RETURN OF DAVID CROCKETT'S RIFLE FROM 1806 TO EAST TENNESSEE

[Grey Ghost]

David Crockett sold his rifle in 1806 to a man by the name of James McCuistion, who lived in the neighborhood of the Crockett's in Jefferson County, East Tennessee. Later in 1880's the rifle had traveled west with a son of this McCuiston. In 1940 a owner of the rifle by the name S. H. Gwinn had placed it in at a museum in Oklahoma. In 1978 Joe and Art Swann succeeded to find the rifle and buy it. Now it is back to East Tennessee and on display at Museum of East Tennessee History in Knoxville.

Rifle specs:
Overall length - 60 -1/4". Originally 62"
Swamped barell 44" in length. Originally 46"
At muszzle barrel is 15/16" acros the flats, at the breech the barrel is 1-1/16" across the flats indicating that 2" may have been cut from the muzzle at some point.
.48 caliber seven groove rifled barrel.

[Dan Dlabay]

I bet that gun is worth a lot of money.

[Mike Mercury]

that is like MEGA COOL !

[MEANZ06]

[DAB]

needs a red dot optic and a flash light mounted on a Pic rail......

[Torqaholic]

What's her name?

[Torqaholic]

Looked it up.

There's no knowledge of this rifle being named (but it probably was). His second rife was a 40 caliber that he named Betsy.

[Stevedore]

That’s quite a piece of history. 60" seems like a long rifle to carry, shoot, etc.

[Grey Ghost]

Originally Posted by Stevedore

That’s quite a piece of history. 60" seems like a long rifle to carry, shoot, etc.

It's not bad.

I carry a model 1842 .69 musket for reenacting. It's 58" or so and close to
10lbs. It balances nicely when brought to the shoulder to fire. I CAN tell a huge difference between it and a .58 Enfield though. I also had a CS Richmond at one time. Although a bit smaller on specs. it just wasn't balanced and would wear you out holding it up to fire for some reason. We also use Casey's infantry manual for various ways of carrying it while on a march so not to wear yourself out in the same position for so long.

All I can say is some muskets balance nicely and others even in similar specs do not.

The grooved barrel is what surprises me. I thought they were all just a smooth bore early on. The famous Whitworth that came along later had a hexagonal barrel .45 and required a special bullet. It was a prized piece amongst Confed. sharpshooters.

[Torqaholic]

I like long barrels. They're super good at resisting sway in high winds. My 243 varmint rifle has a 28" long barrel that's 1" in diameter. With scope, sling, and 5 rounds in the magazine it comes in at around 17 lbs.

Only problem I've experienced due to having a long barrel is while walking with it slung over the shoulder. Tripped over a log hidden in the snow and ferns once that put me down on my hands and knees. Well... That barrel whacked me in the back of the head so damned hard I saw stars. Laid there for a while wondering if I was going to be spending the night in the woods

[Grey Ghost]

Originally Posted by Torqaholic

I like long barrels. They're super good at resisting sway in high winds. My 243 varmint rifle has a 28" long barrel that's 1" in diameter. With scope, sling, and 5 rounds in the magazine it comes in at around 17 lbs.

Only problem I've experienced due to having a long barrel is while walking with it slung over the shoulder. Tripped over a log hidden in the snow and ferns once that put me down on my hands and knees. Well... That barrel whacked me in the back of the head so damned hard I saw stars. Laid there for a while wondering if I was going to be spending the night in the woods

Yep, you can always use them as a club if you run out of bullets.

What mfg. is the varmint gun? That's a chunk to tote around.