Shooting a 172 year old Kentucky Rifle

[JGalt]

This is a .36 caliber Kentucky-style squirrel rifle I picked up at a garage sale for $20. It was made sometime around 1842 by R. & W.C. Biddle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I had to replace a couple screws to tighten it up, as well as hone the sear and trigger engagement and put on a new nipple. After all, what good is any gun if you can't shoot it?

I took the rifle to the range today. I loaded her up with 65 grains of Pyrodex R and .350 patched round ball and shot a few 50-yard groups. No tack driver, but I'm still trying to figure out the Kentucky windage on her with that big buckhorn rear sight.. She seems to shoot low and to the left. The front and rear sights are in dovetail slots and can be drifted, but I'll save that for another day.

 

[Auld Phart]

Sounds like you found a good deal

 

[JGalt]

Sounds like you found a good deal

Not to interject politics in this, but the most liberal city in this state is full of deals like this. I've bought 6 guns within the last four years there, all from liberals having garage sales. They seem to know very little about real values.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Want to sell it? I'll give $100 + what you have in it ($20+ nipple+ balls and whatever)

 

[JGalt]

Want to sell it? I'll give $100 + what you have in it ($20+ nipple+ balls and whatever)

Unamused banana is unamused.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Hey, never hurts to ask.
Seriously, if that really is an original you could probably get enough for it to buy 4-5 very good shootable replicas. You might want to use gentle loads with that repaired stock.

 

[JGalt]

Hey, never hurts to ask.
Seriously, if that really is an original you could probably get enough for it to buy 4-5 very good shootable replicas. You might want to use gentle loads with that repaired stock.

Someone did a helluva job fixing that cracked stock. That's a sheet of brass wrapped around there with screws holding it on. I was using about the max load for that caliber but .36 doesn't have alot of chamber pressure. The recoil is about like a .38 Spl.

 

[Missourian]

I was going to say I needed to find yard sales like that...but I try my best to avoid liberal cities.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

This is a .36 caliber Kentucky-style squirrel rifle I picked up at a garage sale for $20. It was made sometime around 1842 by R. & W.C. Biddle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I had to replace a couple screws to tighten it up, as well as hone the sear and trigger engagement and put on a new nipple. After all, what good is any gun if you can't shoot it?

I took the rifle to the range today. I loaded her up with 65 grains of Pyrodex R and .350 patched round ball and shot a few 50-yard groups. No tack driver, but I'm still trying to figure out the Kentucky windage on her with that big buckhorn rear sight.. She seems to shoot low and to the left. The front and rear sights are in dovetail slots and can be drifted, but I'll save that for another day.

Holy Shit!!!!
What idiot sold that rifle for 20 bucks?

 

[9thIDdoc]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

And to think I never go to the damn things because I figure I wont find anything but junk.

 

[JGalt]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

And to think I never go to the damn things because I figure I wont find anything but junk.

The secret is to ask. You'll hardly see them on the table and when you do, they're pricey. But when you ask if they have any guns, gun parts, or ammunition, they think for a minute.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

And to think I never go to the damn things because I figure I wont find anything but junk.

The secret is to ask. You'll hardly see them on the table and when you do, they're pricey. But when you ask if they have any guns, gun parts, or ammunition, they think for a minute.

I guess you'd have to visit a crapload of shitty yard sales to find the occasional diamond in the rough though.
I just dont have the patience for it.

 

[JGalt]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

A man whose wife buys him guns at yard sales is lucky indeed.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Went to one once where a woman was offering her two of her ex-husband's shotguns: new condition Belgian Brownings A-5's. One 12Ga.; one 16 Ga. buyer's choice $100 cash only. Only had like $12.50 in my pocket. By the time I went and got the money (for both) and got back they had been sold. I cried.

 

[JGalt]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

And to think I never go to the damn things because I figure I wont find anything but junk.

The secret is to ask. You'll hardly see them on the table and when you do, they're pricey. But when you ask if they have any guns, gun parts, or ammunition, they think for a minute.

I guess you'd have to visit a crapload of shitty yard sales to find the occasional diamond in the rough though.
I just dont have the patience for it.

My eyes are usually bleeding after three days of looking at baby clothes and toys, and cheap Chinese-made decorative items from Walmart.

 

[9thIDdoc]

My wife got my M-1A at a yard sale.

A man whose wife buys him guns at yard sales is lucky indeed.

Amen! Pawn shops and estate auctions can also be good.

 

[JGalt]

Went to one once where a woman was offering her two of her ex-husband's shotguns: new condition Belgian Brownings A-5's. One 12Ga.; one 16 Ga. buyer's choice $100 cash only. Only had like $12.50 in my pocket. By the time I went and got the money (for both) and got back they had been sold. I cried.

I had a Belgian A-5 in 16 ga awhile back. They're pretty guns.

 

[Auld Phart]

Went to one once where a woman was offering her two of her ex-husband's shotguns: new condition Belgian Brownings A-5's. One 12Ga.; one 16 Ga. buyer's choice $100 cash only. Only had like $12.50 in my pocket. By the time I went and got the money (for both) and got back they had been sold. I cried.

NEVER start a day of yard sales with less than $100 in a side pocket.

and NEVER pull out the whole wad unless you need all of it for an item.

 

[WinterBorn]

Sweet old rifle!! Well done!!!