Here we go again...

[Mongo59]

Ran into a relative of mine in my LGS. We got to talking and he owns my Great grandfathers farm. I was asking if he knew who had my GG grandfathers percussion cap rifle and he said, "Yes, me."

He had a few guns he needed fixed and one was this rifle. I sent all his others back home fixed to him and now I am working on this thing.

It is just a "hardware store gun" my great great gdad bought in the late 1800's after his flintlock burned up in a housefire. The barrel is stamped "D Kemp" with no other markings. I had to heat it to get the breech plug out but there is still rifling the length of the barrel. It is .45cal with real tall lands and I think it will easily become a shooter.

Internet search shows nothing on "D Kemp", it isn't anything fancy with a patch pocket or anything. It just has some diamond shaped silver inlays done on a remedial level and has brass fittings. It's only plus is that it has a set trigger. So, nothing of any great monetary value but what a wealth of history it has. My grandmother told me, when she was still alive, she had eaten many a meal put on the table by that rifle.

I will post some pics when I get it done for all to see. This is the rifle he wouldn't waste lead on a squirrel and used a hickory plug he carved with a pointed end to shoot them. Some call BS on this, and that is fine, just don't tell the squirrels...

 

[Mongo59]

Here it is all apart. Inside the lock is dated "1892" so I guess that answers that. The screws in the lock plate are stripped so I have to fix that. This poor thing needs everything. I got the breech plug out and it does have rifling the length of the barrel.

I will add progress pics as they happen...

 

[Remington 90T]

dixie Gun Works -- Or -- Track of the Wolf muzzle loaders can fix you up with anything you need.

 

[Mongo59]

Dixie was one of two vendors still left at Friendship on Wednesday. Nice lady working the counter but they didn't bring much but BP revolvers with them to a rifle shoot.

 

[MrSmitty]

Very nice rifle, the story and history would be the the most valuable part to me...Priceless.

 

[kennedy759]

why were they still making muzzle loaders in 1892?

 

[Mongo59]

why were they still making muzzle loaders in 1892?

My family were very frugal, he wanted something that would shoot all the supplies he had left over from the flintlock. So he got a .45cal percussion cap and all he lost use of were his flints. It was the only gun he had so he used it on both small and large game.

I was lucky enough to have a grandmother that shared the family stories with me. Years ago I did all her families genealogy and went around to meet and talk with all the surviving members of the family. Melvin was a first cousin to my grandmother, which makes him my first cousin twice removed, and he showed me the rifle then (early 1990's). I offered to fix it for him but he refused. It went from him, a grandson, to his niece and then to her son. What are the odds of every coming across it like that?

You never know what you can find in a gun shop.

 

[kennedy759]

My family were very frugal, he wanted something that would shoot all the supplies he had left over from the flintlock. So he got a .45cal percussion cap and all he lost use of were his flints. It was the only gun he had so he used it on both small and large game.

I was lucky enough to have a grandmother that shared the family stories with me. Years ago I did all her families genealogy and went around to meet and talk with all the surviving members of the family. Melvin was a first cousin to my grandmother, which makes him my first cousin twice removed, and he showed me the rifle then (early 1990's). I offered to fix it for him but he refused. It went from him, a grandson, to his niece and then to her son. What are the odds of every coming across it like that?

You never know what you can find in a gun shop.

I understand what you are saying, but why would a manufacturer still be building muzzle loaders in 1892 when everyone was going to metallic cartridges?

 

[Quiet Observer]

I understand what you are saying, but why would a manufacturer still be building muzzle loaders in 1892 when everyone was going to metallic cartridges?

Not everyone wants the most modern item of a current era. The muzzle loader would be simpler and cheaper to manufacture than a repeating rifle. The patents, if they had existed, would have expired. Maintenance and repair would be simpler than for a repeater: no complicated linkage or springs. A poor owner could do some of it. Ammunition was cheaper. One could mold his own bullets (projectiles), even recover them from an animal and reuse. A modern rifle of the time might have been too expensive for some.

Many "old dated" guns are still popular today and are still manufactured.
Many shotgunners of today prefer a single shot or double-barreled guns. Granted most are using modern ammunition.
Tell the 1911 folks their gun is outdated.

 

[Hunter58]

Ran into a relative of mine in my LGS. We got to talking and he owns my Great grandfathers farm. I was asking if he knew who had my GG grandfathers percussion cap rifle and he said, "Yes, me."

He had a few guns he needed fixed and one was this rifle. I sent all his others back home fixed to him and now I am working on this thing.

It is just a "hardware store gun" my great great gdad bought in the late 1800's after his flintlock burned up in a housefire. The barrel is stamped "D Kemp" with no other markings. I had to heat it to get the breech plug out but there is still rifling the length of the barrel. It is .45cal with real tall lands and I think it will easily become a shooter.

Internet search shows nothing on "D Kemp", it isn't anything fancy with a patch pocket or anything. It just has some diamond shaped silver inlays done on a remedial level and has brass fittings. It's only plus is that it has a set trigger. So, nothing of any great monetary value but what a wealth of history it has. My grandmother told me, when she was still alive, she had eaten many a meal put on the table by that rifle.

I will post some pics when I get it done for all to see. This is the rifle he wouldn't waste lead on a squirrel and used a hickory plug he carved with a pointed end to shoot them. Some call BS on this, and that is fine, just don't tell the squirrels...

My resource book list a David Kemp (1813-?), New Albany, Indiana, 1850c-1858d. Percussion 1/2 stock. (Lindert)
By your lock plate date, probably not the same person.

 

[Mongo59]

I understand what you are saying, but why would a manufacturer still be building muzzle loaders in 1892 when everyone was going to metallic cartridges?

He was Irish, ok? Try to tell and Irishman what he has to buy. They still make them today so I am guessing they were then also.

Maybe they were reenacting the Civil War...

 

[Mongo59]

My resource book list a David Kemp (1813-?), New Albany, Indiana, 1850c-1858d. Percussion 1/2 stock. (Lindert)
By your lock plate date, probably not the same person.

Barrels were the hardest to come by. Do you think it could have been a remanufactured earlier piece when my GG grandfather got it? I mean if the plate broke they would have other ones of the same pattern about for replacement...

 

[RobertIN]

I understand what you are saying, but why would a manufacturer still be building muzzle loaders in 1892 when everyone was going to metallic cartridges?

I would surmise that economics had something to do with it, and folks used to be a lot more thrifty back then. Keep in mind that people out in the sticks would have had to go to a town to MAYBE find brass cased ammunition, or they could just buy a bunch of lead.