As is the case with all too many early American firearms, there are no maker's marks on this impressive iron-mounted rifle which makes its maker and exact region of origin a mystery. It is pretty similar to a signed rifle by Joseph Bogle Jr. from Tennessee shown on the cover of the Oct. 2006 issue of "The Gun Report" (also see AmericanLongrifle.org's Bruce Miller Virtual Library) and has other similarities with rifles from Virginia and Tennessee. Bogle was a veteran of the Revolutionary War born in Lancaster in 1759, moved to Virginia in 1779, was present for the surrender at Yorktown, moved to Tennessee in the mid-1780s, built guns into around the 1790s, also worked as a farmer, and died in 1811. It also has some similarities to the Philip Sheetz (d. 1793) rifle shown in Whiskers "Gunsmiths of West Virginia" and in figure 3 in the article "Long Rifles of the Valley of Virginia" by Gewirz in the American Society of Arms Collectors bulletin, especially the Sheetz militia style side plate. The patch box is more similar to the Bogle rifle. The rifle is relatively plainly built and might have been made to fill a state militia contract. Sheetz is known to have supplied arms to the Virginia and Maryland militias. The handmade iron side plate is slightly serpentine and is similar to those used on many military muskets and rifles in the era as well as the rifle by Sheetz noted above and is secured by the two lock screws. The swamped octagon barrel has the original blade and notch sights and has a single screw through the relatively short tang. The rifle also features brass ramrod pipes (the only brass furniture on the gun), carving/moulding along the forend and bottom of the butt as well as the cheek piece, light engraving on the non-bridled lock, adjustable double set triggers, trigger guard secured by screws on the finials (fairly common on southern rifles) and forward curl at towards the rear, and a two-piece patch box with three-screw "spade" finial (similar to the Bogle rifle), a deep patch box compartment, and a patch box release button on the heel passing through the 1 7/8 inch wide and rather heavy buttplate. The straight grain stock is mostly plain but has some incised lines along the forend and bottom of the butt as well as the edge of the cheek piece. It has the feel of a rifle from Eastern Tennessee or Virginia in the late 18th century or early 19th century.

Very good with a mix of untouched original dark brown patina on most of the metal, areas of remnants of a dark lacquer, mild oxidation and pitting, dark aged patina and lacquer on the upper ramrod pipes, lighter aged patina on the entry pipe, and some heavily worn screwheads such as those on the patch box lid. The stock is also very good and has repaired cracks including a break through the wrist, wear around the lock mortise including a crack below the tail, some cracks and chips along the forend, some absent and replaced pins, hole in the bottom of the butt, darker coloration in the butt and front section of the forend, and general mild scrapes and dings. Mechanically needs work; the fly is absent, so the lock drops to half-cock when the trigger is pulled. This is a very attractive and classic example of an iron-mounted "Golden Age" American long rifle. No American arms collection is complete without a classic "Kentucky rifle."