New Pennsylvania Flintlock Rifle

Last Saturday I was at Dixon's Muzzleloading Shop, in Kempton, PA when a Pennsylvania flintlock longrifle caught my eye. It started out as a left handed Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle.

According to Greg Dixon, the original owner wanted something different, so he took the rifle to G.L. Dech, a 'smith who lived a bit North of Allentown. Dech retained the original barrel, lock, trigger, and ramrod. He then turned the barrel to a half-octagon, half-round profile. He may have coned the muzzle as well. The metal was then mounted into a new stock made of what appears to be curly maple.

Whereas the original cherry stock the rifle came with as shipped from Dixie reflected Southern mountain styling, the new stock is definitely Pennsylvania-style. Based on looking through Kaufman's The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle and Kindig's Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in its Golden Age, I'd say it looks like a gun from either Lancaster or York County. This is my favorite type of longrifle, along with rifles from Maryland and Virginia.

The barrel remains at the original length of 41", but because of the metal removed when turning it down, the rifle balances much better than the stock TMRs (I had one so I know).

It's a .50 caliber. Based on the TMR I had about 15 years ago, it should shoot well with a .490 ball, pillow ticking patch, and 70 to 80 grains of 2Fg Goex.

I put a post up over on TRP with pictures, here. Or, you can view it without any more commentary in my Photobucket album.

Since taking the pictures, I've cleaned up the brass furniture a bit, and hand rubbed a coat of tung oil on the stock. The stock looked good before but the extra coat helped bring out the grain some more.