Longrifle Muzzleloading Rifle:
The longrifle muzzleloader is probably the least understood. Historically the longrifle was used for deer and small game hunting in the eastern United States where it originated.  The longrifle was for the most part noted for its flat trajectory, low recoil and accuracy. There is documentation stating that the first high quality 'Kentucky rifles' were from a gunsmith named Jacob Deckard.
The 48 inch barreled, longrifle was a type of muzzleloading rifle that was a unique development of American rifles. The Pennsylvania rifle, Kentucky rifle, and Tennessee rifle were all variants of the longrifle.
The longrifle developed on the American frontier in the period beginning in the 1740s, and continued in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina, well into the 20th century, as a practical and efficient firearm, a good rifleman could hit a man-sized target at 300 yards.
The main reason for the longer barrel was it gave the black powder more time to burn, increasing the muzzle velocity and aided the accuracy by having a much longer sight radius.
To conserve lead on the frontier, smaller calibers were often preferred, .36, .40 and .45 caliber were commonly used for hunting small game and deer. As a rifle became worn from use, it was common to see many such individual rifles being re-bored to larger calibers and re-rifled.Longrifle Used For Commercial Hunting:
The most famous frontiersman of the time was Daniel Boone (1734-1820) commercial hunter by trade. Boone would go on long hunts alone or with a small group of men, accumulating hundreds of deer skins in the autumn, and then trapping beaver and otter over the winter and return in the spring and sell their take to commercial fur traders.
The settlers of western Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina soon gained a reputation for hardy independence and rifle marksmanship as a way of life, by the 1750s it was common to see frontiersmen carrying a new and distinctive style of rifle that was used with great skill to provide tens of thousands of deer hides for the British leather industry.
These woodsmen were also exceptional trackers and Indian fighters, and played an important role in the French and Indian War which was fought in many parts of the American back country as a guerilla war. By the time of the American Revolution a strong tradition of riflery had been ingrained into the citizens of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Replica Longrifle Muzzleloading Rifles:
While there have been many so called replicas to the traditional longrifle muzzleloading rifle it is worth noting at best they do come close to replicating its appearance except for barrel length. The true success of the original traditional longrifle muzzleloading rifle rested entirely with its barrel length of 48 inches or longer for maximum effectiveness.
Copyright 2001 - 2011.
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