Long rifle

Pennsylvania Rifle
Pennsylvania Rifles
Type	Rifled musket
Place of origin	British America
Service history
In service	c.1730-c.1850
Used by	USA
Wars	French and Indian War, American Indian Wars, American Revolutionary War, War of 1812
Production history
Designed	c. 1700s
Number built	approx. 73,000
Variants	Hunting variant
Specifications
Weight	Variable
Length	over 65 in (1,700 mm)
Barrel length	35 in. (889 mm), to over 48 in. (1,220 mm)
Cartridge	None
Caliber	0.60 in (15.24 mm) approximately, .36 cal to .45 cal (9.14 mm to 11.43 mm) also were common
Action	Flintlock, Percussion
Rate of fire	User dependent, Usually 2+ rounds a minute
Muzzle velocity	1,235 ft/s (376 m/s)
Effective range	Variable, 100 yards (91 meters) typical, to well over 300 yards (273 meters) by an experienced user
Feed system	Muzzle loaded

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."

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.^{[citation needed]} It is interesting to note, however, that strong pockets of longrifle use and manufacture continued in the Appalachian Mountains 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 (760 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

The Rifle Evolves into new forms

In 1792 the US Army began to modify the Kentucky Rifle, shortening the barrel length to 42 inches in their 1792 contract rifle. The Lewis and Clark expedition carried an even shorter version, 33-36 inches, similar to the Harpers Ferry Model 1803 which began production six months after Lewis paid the arsenal a visit. Both the contract rifles and the Model 1803 resemble what became the plains rifle.

The "Plains Rifle" or "Hawken rifle" was a shorter, carbine variant. It 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.^{[citation needed]}

Characteristics

Artistically, the longrifle is known for its graceful stock, often made of curly maple, 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

The longrifle is said by modern experts to have a range of 80 to 100 yards.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

Although less commonly owned or seen on the frontier, the Kentucky Rifle style was also used on flintlock pistols during the same era.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 Institute 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.

Collecting

Prices for Long Rifles may suggest a thriving market for the collection of these objects. In September of 2011, a Rare Mendenhall, Jones & Gardner Confederate Rifle made in Jamestown, Guilford County, North Carolina under state contract, sold at auction for US $17,250 at Leland Little Auction and Estates Sales, Ltd.

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 Wills.
• On the show Antiques Roadshow an 1810 Kentucky Rifle was appraised at $20,000
• The 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper The Last of the Mohicans (and the films based on it) features a longrifle wielding character Hawkeye (played in the 1992 film by Daniel Day-Lewis) 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 television show Top Shot.
• The rifle was used by George Washington's forces in the first episode of the third season Deadliest Warrior.

See also

• Hawken rifle

External links

• American Long Rifles - Pedersoli Rifles
• A demonstration of an American flintlock long rifle (video)