesmen building each rifle, the frontier had no such luxury, and quite often only one gunmaker, aided by perhaps a lone apprentice would make the entire rifle, a process almost unheard of in 18th century trade practice. Mechanically, a Kentucky Rifle was often the most complex mechanical object owned by its user. The flintlock
action, with its spring mechanism, and single-action trigger, though, was often purchased in bulk by gunsmiths from England, and then fabricated with skill into an elaborate rifle. Although early locks were nearly always imported, in later years, the domestic manufacturing of locks arose in America among the most skilled gunsmiths.
To conserve lead on the frontier, smaller calibers were often preferred, ranging often from about .36 to .45 cal. Such were commonly used for hunting squirrels and other small game, as well as for hunting deer. As a rifle became extensively more and more worn from use, with accumulated corrosion from firing blackpowder causing the bore to enlarge, it was not uncommon to see many such individual rifles being re-bored and re-rifled at larger calibers, to keep the rifle shooting accurately. Many extant copies of historical Kentucky Rifles are seen with a bore of around .50 caliber, having been the last caliber to which the barrel had been bored and rifled.
The longrifle is said by modern experts to have a range of 80 to 100 yards. This figure is meant for the normal or novice user. A trained, experienced shooter who knows how to take variables into account such as (gunpowder) load, windage, drop, etc. can easily extend the median range of the long rifle to 400-500 yards. In 1778 at the siege of Boonesborough
, Kentucky
, one of the officers of the combined British/Shawnee assault force was hiding behind a tree. He stuck his head out from behind the tree and was instantly killed by a ball to the forehead fired by Daniel Boone
, who was known for always firing the same fixed measure load of blackpowder in his rifle. This shot was later confirmed by witnesses on both sides and the distance measured at 250 yards. Hitting a target so precisely at that range would probably make the Kentucky Rifle comparable in total effective (long) range with the British Baker rifle
at 700 to 800 yards.
Although less commonly owned or seen on the frontier, the Kentucky Rifle style was also used on flintlock pistols during the same era. These Kentucky Rifle style pistols were often matched in caliber to a Kentucky Rifle owned by the same user, to enable firing a common-sized and common-patched round lead ball. With the same graceful stock lines and barrel style, and craftsmanship, they were noticeably slimmer and had a longer rifled barrel with better sights than had been seen on the earlier Colonial style flintlock pistols. Dueling pistol sets in the Kentucky Rifle style were also made, sometimes in a cased set, for wealthy gentlemen, such as when serving in politics, to defend their honor.
Many men throughout the remainder of the 20th century worked to expand our knowledge of the American Longrifle and how to recreate in the 18th and 19th century manner. Foremost among these were Joe Kindig Jr, George Shumway, Earl Lanning, Wallace Gusler, John Bivins, Garry Brumfield and many others. In particular, Wallace Gusler, as the fist master of the Gunsmith shop in Colonial Williamsburg, was the first (along with the assistance of many others) to recreate an American longrilfe in modern times using 18th century tools and techniques. This was in 1965. The 1968 film "Gunsmith of Williamsburg" documented the production of the second all handmade longrifle. This film has been recently re-released on DVD and is available from a number of online sources. Since that time, many other makers have trained under and been mentored by these men and many other pioneers of the rebirth of the longrifle culture. The Gunsmith Shop in Colonial Williamsburg under Wallace Gusler and Gary Brumfield produced Dave Wagoner, Jon Laubach, George Suiter, Clay Smith, and Richard Frazier. These are the only men who have emerged from the Gunshop to date who have produced an all handmade rife. In addition to his influence in his popular series of articles for Rifle Magazine and his involvement with the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) John Bivins trained the outstanding gunmakers Jim Chambers and Mark Silver. Then there were other standouts like Earl Lanning, Keith Casteel, Hershel and Frank House, Jack Brooks, Jud Brennon, Ron Ehlert, Robert Harn, and many, many more. You can see there work and many others, some of the best of the past 40 years, in the book; Three Centuries of Tradition: The Renaissance of Custom Sporting Arms in America, published by The Minneapolis Insitute of Arts and Scala Publishers, Ltd.
While there have been many great builders over the past 50 years who have helped revive the recreation of the historically correct American longrifle, there are many younger builders with extraordinary talent such as Allen Martin, Eric Kettenburg, Jim Kibler, Mark Whealand and many, many others. There are more and more builders all the time as evidenced by the membership of AmericanLongrifles.org; a group of forums serving the interests of builders of traditional muzzleloading arms and accouterments, including most notably the American Longrifle. At last check there were over 3000 members including most of the top builders alive today. AmericanLongrifles.org(ALR) was started in 1997 Mark Elliott at same time that Gordon Barlow was putting together the Contemporary Longrifle Association (CLA). The CLA is a membership organization consisting of students, collectors, and artisans producing contemporary(20th century and later) hand made recreations of American longrifles, their accouterments, and associated arms and crafts of pre-1840 America. The overflow crowds that fill the Lexington,KY Convention Center each August for the CLA annual meeting and show is evidence of the popularity of the contemporary American longrifle and traditional crafts. If that is not enough, you have the mega suppliers of all things muzzleloading, Dixie Gun Works and Track of the Wolf as proof of the vibrancy of the contemporary longrifle. Then there are the numerous parts suppliers such as Jim Chambers Flintlocks, R.E. Davis, and L&R, for locks; Getz, Rice, Rayl, and others for barrels, Dunlap Woodcraft, Tiger Hunt, and Freddie Harrison among others for stock wood. Then there are hundreds of other individual artisans producing small parts and supplies for resale by the like of Track of the Wolf, Dixie Gunworks, Dixons Muzzleloading Shop, Stonewall Creek Outfitters, Tip Curtis, and others. Speaking of Dixons Muzzleloading, they hold an extremely successful GunMakers Fair the last weekend in July that has been hosting folks from all over the U.S. and Canada for over 38 years now to share and learn about traditional gunmaking. The recreation of the American longrifle is alive and well.
"From a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled with crude tools; fitted with a stock hewn from a maple tree in the neighboring forest; and supplied with a lock hammered to shape on the anvil; an unknown smith, in a shop long since silent, fashioned a rifle which changed the whole course of world history; made possible the settlement of a continent; and ultimately Freed our country of foreign domination.
Light in weight; graceful in line; economical in consumption of powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it sprang into immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often slightly varied but never radically changed.
Legend regarding this rifle which have never been confirmed have drifted out of the dusty past; inaccuracies have passed for facts.
Few writers have given more than a passing word to a weapon which deserves a lasting place in history, and it is a pleasure to present herewith the data collected during the past ten years and to dedicate this work to the KENTUCKY RIFLE."
Origins
The longrifle developed on the American frontier in and about Lancaster, PA in the 1740s, continued to be developed technically and artistically until it passed out of fashion in the second quarter of the 19th century. It is interesting to note, however, that strong pockets of longrifle use and manufacture continued in the Appalachian MountainsAppalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, well into the 20th century, as a practical and efficient firearm for these still quite rural segments of the nation. Longrifles could be made entirely by hand and hand-operated tooling, in a frontier setting.
Although experts argue the fine points of origin and lineage, it is accepted that the longrifle was the product of German gunsmiths who immigrated to new settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia as early as the 1620s.
Initially the weapon of choice on the frontier was the smooth bore musket or trade gun—built in the thousands in factories in England and France and shipped to the Colonies for purchase. Gradually, however, a group of solitary frontiersmen, Indian fighters, and professional market hunters began using more and more rifles due to their longer effective range. While the smooth bore musket had an effective range of less than 100 yards, a good rifleman could hit a man-sized target out to three hundred yards or more.
There was a price for this accuracy, however. The longifle required a full minute to load, far longer than a musket's 20 seconds. Modern riflemen can shoot up to three shots a minute with a muzzle-loading rifle.
Among the earliest documented working rifle makers are Adam Haymaker, who had a thriving trade in the northern Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and the Moravian gunshops at both Christian's Spring in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and also in the Salem area of central North Carolina. All three areas were busy and productive centers of rifle making by the 1750s. The Great Wagon Road
Great Wagon Road
The Great Wagon Road was a colonial American improved trail transiting the Great Appalachian Valley from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and from there to Georgia....
was a bustling frontier thoroughfare, and traced this same route - from eastern Pennsylvania, down the Shenandoah Valley, and spilling into both the Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap, at the juncture of the U.S. states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia...
into Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
and the Yadkin River
Yadkin River
The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control. The river becomes the Pee Dee...
(Salem) area of North Carolina. Rifle shops dotted this road and kept the frontier supplied with the tools of exploration and conquest of the frontier.
Martin Meylin's (Mylin's) Gunshop was built in 1719, and it is here that the Mennonite gunsmith of Swiss-German heritage crafted some the earliest, and possibly the first, Pennsylvania Rifles. The Martin Meylin Gunshop still stands today in Willow Street, Pennsylvania
Willow Street, Pennsylvania
Willow Street is a census-designated place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,258 at the 2000 census. In the early part of the 20th century the main thoroughfare in town was lined with Willow trees on both sides for the length of the town. The community received...
, on Long Rifle Road. The Lancaster County Historical Society has an original Pennsylvania Long Rifle smithed by Meylin that was passed down within the family for seven generations before being donated to the society in the middle of the twentieth century. A document describing the history of Meylin, the Gunshop, and archeology of the shop is available online from Millersville University.
There is documentation stating that the first high quality 'Kentucky rifles' were from a gunsmith named Jacob Deckard, possibly of German, Pennsylvanian, or Virginian background. The name 'Deckard Rifle' was considered the brand name and 'Kentucky rifle' was the more broadly accepted nickname of this rifle.
The settlers of western Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina soon gained a reputation for hardy independence and rifle marksmanship as a way of life, further reinforced by the performance of riflemen in the American Revolution as well as the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. In that war, the long rifle gained its more famous nickname the Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
Rifle, after a popular song "The Hunters of Kentucky", about Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
and his victory at the Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
.
Just why the American rifle developed its characteristic long barrel is a matter of some conjecture. The German gunsmiths working in America would have been very familiar with German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
rifles, which seldom had barrels longer than 30 inches (762 mm), and often had barrels much shorter. The main reason is the longer barrel gave the black powder — which burns slower than modern powders — more time to burn, increasing the muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
and hence the accuracy. (A rule of thumb
Rule of thumb
A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination...
used by some gunsmiths was to make the rifle no longer than the height of a customer's chin because of the necessity of seeing the muzzle while loading.) The longer barrel also allowed for finer sighting and thus greater accuracy. Although some speculation would have it that a longer gun was easier to load from horseback by resting the butt of the rifle on the ground, this was not a consideration, as the rifles were not exclusively used from horseback, and making rifles long enough to be loaded in this fashion would make them inconveniently long to be loaded while on foot. For whatever reason, by the 1750s it was common to see frontiersmen carrying a new and distinctive style of rifle that was used with great skill to provide tens of thousands of deer hides for the British leather industry.
These woodsmen were also exceptional trackers and Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
fighters, and played an important role in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
which was fought in many parts of the American back country as a guerilla war
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
. By the time of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, a strong tradition of riflery had been ingrained into the citizens of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and all lands extending westward into the Indian territories
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
.
A shorter, carbine
Carbine
A carbine , from French carabine, is a longarm similar to but shorter than a rifle or musket. Many carbines are shortened versions of full rifles, firing the same ammunition at a lower velocity due to a shorter barrel length....
variant was the "Plains Rifle" or "Hawken rifle
Hawken rifle
The Hawken rifle was a brand of black powder long rifle used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days. It has become synonymous with the "plains rifle", the buffalo gun, and the fur trapper's gun...
" was popular among mountain men
Mountain man
Mountain men were trappers and explorers who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through the 1880s where they were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains...
and North American fur trappers
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
in the 19th century. Kentucky Rifles tended to be slimmer and more elegant than the later, more massive, and shorter-barreled Hawken variant rifles, the Hawken Rifles having evolved from the Kentucky Rifle for use against larger, more dangerous game encountered in the American West, against which more massive bullets and larger amounts of black powder were used. For firing heavier and larger diameter bullets and heavier powder loads, the barrel wall thickness was necessarily strengthened, and the barrel length of the Hawken was shortened, relative to the Kentucky Rifle, to keep the carrying weight manageable.
Characteristics
Artistically, the longrifle is known for its graceful stock, often made of curly mapleFlame maple
Flame maple , also known as flamed maple, curly maple, ripple maple, fiddleback or tiger stripe, is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern, producing wavy lines known as "flames"...
, and its ornate decoration, decorative inlays, and an integral, well-made patchbox that was built into the stock. The decorative arts of furniture making, painting, silver smithing, gunsmithing, etc. all took their style cues from the prevailing trends of the day, and as in most things the fashion was set in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
and later rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
motifs found their way into all the decorative arts, and can be seen in the acanthus
Acanthus (ornament)
The acanthus is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration.-Architecture:In architecture, an ornament is carved into stone or wood to resemble leaves from the Mediterranean species of the Acanthus genus of plants, which have deeply cut leaves with some similarity to...
leaf scroll work so common on 18th century furniture and silver. The American frontier, as remote as it was, was not divorced from this trend, and the best American longrifles have art applied to them that is fully the equal of any Philadelphia cabinet
Tallboy (furniture)
A tallboy is a piece of furniture incorporating a double chest of drawers and a wardrobe on top. A highboy is similar but consists of both upper and lower having drawers, many of which may not be doubled, and some of which were tripled...
or silver shop. Many people also would give their rifles names such as "Killdeer", the rifle of Natty Bumppo
Natty Bumppo
Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales.- Fictional biography :...
from the Leatherstocking Tales
Leatherstocking Tales
The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the main hero Natty Bumppo, known by European settlers as "Leatherstocking," 'The Pathfinder", and "the trapper" and by the Native Americans as "Deerslayer," "La Longue Carabine" and...
.
Originally rather plain, it did not take long for the long rifle to be a source of pride for its owner, and by the 1770s every surface of the rifle could be used as a canvas for excellent applied art. An accomplished gunsmith had to be a skilled blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
, whitesmith
Whitesmith
A whitesmith is a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals such as tin and pewter. While blacksmiths work mostly with hot metal, whitesmiths do the majority of their work on cold metal .The term is also applied to metalworkers who do only finishing work – such as filing or polishing –...
, wood carver, brass and silver founder, engraver
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
, and wood finisher. While the European shops of the day had significant specialization of the trades, leading to many separate tradesmen building each rifle, the frontier had no such luxury, and quite often only one gunmaker, aided by perhaps a lone apprentice would make the entire rifle, a process almost unheard of in 18th century trade practice. Mechanically, a Kentucky Rifle was often the most complex mechanical object owned by its user. The flintlock
Flintlock
Flintlock is the general term for any firearm based on the flintlock mechanism. The term may also apply to the mechanism itself. Introduced at the beginning of the 17th century, the flintlock rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the doglock, matchlock and wheellock...
action, with its spring mechanism, and single-action trigger, though, was often purchased in bulk by gunsmiths from England, and then fabricated with skill into an elaborate rifle. Although early locks were nearly always imported, in later years, the domestic manufacturing of locks arose in America among the most skilled gunsmiths.
To conserve lead on the frontier, smaller calibers were often preferred, ranging often from about .36 to .45 cal. Such were commonly used for hunting squirrels and other small game, as well as for hunting deer. As a rifle became extensively more and more worn from use, with accumulated corrosion from firing blackpowder causing the bore to enlarge, it was not uncommon to see many such individual rifles being re-bored and re-rifled at larger calibers, to keep the rifle shooting accurately. Many extant copies of historical Kentucky Rifles are seen with a bore of around .50 caliber, having been the last caliber to which the barrel had been bored and rifled.
The longrifle is said by modern experts to have a range of 80 to 100 yards. This figure is meant for the normal or novice user. A trained, experienced shooter who knows how to take variables into account such as (gunpowder) load, windage, drop, etc. can easily extend the median range of the long rifle to 400-500 yards. In 1778 at the siege of Boonesborough
Siege of Boonesborough
The Siege of Boonesborough took place in September 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. The attack on the Kentucky settlement of Boonesborough was led by Chief Blackfish, a Shawnee leader allied to the British. Months before the battle, Blackfish had captured and adopted Daniel Boone, the...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, one of the officers of the combined British/Shawnee assault force was hiding behind a tree. He stuck his head out from behind the tree and was instantly killed by a ball to the forehead fired by Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
, who was known for always firing the same fixed measure load of blackpowder in his rifle. This shot was later confirmed by witnesses on both sides and the distance measured at 250 yards. Hitting a target so precisely at that range would probably make the Kentucky Rifle comparable in total effective (long) range with the British Baker rifle
Baker rifle
The Baker rifle was a flintlock rifle used by the Rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British armed forces....
at 700 to 800 yards.
Although less commonly owned or seen on the frontier, the Kentucky Rifle style was also used on flintlock pistols during the same era. These Kentucky Rifle style pistols were often matched in caliber to a Kentucky Rifle owned by the same user, to enable firing a common-sized and common-patched round lead ball. With the same graceful stock lines and barrel style, and craftsmanship, they were noticeably slimmer and had a longer rifled barrel with better sights than had been seen on the earlier Colonial style flintlock pistols. Dueling pistol sets in the Kentucky Rifle style were also made, sometimes in a cased set, for wealthy gentlemen, such as when serving in politics, to defend their honor.
Decline and rebirth
By the turn of the 20th century, there was little traditional long rifle making left except in isolated pockets in the Appalachian mountains. The American long rifle, although well known and preserved in museums, was becoming an extinct species as far as modern workmanship was concerned. Few men were left who could build a long rifle. Popular interest in shooting as a sport as well as the sesquicentennial of the United States' independence from Britain in 1925-33 spurred interest in the origins of the American longrifle or the Kentucky rifle as it was referred to at the time. One of the first evidences of this renewed interest was the seminal work in 1924 by Capt. John Dillon; The Kentucky Rifle. A few men began to search out information on the history and craft of the American longrifle and evangelize for muzzleloading shooting and hunting as well as the recreation of the longrilfe. Among these early 20th century pioneers of longrifle culture were Walter Cline, Horace Kephart, Ned Roberts, Red Farris, Hacker Martin , Bill Large, Jack Weichold, Ben Hawkins, D.C. Addicks, L.M. Wolf, Dave Taylor, Win Woods, and Alvin Wagner.Many men throughout the remainder of the 20th century worked to expand our knowledge of the American Longrifle and how to recreate in the 18th and 19th century manner. Foremost among these were Joe Kindig Jr, George Shumway, Earl Lanning, Wallace Gusler, John Bivins, Garry Brumfield and many others. In particular, Wallace Gusler, as the fist master of the Gunsmith shop in Colonial Williamsburg, was the first (along with the assistance of many others) to recreate an American longrilfe in modern times using 18th century tools and techniques. This was in 1965. The 1968 film "Gunsmith of Williamsburg" documented the production of the second all handmade longrifle. This film has been recently re-released on DVD and is available from a number of online sources. Since that time, many other makers have trained under and been mentored by these men and many other pioneers of the rebirth of the longrifle culture. The Gunsmith Shop in Colonial Williamsburg under Wallace Gusler and Gary Brumfield produced Dave Wagoner, Jon Laubach, George Suiter, Clay Smith, and Richard Frazier. These are the only men who have emerged from the Gunshop to date who have produced an all handmade rife. In addition to his influence in his popular series of articles for Rifle Magazine and his involvement with the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) John Bivins trained the outstanding gunmakers Jim Chambers and Mark Silver. Then there were other standouts like Earl Lanning, Keith Casteel, Hershel and Frank House, Jack Brooks, Jud Brennon, Ron Ehlert, Robert Harn, and many, many more. You can see there work and many others, some of the best of the past 40 years, in the book; Three Centuries of Tradition: The Renaissance of Custom Sporting Arms in America, published by The Minneapolis Insitute of Arts and Scala Publishers, Ltd.
While there have been many great builders over the past 50 years who have helped revive the recreation of the historically correct American longrifle, there are many younger builders with extraordinary talent such as Allen Martin, Eric Kettenburg, Jim Kibler, Mark Whealand and many, many others. There are more and more builders all the time as evidenced by the membership of AmericanLongrifles.org; a group of forums serving the interests of builders of traditional muzzleloading arms and accouterments, including most notably the American Longrifle. At last check there were over 3000 members including most of the top builders alive today. AmericanLongrifles.org(ALR) was started in 1997 Mark Elliott at same time that Gordon Barlow was putting together the Contemporary Longrifle Association (CLA). The CLA is a membership organization consisting of students, collectors, and artisans producing contemporary(20th century and later) hand made recreations of American longrifles, their accouterments, and associated arms and crafts of pre-1840 America. The overflow crowds that fill the Lexington,KY Convention Center each August for the CLA annual meeting and show is evidence of the popularity of the contemporary American longrifle and traditional crafts. If that is not enough, you have the mega suppliers of all things muzzleloading, Dixie Gun Works and Track of the Wolf as proof of the vibrancy of the contemporary longrifle. Then there are the numerous parts suppliers such as Jim Chambers Flintlocks, R.E. Davis, and L&R, for locks; Getz, Rice, Rayl, and others for barrels, Dunlap Woodcraft, Tiger Hunt, and Freddie Harrison among others for stock wood. Then there are hundreds of other individual artisans producing small parts and supplies for resale by the like of Track of the Wolf, Dixie Gunworks, Dixons Muzzleloading Shop, Stonewall Creek Outfitters, Tip Curtis, and others. Speaking of Dixons Muzzleloading, they hold an extremely successful GunMakers Fair the last weekend in July that has been hosting folks from all over the U.S. and Canada for over 38 years now to share and learn about traditional gunmaking. The recreation of the American longrifle is alive and well.
In popular culture
- The 1955 film Kentucky Rifle gravitates around a trail wagon containing one hundred longrifles. The gun, which is actually the main star of that movie, is displayed under every angle and is even the object of lyric descriptive monologues by veteran actor Chill WillsChill WillsChill Theodore Wills was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.-Biography:Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas in 1902. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s...
. - On the show Antiques RoadshowAntiques RoadshowAntiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979...
an 1810 Kentucky Rifle was appraised at $United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20,000 - The 1826 novel by James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
The Last of the MohicansThe Last of the MohicansThe Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
(and the films based on itThe Last of the Mohicans (disambiguation)The Last of the Mohicans is an adventure novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It may also refer to:Adaptations of the novel:*The Last of the Mohicans *The Last of the Mohicans...
) features a longrifle wielding character Hawkeye (played in the 1992 filmThe Last of the Mohicans (1992 film)The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 historical epic film set in 1757 during the French and Indian War and produced by Morgan Creek Pictures. It was directed by Michael Mann and based on James Fenimore Cooper's novel of the same name, although it owes more to George B. Seitz's 1936 film adaptation...
by Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Day-LewisDaniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
) who is nicknamed by other characters as Le Longue Carabine ("LongRifle") - The Kentucky Longrifle was featured in the fifth episode of History Channel's reality televisionReality televisionReality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show Top ShotTop ShotTop Shot is an American reality television show that debuted on the History Channel on June 6, 2010. The show features 16 contestants, split into two teams of eight, competing in various types of shooting challenges. One by one, the contestants are eliminated until only one remains...
. - The rifle was used by George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's forces in the first episode of the third season Deadliest WarriorDeadliest WarriorDeadliest Warrior is a television program in which information on historical or modern warriors and their weapons are used to determine which of them is the "deadliest" based upon tests performed during each episode...
.