[badflint]

I wonder if this is very authentic well made Hawken-style ( hook and breech) 50 caliber rifle. The length is about 57” with around a 40”barrel. It has rifling still present. In addition to the patch boxt there are several engraved brass pieces, an extremely long toe plate, and numerous silver (real silver) inlays, most of the bras pieces are engraved and the inlay pins are copper.. It has double barrel keys with silver wedge plates. I have only found one maker who used an oval patch box lid on a flint style patch box. If you have the book “Steel Canvas by R.L.Wilson, look on page 34. You will find a similar rifle by Silas Allen. There is no name that I can find on my rifle. The stock is walnut/cherry with original finish still present. Unfortunately the silver pieces had been cleaned previously and brass patina is present on all brass pieces.




As mentioned earlier the stock could be cherry and the under rib is beautiful fluted and also made of wanut/cherry. Several have told me that the piece is definitely from New England, likely from a Massachusetts gunsmith. It follows the classic "plains style" architecture, but has numerous New England features. The grain by the cheek inlay looks an awfully lot like cherry (tight and red, with flecks in the growth rings) and not walnut." I have been unable to open patch box. The lid seems to be stuck and should be an easy fix. I did not want to take the patch box off the stock to fix the latch or spring. I was tempted to see what is inside because I can feel it has a bullet sized object in the box. I do not want to damage the screw heads to see what is inside. Nothing appears broken but the catch most likely needs adjusting. I just listed it on an auction site, I am keeping and selling some old pieces. It is aleays difficult to decide which ones go to help the family budget.