The photos on this page are converted from old slides using a cell phone and a fixture made from a cardboard box and a flower pot. They show an antique muzzle loading percussion rifle that was made by the talented Bedford County, Pennsylvania gunmaker Daniel Border. The photos include the workings of the percussion lock. The pictured firearm is an excellent example of a plain and unembellished yet well-made Bedford County-style Pennsylvania long rifle.
The first picture below shows that the signed rat tail lock has a graceful Bedford County-style hammer and a fence/flash guard behind the percussion drum location. This lock was built new as a percussion lock, and is not a percussion conversion of a flintlock. I mention this because the presence of the flash guard might confuse some individuals. The characteristic slenderness of Bedford County locks means the wooden stock of the rifle can also be slender in the lock panel region. The aesthetically pleasing qualities of such locks are one of the key defining characteristics of the Bedford School of gunsmithing.
In the next photograph, scuffing on the inside of the lock plate shows the range of motion of the mainspring. The hammer incorporates a stop shoulder that limits the rotation of the hammer when the lock is removed from the firearm. As shown here, the stop shoulder functions by contacting the top of the lock plate. The stop shoulder is a feature carried over from the design of flintlocks, and is uncommon on percussion locks. This view shows that the flash guard is thicker than the basic lock plate, in order to help to protect the shooter's eyes from flying cap debris, and to help to protect the wood of the rifle stock from the damaging effect of the flash of the cap. With the lock out of the stock and the hammer fully rotated to the stop position shown here, it seems to me that the hammer neck shape is designed to clear the relatively tall height of the flash guard. I suspect that some commercially available off-the-shelf percussion hammers might hit the flash guard. At the same time, even this hammer shape might hit the flash guard if not for the stop shoulder. Could that be the original reason for the stop shoulder on Bedford hammers? Also notice that nothing projects beyond the lower edge of the lock plate when the hammer stop contacts the top of the lock plate.
The next photo shows some of the aesthetically pleasing lines and proportions of this antique muzzle loading rifle. The comb and belly of the buttstock are generally straight, which is typical for Bedford County long rifles. The buttstock is fitted with a crescent buttplate but has no patch box. The barrel is octagonal. Even though this is a plain, unadorned rifle, it incorporates a high-quality custom-made hand-forged lock, rather than a readily available store-bought commercially manufactured lock.
The rifle has a double set trigger arrangement, with a deeply curved set trigger and a much straighter hair trigger. This difference in trigger shape can be felt by the shooter, which confirms which trigger is being engaged without looking.
The next photo shows that the cheekpiece side of the buttstock of this old black powder gun has no carving. The photo also shows the length of the toe plate relative to the length of the buttstock. Due to the oblique nature of the photograph, some of the decorative features of the trigger guard are visible. The transverse metal pin that retains the cast brass trigger guard to the stock is also visible.
The next photo shows the peripheral shape of the lock bolt plate on this 19th century black powder rifle. The lock bolt plate is flat, made of brass, and unengraved. The middle and forward screws secure the lock to the rifle stock. The rear screw serves to retain the lock bolt plate to the stock when the other two screws are absent. Surprisingly, the slots of all three screws appear to be undamaged.
The next image shows the top flat of the cast brass buttplate. One of the buttplate screws might be considered to be located unusually far forward, but such a screw location is also found on several other antique Daniel Border rifles featured on this website.
The long brass toe plate of this Bedford County percussion rifle is retained by six wood screws.
The lighting of the next photo is different than the lock photo included above, showing more detail in some areas of this original Bedford County lock. Judging from the lack of percussion cap-related pitting and erosion, this gun lock has experienced very little active use. The edge of the thicker part of the lock plate is beveled. As typical with classic Bedford County locks, a slash-like decorative feature is present near the rear of the lock plate, where the thickness of the lock plate steps down to the unbeveled tail. The spur of the gracefully contoured hammer is deeply curved, and that curve is substantially tangent to the curve of the hammer nose (The hammer noses on some Bedfords are straight).
