Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

[Cumpston1862]

Gents-

I would venture a guess that nearly every one of us can trace our interest in the Civil War to a particular person, item or book that really sparked our desire to know more about this conflict. I am going to share my "particular" with you. Nearly 30 years ago an older gentleman my Dad knew heard of my developing interest in the Civil War so one day he brought me an amazing artifact from his wife's family. What he had was a rifle that he said belonged to his wife's great grandfather and that he had used it in the Civil War. He gave it to me for two reasons. One he saw that I was "crazy" about the Civil War and second as he and and his wife were in their 70s at the time he didn't want it to get thrown out by the family when they passed away.

It did not look like a Civil War military rifle to me. It wasn't a Springfield or Enfield. In fact it took many years of research to kind of figure out what it was for sure. I discovered the owner of the rifle had wanted to either form or join a sharpshooter company at the start of the war but for whatever reason it didn't happen. He ended up joining company B, 15th Iowa Infantry and served with them until he resigned his commission in March 1863 because of medical problems. I suspect that this rifle was purchased to use in the war but was most likely sent home after he failed to enlist in a sharpshooter regiment.

Anyway as the pictures will attest the rifle is in very very rough shape. It is missing the ramrod, the lockplate and the stock is coming away from the barrel. And that is part of my problem. In the 30 years I have owned this rifle I have gone back and forth on what to do with it. I know the general rule is to keep such an item "as is" but this gun being in such rough shape makes it difficult to appreciate how it was to be used. It is not my intention to "fit it up" and sell it. It is priceless to me. But I really feel it should be restored to its former glory for display or living history purposes at this point. What do you guys think?

I would value some input on what you guys think I should do with this rifle.

The only stamps or marks I can find on the weapon is on the top of the barrel. It says "Brunker Warranted". I have not been able to find anything else on the gun or where the gun would have originated from. The soldier who owned the rifle was Resin Wilkins and he left the service as a second lieutenant. Resin was born in Ohio and moved to Des Moines, Iowa about 1849. He returned to Des Moines after his service and lived there until he passed away. I don't know if that narrows down where or how he could have purchased this gun. The gun has a brass mounting plate for a telescope and that was actually my first clue as to this being some kind of sharpshooting rifle. I don't know the weight of the gun but the barrel is very heavy to the point of making the gun poorly balanced in my opinion.

One last point of interest. When I got the gun the man who gave it to me also told me a story that had been passed down through the family from Resin Wilkins... to now. The story he told me went like this..." during the first day of fighting at the battle of Shiloh one of Resin's best friends went down wounded and he was unable to take him with him when the 15th retreated. After night fell Resin was exhausted but rather than get ready for the next day he set out in the darkness to find his friend. Coming to an open field in pitch darkness he heard wounded men all around and then a lighting flash lit up the field and he was shocked to see wild pigs devouring the dead and wounded. " Being about 11 years old at the time I was shocked to hear this myself and don't recall what he said after that.

[FloridaRanger]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

It's not missing the 'lockplate', Bill; it's missing the whole bloody Lock! You mention the barrel being 'heavy' -- what's the diameter across the flats? Barrel length? Many rifles with larger diameter barrels (more than 7/8") were 'target' guns. If your hypothesis about the scope mount is true, there should be two plates for scope mounting -- those were really llooonnggg scopes, not compact modern scopes with a single 6" mounting plate.
Need much more detailed pix of the 'pulling away' damage and other problems before we can adequately advise you.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

Hallo!

IMHO, these are "philosophical" and "personal" issues.

1. Family History. Sometimes family "history" is spot on. Sometimes it is myth, lore, and made up tradition. An example I often use is a friend's family heirloom flintlock musket that his g-g-g-g-grandfather carried in the Rev War. When I saw it, it was a late model .45.70 M1873 Trapdoor reinspected in and surcharged "1895." Or my g-g-grandfather a farrier in the German cavalry who was knighted by the Empress, and who dropped the "von" from is name when he immigrated to the US (one of the three being correct).
Or how things get misremembered. Such as a target sporter or hunter's deer rifle someone used in the 1870's or 1890's can become the rifle used to kill 20 Confederates in the Civil War.

2. The heresy of restoring antiques or relics, and the financial ding or dent restoration can do when collectors value age and patina and pay less when it had been removed even if 99.99% of it was added SINCE the item was in use.

IMHO still....

It is your call.

One can accept the "history" or not. And value it accordingly. It has family history attached to it, which one has to personally weigh to accept or reject.
The problem with myth and lore, is that the other side of the coin is that it is true. Or partly true. A kind of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Condition-wise. It is beat up a bit. It is a little shabby. And as an 1860ish (give or take a decade or so) either "deer" or "target" in the Ohio Rifle genre, its value may be more family related than collectors' or antique delaers' cash value.

Were it mine, because it is "so far gone..." I would restore it to its more closer or closely "1860" state, and value it all the more.

Side Note. That era of civillian rifles evovled out of the frontier gunmaker tradition. But, by and large, gunmakers had evolved into "gun stockers."
Rather than hand-make everything from lock, stock, barrel, and furniture... the Industrial Revolution created mass produced pieces parts that could be purchased at local hardware or general stores, and that a gunstocker or even some blacksmiths could "assemble" by buying the parts just as today.
And, it was not uncommon for many cities or towns to have a local gun shop. Ohio alone had hundreds.

Others' mileage will vary...

Curt

[Hank Trent]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

The only stamps or marks I can find on the weapon is on the top of the barrel. It says "Brunker Warranted". I have not been able to find anything else on the gun or where the gun would have originated from.

Hope this isn't stating the obvious to gun experts, but it probably would have been made by Henry P. Brunker of Ottawa, Illinois, right? (Thanks go to Google for that!)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[David Fox]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

It's the basis for a nice restoration. Sporting lockplates, hammers, and whole locks contemporary to the piece are out there in some perfusion. I'm old. And old school. I shoot pretty-much everything I own. The bore could perhaps be freshened. And the piece could speak again. As it is now, it's not particularly sightly; useful for parts or for restoration. The provenance of the piece would not be compelling to any third person: it may well have belonged to someone who, during a long life, served a couple years in the Civil War. It takes one generation to go from "a rifle which belonged to my grandfather who fought in the Civil War" to "my grandfather's Civil War rifle". As Curt so well illustrated, many of us have been reverently handed breechloading rabbit ear shotguns and told they were an ancestor's Civil War gun.

I'd vote "restore the old dear", 'though others may differ. If you choose to do so, pick a gunsmith conversant with working on the old smokepoles. You don't want a nice S&W blue over a fine plastic wood finish. Not on this.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

Hallo!

Correct Hank!

Henry Brunker was one of the more "prolific' Illinois makers between 1848 and 1871. He retired and died in 1872.

He was also in partnership at different times with a Buschick and also a Mitchell, and their guns are so stamped. Brunker was also a Mason, and had a barrel stamp that included a compass and square emblem I assume (but won't say) was for Masonic customers).

Brunker's "specialty" was for perch belly rifles. IIRC, over a hundred are known to have survived.

(Some lads like to make any and all Illinois (Ohio Rifles) deer and target rifles Western Sharpshooters (Birge's) arms due to Horace Dimick's contract with Fremont for 1,000 that he had to scrounge to fill from his own production as well as local market.
NOT saying this is the case here, just pointing out what some lads and dealers do to make things more valuable...)

Curt

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

Gents-

I appreciate all the input. For a long time I believed the rifle was just a hunting rifle and did not date to the Civil War period too. I tried to post some additional pictures to help show some more detail but it says the pictures are too big to load...sorry.

I did get two of them to load but they don't show the most important things I wanted everyone to see. Namely the brass plate on top that would have accepted the leveling screw for the telescope. I also put a tape measure on the rifle. The barrel is a little more than 32" long. The octogon barrel is 1-1/8" in diameter. The bore is roughly 7/16" in diameter. And the weight is a little more than 10 pounds. Of course as you have seen it is missing a lot of parts so it is probably lighter because of that.

Hank- Thanks for the info by the way. Henry Brunker in Ottawa, Illinois sounds like a real possibility.

[Alexander Vasquez]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

I second the motion to go the restoration route.

I have an 1842 rifled Springfield, dated 1850. When I bought it at an auction I had a similar dilemma--the important metal was present, but the stock was a half-stock that was almost completely useless--she had been sporterized without shortening the barrel. There were brass tacks nailed into it that say PH and it was massively cracked. The barrel, lockplate, and buttplate were all present and in good condtion but heavily coated in what I can only presume was a very thick, dirty laquer. She looked very much the way yours does now, it is actually uncanny.

What I decided to do was to restock her and replace the missing bands, sight, and rammer. I had limited gunsmithing skills but was willing to learn. I cleaned up all the metal and reassembled her on a replacement Dunlap stock, using what was left of the original stock as a template, and using original parts and advice from Lodgewood and S&S. The original stock now sits in my living room on a display shelf; the musket hangs on the opposite wall. It took the better part of three months and wood shaping taught me loads of patience. In the end I have a serviceable musket that I repaired myself for a total outlay of about $500; the greatest expense being the Dunlap stock. I am happy, the musket "feels happy", my documentation for it clearly explains what I did (and I also took the liberty of marking in hidden areas of the wood RESTOCKED 2001 AD), and in the end that was good enough for me.

Alexander Vasquez
Late of Co. C, 15 IA

[bAcK88]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

Just keep in mind that if you opt for the restoration you will be destroying the historic fabric of the item. There's many people on this board who have seen cool a piece of material culture that has been restored with the best of intentions but the result being that there is permenant harm.

My professional opinion is that since this piece has family provenience, that you should not try and restore it.

Best of luck for this very tricky problem!

[David Fox]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

I dunno. You find a '62 Corvette in a barn. It's missing its engine, transmission, one door and mice have made nests out of the seats. It belonged to somebody's uncle who didn't come back from 'Nam. If I had the money and time, it would be on the road by next summer, just like the original owner intended.

[tsgalloway]

Re: Civil War Rifle...Fix it or Leave it "as is"?

I'd fix this one up. There isn't a "one size fits all" answer for the "to restore or not" question. But in this case, I believe you can only increase the value or potential for you to use it.