My dads original smoke pole

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Jcann

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
1,701
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Oklahoma City
My dad purchased this at an estate sale in Ohio when I was a kid. If memory serves me, he paid $27 for it. The stock was broken as well as the trigger guard and it was missing a hammer. He repaired the stock as best as he could and did some brass/brazing work to repair the trigger guard and bought a period correct original hammer. It's a 43 or 44 caliber with I think a 28 or 30 inch octagon barrel. The barrel alone weighs 9lbs.

Rifle.JPG


The lock says "Manton". Joseph Manton was a famous British gunsmith who produced fine shotguns. I believe he and his brother, Jacob had a falling out and Jacob went on to produce pistols. Joseph Manton apparently went on to improve weapons quality and paved the way for the modern artillery shell.

The Lock on this rifle may be a forgery, we aren't for sure. Manton locks were well known and many in the US at the time copied them, even using the Manton name.

It has a set trigger and a hair trigger. Believe me, few modern triggers break as clean as this trigger does and it's in the ounces.


Lock.JPG

The custom barrel was made by Benjamin B. Loar (B.B. Loar). He was a Gunsmith, Watchmaker and Jeweler in Granville and Newark, Ohio from 1850 to 1890. The top flat at the breech end is stamped "B.B. LOAR / GRANDVILLE, O."

I've seen online where a target rifle wearing one of his barrels sold for $18,000 but it was in excellent shape and was completely different than ours.

Barrel.JPG

The muzzle was created for a false muzzle. I'm not exactly sure how they worked but I believe the false muzzle attached through the four holes in the muzzle which aided in aligning a conical bullet to properly align into the rifling. Although I don't have a picture of it, the tang at the end of the breach looks as though it might have had a sight similar to that of a Vernier long range peep sight. Although the front sight doesn't necessarily give credence to that. I'm sure this rifle was used as a target rifle in its day because I doubt anyone wanted to carry around an 11 pound rifle.

Muzzle.JPG


When I was young I took it deer hunting but was never able to shoot at one. Accuracy was 1/4 minute of deer at 50 yards due to a lot of corrosion through the years. We used a 40 caliber ball with a very heavy patch and 70 grains of FFG.

Thanks for looking.
 

dennishoddy

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
84,556
Reaction score
61,838
Location
Ponca City Ok
Love hearing the history of that heirloom.
I keep a diary of all my firearms with the history behind them for the time they are passed to my heirs so they know the history behind each purchase. I buy and have never sold other than a few way back in the day.
For example, my Browning Stainless Stalker in 30-06 was bought because my ex wife told me I could never have a gun in her house around 35 years ago. (Her house?) my first rifle btw. A .410 shotgun bought at 11 years old was the first and only gun owned until then.
Lots of family history sitting in the safes. Sister is pro 2A as well and did a lot of research on relatives showing them in old pics holding firearms. Some with game in hand.
Firearm history is amazing to follow in its development.
 

Jcann

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
1,701
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Oklahoma City
If only these old weapons could talk.

My son is getting his great grandad's shotgun. My grandpa carried it the day he told a story to my grandmother about going rabbit hunting when in truth he was going to the man he worked for to purchase 160 acres. They agreed (via hand shake) on a price of $10,000 and my grandpa and 5 hard working kids paid it off in four years, we still have it to. This was during the war years and farmers were getting deferments. A lot of cotton was raised on that land. I remember chopping cotton with a few elderly ladies (with bonnets on their heads no less) back in the 70's who remembered German prisoners picking cotton on their dads land. One lady mentioned that a prisoner told her that Hitler said Germany would march across the United States......but he didn't tell them they would be dragging a cotton sack.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom