Rifle with square bore........

[rollingb]

 EXTREMELY RARE POSSIBLY UNIQUE “KENTUCKY” RIFLE WITH SQUARE BORE! - At first glance this is a somewhat plain but very typical percussion American Long Rifle circa 1835-1850. The barrel is longer than usual for that period at 46 inches, but the unique feature of this rifle is that the bore is actually SQUARE for the full length, instead of round. The 46 inch octagon barrel is slightly tapered from about .90 inch across the flats at the breech to about .80 inch at the muzzle. Bore diameter (measured from side to side of the square) ) is about .38 caliber. The barrel is lightly marked POSTLEY on the left flat, possibly a forerunner to Postley, Nelson & Company who were barrel makers in Pittsburgh circa 1852-1875 according to Frank Sellers’ American Gunsmiths. The barrel is pin fastened, so no attempt was made to remove it to check for hidden markings. The lockplate is marked “H. Ellwell, Warranted” in an oval pattern with some nice decorative engraving. Sellers lists Henry Ellwell as a lockmaker in Seneca County, Ohio, circa 1810-1812, but other sources suggest that there was also an English lockmaker named Ellwell.

Square bores are not unheard of, but have you ever actually SEEN one in person? The oldest known reference is the well-known “Puckle gun,” invented by James Puckle in 1718, and generally considered to be the forerunner of rapid fire or machine guns. It had a revolving cylinder type arrangement at the breech, and was mounted on a tripod. Puckle designed it with a conventional round bore for round bullets to be used against Christians, or a square bore with square chambers in the cylinder for shooting Turks (Muslims) on the theory that the square bullets would create more serious wounds and convince them to convert to Christianity. No idea if the maker of this rifle hoped the square bore would eliminate problems with fouling, using round (or cylindrical) bullets, or if he planned to use cube (or lengthened cube) type bullets.

Excellent bore and the classically shaped longrifle stock has a pleasing crescent buttplate about 1.25” wide. The stock seems to be maple with a mellow old oil type finish and some nice tiger striping throughout, but wear at the balance point suggests at least some of it might be artificially striped maple. Three very old and almost invisible stock repairs, one at the toe of the stock, just above the iron toe plate. One small patched area (about ¾” square) on the right side of the forend at the rear barrel pin, and a small repair along the barrel channel, all of these exceptionally well done. Brass buttplate, trigger guard and three simple ramrod pipes. The forend tip has a cast pewter(?) cap. Ramrod looks old, but is probably not original. Trigger has adjusting screw and the trigger is an attractive straight design, probably capable of being set for a light pull. The lock only engages at the full cock position and it's not known if that is a result of a misadjusted trigger, or a fly in the tumbler, or a broken notch.

[Ohio Joe]

Another interesting piece, Rondo! I wonder how something like this would shoot and what kind of accuracy it would have at different ranges?

[rollingb]

The lack of square bores today, tells me they weren't nearly as accurate as rifled bores (or possibly even smooth bores?).  

[Hank in WV]

I would think they would be very expensive to make. Besides, it can be pretty tough to find square drill bits in that length.

[sse]

Pretty wild...

[Uncle Russ]

I would think they would be very expensive to make. Besides, it can be pretty tough to find square drill bits in that length.

 

Uncle Russ...

[Hanshi]

I've actually seen one somewhere but can't remember where or the circumstances.

[Fletcher]

A good engineer would not make that mistake - we were taught that Pi are Square,
but Mama and Granny truly learnt us that Pie are Round