Secondary Lexington Rifles – Who Made Them? ©
Foreword: Back in 2012, Kentucky Gunmakers 1775-1900 identified a group of similar rifles that was given the name “secondary Lexington rifles.” They were strongly related to the Lexington School in stock architecture, but despite being well-stocked, they were very plain, often iron mounted, and at times made in “poor boy” style with fewer mountings. A review of secondary Lexington rifles now offers an answer to who made them.
Secondary Lexington Rifles: These rifles are stocked like Lexington School rifles and have Lexington style triggers and straight barrels [as opposed to swamped barrels in nearby schools]. An example of a secondary Lexington rifle is shown in Figure No.1. But major differences occur in the mountings on secondary rifles. Lexington rifles are mounted in brass with the iconic “Lexington” patchbox, while secondary Lexington rifles are much plainer, often mounted in iron, and at times made in “poor boy” style without a nose cap, butt plate, or rear ramrod pipe. The iron guards deviate significantly from Lexington rifles’ distinctive brass guards with their forward-sloping bows, heavy front posts, and two flats filed on outer surfaces. Instead, the iron guards follow a simpler pattern of rectangular bow, flat grip rail hugging the stock wood, and rear spur made by a doubled-over bend at the end of the grip rail. Despite differences, the many similarities make secondary Lexington rifles a ‘low cost” sub-set of Lexington School rifles. Strong similarities are seen in stock architecture, cheekpiece and side-facings shapes, slender forestocks with straight [non-swamped] barrels, and a streamlined look. Perhaps not noticed at first, but stocking quality of most secondary rifles is close to that of finer Lexington rifles.
Figure No.1: This secondary Lexington rifle is well-stocked in walnut with iron mountings, but its “poor boy” style lacks a rear ramrod pipe and butt plate. The butt profile is triangular with a soft curve in the wrist, and the slim forestock has a straight barrel typical of Lexington rifles. The butt’s heel has been heavily worn/damaged from years of use without a protective butt plate. Kentucky’s “poor boy” guns often had extra wood left on the heel for expected heavy wear, giving butts on some rifles an exaggerated “crescent” profile, but heavy wear on this rifle has removed any extra wood on the butt’s heel. Barrel: 47 inches long, straight with no swamping, rusty bore, about .34-.36 caliber. Author’s collection.
Assumption: With Mountain rifles, no one questions when an exceptional example shows up. Collectors realize that most gunsmiths making lower cost Moutain rifles were capable of finer work, but local customs and economic conditions/restraints dictated the type of gun the gunsmith made. Conversely, in more developed areas with finer rifles, most collectors assume that all guns were well-made; secondary Lexington rifles challenge that assumption. Many secondary Lexington rifles were probably made by well-known gunsmiths within the Lexington School, not by lesser skilled, fringe gunsmiths. But well-known gunsmiths would be reluctant to sign secondary rifles, knowing such guns did not represent the true quality of their work and could impact their reputations. A closer look at the secondary Lexington rifle in Figure No.1 helps explain why this conclusion is probably true.
Study Rifle: Better gunmakers in larger markets undoubtedly made plainer, iron mounted guns when asked to do so, since most did not want to miss a business opportunity, and apprentices could do more of the work on a simpler, lower cost gun. The Bryan gun shop in Lexington made fine rifles with the iconic Lexington cast-brass patchbox, silver inlays, and traditional forestock and lower butt moldings comprised of two parallel lines terminated with short, wavy lines [3 small “waves” or alternating arc cuts]. The study rifle has several details that relate it to Bryan rifles and raises the question: Was this secondary Lexington rifle made in a better Lexington gun shop, perhaps the Bryan shop, for a customer who wanted a lower priced gun? When contemplating the answer, several details on the study rifle should be considered:
1. shorter forestock grip area like on Bryan rifles,
2. slim forestock and straight barrel like on Bryan rifles,
3. double-line lower butt molding terminated behind rear trigger with three small arc cuts,
4. front and rear triggers shaped like triggers on Bryan rifles,
5. cheekpiece with fluted base and incised line above, a bit shorter than those on Bryan rifles, but very similar in shape,
6. stock architecture and side-facings shaped like those on Bryan rifles.
Figure No.2: The front of the secondary Lexington rifle has an English import lock, typical of locks on most Kentucky guns. The rifle was originally a flintlock but later converted to percussion. The butt’s badly worn heel on the butt suggests a long working life for the gun.
Figure No.3: The back of the study rifle has a double-line lower butt molding and a cheekpiece with a flute across its lower edge with single molding line above, similar in style to Lexington rifles. The large-headed lock bolts are modern replacements for smaller bolts without washers.
The study rifle suffered poor restoration that: 1) removed significant metal at the muzzle to "freshen" it, 2) cleaned barrel/tang surfaces excessively and recolored them, 3) replaced original iron bolts/screws with new steel bolts/screws, 4) recolored stock. But beneath the poor restoration is a well-made Lexington-style rifle, graceful in architecture and well-stocked, but simplified in walnut with iron mountings for a lower cost gun. Figure No.2 and Figure No.3 show the gun’s butt/wrist architecture, side-facings, and cheekpiece, while the Lexington-style double-line lower butt molding terminated by three (3) small arc cuts is seen in Figure No.4 The cuts relate to the three (3) small combined arc cuts that make the “wavy line” terminating the double-line molding on the Bryan shop’s Lexington rifle seen in Figure No.5. The connection to Bryan rifles is also seen in the hand-made triggers on the secondary rifle in Figure No.4 that closely match the hand-made Bryan triggers in Figure No.5.
Figure No. 4: The butt’s double-line molding can be seen above the back of the guard’s bow with three (3) small arc cuts that terminate it. Many secondary Lexington rifles do not have molding lines, but the study rifle is stocked above average, and several details, including its molding lines and triggers, link it to the Bryan gun shop near Lexington.
Figure No.5: These triggers are on an “L & W Bryan” signed rifle from the Bryan gun shop and date a few years earlier than the study rifle. Despite an angle difference in the photos, the triggers are almost identical to the triggers on the study rifle. Also note the double-line molding terminated by a wavy line, and the pointed rear ends of both side-facings.
Iron Guards: Iron guards on secondary Lexington rifles have a distinctive rectangular bow, straight grip rail that hugs the stock wood, and a strong bend at the end of the guard’s iron strip that forms the rear spur. The rear spur’s back edge does not touch the stock on most secondary Lexington rifles. This design was used by most central KY gunmakers when they made lower cost rifles with iron mountings. The study rifle’s iron guard, typical of iron guards made around Lexington, is shown in Figure No.6.
Make it stand out
Figure No.6: The study rifle’s traditional iron guard is shown in its entirety here. Both front and rear attachment screws are visible. The guard has a forward extension but no rear extension, with the rear screw just inside the rear spur. The rear spur is a simple bend in the iron, with its back edge not quite touching the stock wood. The guard is functional, low cost, and does not detract from the rifle’s appearance.
Conclusion: Not all lower cost rifles from central Kentucky were made by less talented gunsmiths simply because they were stocked in plain walnut, mounted in iron, and unsigned. Secondary Lexington rifles show us that a lower cost “secondary” gun could be well-stocked in traditional pattens and share details with the area’s finer guns. Based on shared details, this particular study rifle may have been a low-cost alternative from the Bryan shop near Lexington. The gun uses multiple details from known Bryan rifles, and its fine, hand-made triggers duplicate those on Bryan rifles. The lesson here is that some of Kentucky’s better gunmakers made plain, low-cost rifles occasionally upon request when more lucrative business was slow, but they were reluctant to sign such guns since the guns did not reflect the shop’s normal quality.