This web page features an antique muzzle loading percussion rifle that has a barrel with an Elias Knupp signature and a lock with the initials of Charles Monroe Knupp. Elias Knupp (1838-1917) was an uncle of Somerset County, Pennsylvania gunsmith Charles Monroe Knupp (1863-1937). The rifle might represent a collaboration between the two gunsmiths, or it might represent a component purchase by one from the other, or it might represent a barrel purchase from the estate of Elias Knupp after his death. Regardless of how the rifle came to be, it is a Knupp rifle that incorporates at least one part from Elias and at least one part from Monroe.
L. Dietle
Photos
Description of the upper rifle
The following photo shows the Elias Knupp block lettering signature on the upper flat of the octagonal barrel, just behind the rear sight.
The following photo shows the initials of Charles Monroe Knupp on the engraved unbeveled lock plate. The first two initials are cursive and the last initial is a print character. The photo also provides a closeup of the percussion drum and the excellent lock plate-to-mortise fit.
The following photo, although fuzzy, provides a length comparison between the Charles Monroe Knupp rifle (lower gun) and the rifle that has a Charles Monroe Knupp lock and an Elias Knupp barrel (upper gun).
For biographical info on Somerset and Bedford county gunsmiths and pictures of the muzzle loading firearms they made, visit the Gunsmith Index.
Visit the home page for additional regional history materials.
In the first photo below, the upper rifle has the Elias Knupp barrel and the Charles Monroe Knupp gun lock, and the lower rifle is a Charles Monroe Knupp rifle. (Click here for a better photo of the Charles Monroe Knupp rifle.) On both of these cap lock rifles, the shape of the lock plate, the shape of the buttstock, and the wrist carving resemble the work of Jonathan Dormayer, who was another gunsmithing uncle of Charles Monroe Knupp, and a brother-in-law of Elias Knupp. According to the 1860 census, Elias Knupp served an apprenticeship with Jonathan Dormayer. Both Charles and Elias can be said to have followed the Dormayer School of gun making.
The upper rifle in the first picture below is stocked in curly maple with a dark finish and has a full octagon barrel in the white. The side of the fore-end has incised carving near the ramrod entry pipe. A little beaver tail shape, which is probably incised carving, is located just to the rear of the stock panel for the percussion lock. The rear sight is located generally over the ramrod entry pipe. The buttstock is fitted with a brass cap box and a cast brass crescent buttplate, The full-length stock has incised carving on the forearm near the entry pipe. The forestock is capped with a brass nose cap. The bow of the cast brass spur triggerguard houses a double set trigger arrangement. The hair trigger is straight, and the rear trigger is deeply curved. This difference in shape allows them to be distinguished by feel. The straightness and thinness of the hair trigger adds to sensitivity by concentrating the force of the light trigger pull. An adjustment screw is located between the triggers.
