THE OLD M1.177LE LOADING RIFLE by William A. Benton, 2nd.
This old rifle was made by George Gager of Sharon, a gun-maker of note in these parts, who made many very fine, accurate rifles in those old days, the 1840s. His shop was in the back part of his house East of the Green. There was no power used. The barrels were drilled by hand and rifled by forcing a cutter guided by a wooden gage through the barrel, time after time. This particular rifle was made for the Benton brothers when they were young and one of the older boys, Orville, got the idea of using a "Gain Twist", he started the rotation of the bullet slow and increasing the twist as it went toward the muzzle. This gain twist was not the practice at the time and I do not know whether he invented the idea or had heard of it; At least he wanted it and made the wooden gage used in the machine to put the twist in the rifling. This was a very accurate rifle and I have heard Father say that Uncle Charles would bring in a bag of squirrels, every one with a hole through the head. The bullets were molded by the boys, in two shapes, conical and spherical. The method of loading was to pour a charge of powder from a horn, (They guessed at the amount) into the muzzle of the rifle, turn it partially on its side toward the nipple and jar it to get the powder into the passage to the nipple and settle it into the breech. Next they took a patch, a bit of linen cloth about the size of a quarter and greased with tallow, from the little pocket in the side of the stock, selected a, bullet and if it were spherical, simply forced it down on the powder with the patch around it. When a percussion cap was placed on the nipple, they were ready to shoot. When conical bullets were used they required a "Starter"; A wooden block which fitted tightly over the muzzle of the gun, with a plunger centered in the block. The bullet was inserted, tip first in the starter, a patch laid over the muzzle, the starter shoved down in place, when a sha,rp blow on the plunger with the hand entered the bullet straight in the barrel, the starter was removed and the bullet shoved down on the powder with the ramrod. Originally the lock had a settrigger, which means there were two triggers. After the gun was cocked the forward trigger was pulled, after which the slighest touch on the rear trigger fired the gun. Ben. Barlow and his brothers had the old gun in Peru, Mass, for a good many years, during which period it became rusty and useless as a rifle. The stock was broken and I think Myron Barlow made the one which came to me. 55
