Arms Makers of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Title | Arms Makers of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania PDF eBook |
Author | Stacy B. C. Wood |
Publisher | |
Pages | 142 |
Release | 1991 |
Genre | Arms and armor |
ISBN |
Arms Makers of Pennsylvania
Title | Arms Makers of Pennsylvania PDF eBook |
Author | James B. Whisker |
Publisher | Selinsgrove : Susquehanna University Press |
Pages | 236 |
Release | 1990 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN |
A survey, with hundreds of illustrations, of the arms making industry in Pennsylvania from its beginnings until about 1900. it focuses on the Pennsylvania long (Kentucky) rifle, and identifies the primary schools of gun making and major technological developments. Illustrated.
Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania
Title | Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania PDF eBook |
Author | James Biser Whisker, Sr. |
Publisher | Createspace Independent Publishing Platform |
Pages | 206 |
Release | 2017-07-17 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9781548954079 |
Biographical listing of those who made and re[aired arms of various sorts, but especially rifles and pistols, c. 1790-1900.
The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle
Title | The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle PDF eBook |
Author | Henry J. Kauffman |
Publisher | Masthof Press |
Pages | 386 |
Release | 2005-01-01 |
Genre | Antiques & Collectibles |
ISBN | 188329455X |
Read about the rifle that was made in America by gunsmiths who migrated to Lancaster Co., Pa., from central Europe in the first half of the 18th century. This intensive study and exacting research by Kauffman has brought to light a tremendous amount of information on America's first great rifle. First printed in 1960, this book has an extensive listing of gunsmiths and the stylized work of the makers. Various rifles are identified with many photos and sketches and documentary data. (374pp. illus. index. Masthof Press, 2005 reprint.)
The Pennsylvania Rifle
Title | The Pennsylvania Rifle PDF eBook |
Author | Samuel E. Dyke |
Publisher | |
Pages | 61 |
Release | 1974-01-01 |
Genre | Firearms industry and trade |
ISBN | 9780915010059 |
Edited draft.
Arms Makers of Colonial Amer
Title | Arms Makers of Colonial Amer PDF eBook |
Author | James B. Whisker |
Publisher | Susquehanna University Press |
Pages | 217 |
Release | 1992 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780945636144 |
Arms Makers of Colonial America by James B. Whisker is a comprehensively documented historical survey of the broad spectrum of arms makers in America who were active before 1783. Complemented by a lengthy introduction and nearly 200 illustrations, this extensive listing was derived from original source materials, including the archives and public and state papers of the thirteen original colonies, tax records, Revolutionary War pensions, deeds, wills and estates, and the American Archives. With a full citation of the source, each biographical entry presents the type of arms production the individual was engaged in, the time period, and the location. The professions represented are many and varied: gunsmiths and gunstockers, armorers, gun barrel makers, iron and steel manufacturers, brass founders, pike and other edged weapon makers and cutlers, accoutrements makers, gunpowder makers, and gunlock makers and locksmiths. In each of the earliest settlements in America there was a gunsmith who mended the arms of his neighbors and sharpened their knives and taught them how to use these tools on which they depended for food and protection. John Dandy of Maryland, ca. 1635, is the first person who can be identified as a gunsmith who made guns - lock, stock, and barrel. Most of the earliest gunsmiths were armorers, that is, they repaired, cleaned, and maintained arms on government contract. In early New England each militiaman provided his own gun or the colonial administration provided one for him and charged him for it. The maintenance of the gun was the responsibility of the government, and thus it has been possible to identify many of the early armorers and gunsmiths through colonial records of their services. Militia service was neglected, however, during the early to mid eighteenth century, and when war came, public arms were generally in a deplorable state. During the French and Indian War many gunsmiths were impressed into service as armorers to restore the neglected arms. This exercise proved to be a grand rehearsal for arms production taken on during the Revolution. An English observer wrote that the Americans would have little difficulty arming themselves if war came between the mother country and her colonies because there were more than sufficient gunmakers and allied tradesmen to provide 100,000 guns a year. Pennsylvania was the center of the arms making trade. The home rifle, commonly called the Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle, an American modification of the German hunting rifle, had been developed in or near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. It was deadly accurate and gave the skilled marksmen of the backwoods a superior sniper weapon. The craftsmen of Lancaster, Philadelphia, and other cities stopped making their civilian arms and concentrated on making militia muskets in the early years of the war for independence. By 1780, except on the frontier, the supply of imported and domestic militia arms exceeded demand, and the tradesmen returned to rifle making. The golden age of classic long rifle making followed.
American Arms and Arms Makers
Title | American Arms and Arms Makers PDF eBook |
Author | Robert Edward Gardner |
Publisher | |
Pages | 176 |
Release | 1944 |
Genre | Firearms |
ISBN |
This book attempts to bring together biographical data pertaining to the American arms craftsmen and a resume of their contributions to the nation's armament.