Introduction
I have seen pictures of a muzzle loading rifle with a barrel stamped "JB REYNOLDS" in serif style capital letters. The stamping is on the left-hand generally upward facing barrel flat that is adjacent to the top flat, near the breech. That rifle was sold by the Old Barn Auction on June 6, 2020, and was still pictured on their website in July of 2025.
I would like to have example photos of the "JB REYNOLDS" barrel stamping for this web page.
L. Dietle
Chronology
1850: Donald A Hutslar's book "Gunsmiths of Ohio" reports that the 1850 manufacturing schedule of the census indicates that John B. Reynolds had eight workman, and had paid $900.00 to obtain 15 tons (30,000 pounds) of rolled iron during the annual period ending June 30, 1850, and had manufactured $4,200.00 worth of gun barrels during that annual period.
1860: I did not find Jacob B. Reynolds in the 1860 census records of Steubenville or Steubenville Township, Jefferson County, Ohio. I did find a listing for the household of a 35-year-old peddlar named Jacob Reynolds in the Steubenville portion of the census. This probably represents the household of the Jacob R. Reynolds who is buried at the Union Cemetery in Steubenville. In that household there was also an 84-year-old individual named Jacob Reynolds.
How you can help further this research
This page is about Jacob B. Reynolds, who manufactured gun barrels in Steubenville, Ohio in the mid-1800s. My interest in this subject is because of a muzzle-loading rifle made near my great-great-grandfather's Somerset County, Pennsylvania farm that has a barrel stamped "REYNOLDS". I only have a blurry image of the stamping on that rifle.
1850: The following excerpt from the 1850 census records of Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio shows the listing of the household of Deleware-born gun barrel maker Jacob B. Reynolds.
