Strange rifle Whitney?

[zimmerstutzen]

Picked up a gun at my local gun smith's shop, and saw a peculiar rifle standing in his repair rack. (he would not let me take a photo) He said it was a whitney breech loading percussion rifle. The action appeared to operate similar to a jenks, but the barrel was cut out under neath and just ahead of the breech plug. When retracted a ball and powder were dropped in. Then the action closed and a cap placed onto a plunger that pushed forward and closed the chamber. A striker was then actuated by the trigger and slid forward to hit the percussion cap on the cylindrical plunger. It did not look very strong, but really caught my attention.

In all my travels, I had never seen or even heard of a rifle like this. The Smith swore it was a Whitney rifle. I did not pick it up to look for markings. (Old rule: If it isn't mine, don't touch it. Especially when the item belongs to a customer of the business.)

 

[pohill]

There's nothing in Flaydermans about a breechloading Whitney percussion rifle (that I saw).
Did it look anything like this rifle?

http://www.nramuseum.org/the-museum...s/amoskeag-lindner-breechloading-carbine.aspx

 

[zimmerstutzen]

That is interesting, but not what I saw. Thanks for looking.

When I first saw the gun from the side, I thought it was, like an H&A underhammer. It had no side lock. Just ahead of the breech, the underside of the barrel was cut out for about 4 inches. A plunger containing a percussion nipple was on a lever arrangement. Pulling the lever retracted the plunger exposing a chamber, about 58 cal. Pushing the lever pushed the plunger into the rear of the chamber to seal it. I called The gunsmith a few minutes ago to see if the owner would let me take some pictures.

 

[BHP FAN]

Was it a Hall?

 

[zimmerstutzen]

A hall is a box lock and loads from the top.

This loaded on the underside and had a striker instead of a hammer.

 

[BHP FAN]

interesting. you don't see many striker fired percussion rifles.