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Antique Jennings Sporting Rifle

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:1,250.00 USD
Antique Jennings Sporting Rifle
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Very Rare Antique Jennings Single Shot Breechloading Sporting Rifle, #506, .54 cal., 26'' heavy round barrel with blade front and notch rear sights, is marked ''Robbins and Lawrence-Makers-Windsor, VT. Patent 1849'' on top, has three steel ferrules retaining the brass-tipped hickory ramrod below; unique flat-side frame has rectangular right-side port ahead of hammer for loading the self-contained Hunt's patent ''Rocket Ball'' cartridge, circular door at top for the pill primers, which are automatically fed to the chamber when the ring-trigger is operated within its elongated loop trigger guard; long frame tangs retain the varnished walnut buttstock with its oval German-silver nameplate at left and iron crescent buttplate. Top of barrel at breech and hammer with floral engraving. Mfg'd ca. 1850-51, being factory altered from Jennings repeating rifle parts. As with many (if not most) Jennings, this rifle was converted to a percussion muzzleloader during its period of use, as the Rocket Ball cartridge, while truly ahead of its time, lacked sufficient power to make it a practical firearm (and thus its limited mfg. and extreme rarity today). Condition is good+, the metal retaining no original finishes but an overall dark brown age patina with pitting, nicks and vise marks along barrel; barrel markings are mostly obscured, engraving is fair; ''perch belly'' stock is sound having a 1.5'' wood loss at left top tang, a 7/8'' secure crack at right frame juncture, much original varnish, and excellent fit. Action works (with help); bore is clean showing overall black-powder erosion. Jennings rifles, like their predecessor the Hunt, were forerunners to the S&W lever-action repeating pistols, the Volcanic arms, the New Haven and Henry arms, and ultimately the famed Winchester rifles. Est.: $2,500-$4,000. (Antique)