Golden Age Longrifle in the style of Peter Berry .45 caliber, 42" Rice barrel, small Siler flintlock, curly maple, brass trim, new, unfired, by G. Rasche
This fine quality longrifle is modeled after the antique longrifles that evolved in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and specifically those by Peter Berry. Assembled with a neatly finished curly maple stock, Jim Chambers' small Siler lock, and Rice barrel. This well made rifle was neatly hand made and signed by contemporary builder G. Rasche. Weighing in at 7.6 pounds the rifle has a trigger reach of 13-7/8" making it perfectly suited for today's average size shooter.
This rifle has a .45 caliber 13/16" by 42" straight octagon Rice barrel. The .45 caliber bore is cut rifled with a 1 in 66" rate of twist for a patched round ball. Rice Muzzle Loading Rifle Barrels are set between centers and milled octagonal, insuring a centered bore, concentric with the exterior, with no "run-out". Each barrel is stress relieved in an atmosphere controlled electric furnace, to eliminate work hardening or barrel warp, and to dampen harmonic vibrations or barrel whip. After the rifling has been cut, each bore is "ball burnished". A carbide bore-sizing die is pulled through the barrel, to insure bore dimension uniformity, eliminating any tight or loose spots inside the barrel. This critical procedure leaves the top of the lands smooth and polished, equaling the traditional lead lapping procedure. Rice barrels are Match grade quality, with bench rest capability. Rice barrels do not require lapping or extensive shooting to break-in. A flat top rear sight has been dovetailed 10-1/2" forward of the breech, while a silver blade front sight with brass base has been dovetailed 2-3/4" behind the muzzle.
Stocked in curly maple the wood has been stained a lovely medium brown that best accents the striped figure. The architecture and overall look of the rifle is based on the Peter Berry guns of Dauphin County,Pennsylvania. The rifle incorporates a number of features from examples that can be found on the Joe Kindig Jr.'s book, Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in its Golden Age. The Roman nose style comb drops away from the wrist. Where the wrist and comb come together the stock is neatly decorated with raised and incised carving. This carving is very shallow with clean backgrounds, which makes it appear bold. The close-up of the patchbox shows the level of work that has gone into the gun. Neatly polished and engraved, the box is very well inlet into the wood. The door is easily opened by depressing the button in the toeplate. This button disengages the internal latch and allows the cover to pop up, revealing the cavity below. box.
The wrist is fitted with a nickel silver thumbpiece. The lock panels and tang of the breech are framed with raised and incised carving. You may notice that the buttplate is not perfectly centered behind the tang. Rather, it is offset from the right hand shooter's cheek by about 3/16". This feature is called cast-off, and it places the right hand shooter's eye directly behind the line of sight, making this gun instinctive to point and shoot. The forearm is very slender and just wraps the barrel. The wooden ramrod of the rifle is held in place by three brass ramrod pipes. The pipes have been finished with flats and raised rings. Each is also neatly polished in the same manner as the triggerguard and patchbox. The 3/8" diameter wooden ramrod is fitted with a tapered steel tip with 10-32 threads to accept loading and cleaning accessories. Our backside view of the rifle shows off the classic Dauphin County style sideplate that has been used on the rifle. The sideplate is engaged by a pair of dome headed lock bolts with a third screw to secure the tail. Further back on the gun the classic squared cheek can be seen. The cheek is accented by raised and incised carved scrolls.
Ignition for the rifle is provided by a neatly browned small Siler flint lock. Finished to match the barrel, the lock is properly tuned and assembled. The internal springs are good and strong, giving the lock a nice snappy action that is sure to throw a shower of sparks into the pan. We recommend our 5/8" knapped English flints, our #FLINT-ENG-5, for use with this lock. Fast ignition is assured by the properly positioned touch hole liner. It is positioned well above the bottom of the pan, centered on the heat of the flash. If your flint longrifle suffers from that infamous slow whoosh-bang ignition delay, study the work of today's best gun makers, and position your vent well centered on the pan, high above the bottom, to serve as a window on the center of the flash. The single trigger is pinned high to provide excellent leverage and a light trigger pull.
A finely made flintlock, 45 caliber Pennsylvania longrifle by gun maker George Rasche that you will be proud to own, shoot, and display. Order it for a ten day visual inspection. You will be delighted. Else if it does not fit you, return it in unfired condition for same-day refund. Postage is your only risk, when you order any one-of-a-kind gun from Track, whether new, used, or antique.
