Fully Restored St. Louis Plains Rifle by F. Lunsman

.56 caliber. 32.5" heavy octagonal barrel, 1" across the flats. Blued and browned finish, iron furniture, pewter nose cap. Fully restored single shot percussion muzzleloading plains rifle with double set triggers. Top barrel flat marked F LUNSMAN in an arc over ST. LOUIS MO. Only the barrel and hammer are period pieces, the balance of the gun is completely newly made, including the under rib of the barrel and the ramrod pipes. The modern lock with double set triggers is lightly scroll engraved and the entire gun is put together to resemble the classic plains rifles of the Hawken Brothers and their contemporaries, down to the scroll shaped triggerguard extension. The buckhorn rear sight and German silver Rocky Mountain front sight blade both appear to be contemporary as well. Francis Lunsman worked in St. Louis, MO from circa 1848 to 1870, initially at 105 South 2nd Street and later (after 1854) at 122 South 2nd Street. Stockel lists him as a "gunmaker", but he may have been a retailer instead. Interestingly this St. Louis "maker" is not listed in Sellers' American Gunsmiths or James B Gordon's Great Gun Makers for the Early West. This suggests that Lunsman was in fact a retailer who marked the work of the numerous gunmakers in St. Louis who provided him guns for sale. While not a complete and original historical piece, the gun displays very well and is a nice opportunity to obtain an original St. Louis barrel on a wonderful restoration that would be either a great display piece above the mantle without paying 10 times as much for a real Hawken or for the use of a Mountain Man reenactor to use for living histories and potentially for shooting matches as well.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.