What is this? Underhammer rifle ID help please

[Nach0papa]

Hi all I'm hoping to get an ID of this under hammer rifle that has been in my family since the 1950s. My grandfather got this when he bought a house in New Hampshire (also found a 1854 Lorenz). Since then it has either been in a basement, garage or mounted over the fireplace at my parents house… So it has not been treated well.

This rifle is small, approximately 41" long.
Barrel is an octagon 23" long, screw in to stock, roughly 7/16" bore
Trigger / hammer work
Very slim front and rear sight
Wood ram
No makers name anywhere but several marks on barrel (see enhanced pix).

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

[scooter748driver]

Never saw one of those before. Thanks for sharing

 

[Conquerordie]

To me it looks like a mid 19th century under hammer rifle. They were popular in New England, but are found in NY to. First thought was a "Buggy Rifle", just a light , shorter handy rifle, sometimes found with target sights.

 

[R. Porter]

After looking on the Internet a little bit, it appears to me that under hammer black powder firearms tend to be made for target shooting. The hammer is out of the field of vision and any smoke or sparks tend to be directed away from the eyes. Examples online often have enhanced sighting hardware. The barrel on this one seems to be shorter than average and overall the construction seems to be on the simpler side. Perhaps this is a weapon made for a youth. I think that in the later 19th century indoor target shooting became popular to some degree. There are some very bare bones black powder guns, small in size with a small bore made for use in the home, this gun appears to have a much larger bore than one made for the home, so maybe for a local shooting range or in the back yard of a house with lots of land. I'm sure those barrel stamps mean something, especially that eagle looking one.

Examples of barrel proof marks from the NRA Museum website:

https://www.nramuseum.org/media/940944/proofmarks.pdf

As stated above, under hammer firearms seemed to have been popular in the New England states but you don't seem to find lots of them.

 

[Nach0papa]

After looking on the Internet a little bit, it appears to me that under hammer black powder firearms tend to be made for target shooting. The hammer is out of the field of vision and any smoke or sparks tend to be directed away from the eyes. Examples online often have enhanced sighting hardware. The barrel on this one seems to be shorter than average and overall the construction seems to be on the simpler side. Perhaps this is a weapon made for a youth. I think that in the later 19th century indoor target shooting became popular to some degree. There are some very bare bones black powder guns, small in size with a small bore made for use in the home, this gun appears to have a much larger bore than one made for the home, so maybe for a local shooting range or in the back yard of a house with lots of land. I'm sure those barrel stamps mean something, especially that eagle looking one.

Examples of barrel proof marks from the NRA Museum website:

https://www.nramuseum.org/media/940944/proofmarks.pdf

As stated above, under hammer firearms seemed to have been popular in the New England states but you don't seem to find lots of them.

Thank you. I agree that this might be either for a youth or a woman. It is very small to compared to other rifles and also, it appears to be left-handed based upon the decoration on the stock.

 

[Papabyrd]

Hopkins & Allen Made under hammer percussion Rifles in the 1800s and then reproduced them again in the1950 & 60s. they sold a lot of them Because they were a lot cheaper than a Tompson Center. Yours may be a Hopkin & Allen but a old original 1800s model. Most were 45 & 50 caliber.