(Part III) by Richard Hummel-July - National Muzzle Loading Rifle

The Percussion Target Rifle for
Single and Double Rest Matches
by Richard Hummel
(most photographs courtesy of Tom Rowe)
Part III:
New Hampshire Rifles
The book, Vermont’s Gunsmiths and Gunmakers to 1900,
(Phillips and Tyler, 2000) describes David Hilliard’s career, as
well as those of his son and relatives, in the gunmaking business. According to Phillips and Tyler, Hilliard is estimated to
have produced 3000 pieces over his 30 active years. Many
survive. (More about Hilliard’s career shortly.)
Our specimens range from the lightest to the heaviest.
All invite our doubts as to their dedicated purposes. Hunting and target shooting? Perhaps a Civil War sniping assignment in one case?
The smallest and lightest Hilliard invites the label buggy rifle.
This ill-defined category is postulated to contain light, short
percussion rifles that could accompany doctors on their buggy
travels, enabling the harvest of edible targets of opportunity:
rabbits, squirrels, wood grouse, etc. Also, we read of claims of
Sunday, after-church impromptu target matches conducted on
picnic grounds, along with horseshoe games, etc. Perhaps there
July 2013
were dedicated matches for this weight/size class of diminutive
arm, most common in .32 caliber or less. These jewels have always attracted me. The ultimate examples emerged from the workbenches of William Billinghurst. I illustrate here a modern recreation of a Billinghurst-style rifle, in .40 caliber, with Japanese
brass scope (Oh, the frustration of shallow pockets!).
The archetypical “buggy rifle” is either very short barreled
or collapsible (removable butt stock). My Hilliard may qualify
as a buggy rifle. The label works for me. Note the cute loading/
cleaning rod occupying the thimbles. The rod is tipped with a
brass cleaning jag, screwed over a screw-tipped patch/ball
puller. The thimbles grace the right side of the barrel and the
rod is inserted from the breech end.
The underside of the barrel near the nipple is marked “G.E.
Hilliard,” marking this as product of David Hilliard’s son, (18381904) George Eldridge, who with his brother Charles Nelson
Hilliard (1836-1874), apprenticed with their father in the gun
crafting trade. Cornish and the number 2345 are stamped on
the left angled barrel flat just ahead of the breech. The rifle has
an 18-inch barrel in .32 caliber that is one inch across the flats
and turned for a starter. The overall length of the rifle is 32
inches. The one-inch barrel diameter gives the rifle an overall
weight of perhaps seven pounds. The iron sight design is a
trademark of Hilliard and is simple, elegant, and robust. Does
the overall length of 32 inches qualify it to be designated a
buggy rifle? I think so.
The second Hilliard example is marked D.H. Hilliard-Cornish N.H. and is more hefty in all dimensions. The barrel measures 1.2 inches across the flats and 26.5 inches long, and it is
turned for a bullet starter that miraculously survives. The bore
is a little over .32 caliber. The rear receiver is crosshatched for
use of the trademark Hilliard rear sight. However, the attachment holes for such a sight are plugged on the top barrel flat
and a more typical rear barrel sight is paired with a sturdy post
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front sight. The sighting arrangement suggests hunting use,
but the overall weight of the barrel certainly suggests use as a
bench target rifle. The caliber also inclines me in that direction.
Its weight is 14 pounds.
The third Hilliard target arm represents the epitome of the
buggy rifle architecture. This example is a careful replica of a
Hilliard design that I had rendered by a New England contemporary gun maker several decades ago, having encountered
his work at the Walter Cline Range. Leonard Day was his name,
and he was promoting a line of percussion swivel-breech hunting rifles. Visiting his booth, I learned his shop offered an exact
copy of this Hilliard design. Never expecting to find an original, I ordered one. Several years later an original did come on
offer. When I examined pictures of it, I concluded that my replica was sufficient. This “pocket rifle” or buggy rifle is so light
that it could easily travel to the squirrel woods, accompany a
woods walk, or participate in target matches for the lightweights
of target rifles. Its weight is less than five pounds, and with its
16-inch barrel and 34-inch overall length, I contend that it qualifies for the buggy rifle designation. The rifle is equipped with
a detachable iron skeleton butt stock that reduces the rifle
length to 24 inches when removed. That feature also qualifies
it for the pocket rifle label. The .40 caliber barrel is .95 inches
across the flats. What tantalizing questions arise about who,
where, and how this class of rifle visited perhaps very impromptu target ranges!
The fourth example of Hilliard’s work is very provocative.
This heavyweight rifle with false muzzle may be one of Hilliard’s
Civil War projects. Let’s consult Phillips and Tyler (Vermont
Gunsmiths and Gunmakers to 1900, p. 114) for background.
[I]n the 1830’s he went to work for Nicanor Kendall whose
N. Kendall & Co. was manufacturing under hammer rifles
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Muzzle Blasts
and pistols utilizing a combination of skilled gunsmiths and
convict labor from the adjoining state prison….
In 1842, Kendall gave up the gun business and Hilliard left
to cross the Connecticut River and establish his own small
arms factory in Cornish, N. H. He took with him two skilled
gunsmiths, William B. Smith, his brother-in-law and inventor
of the “Smith Patent Stud Lock,” and David Smith.
Whether or not any money changed hands between Hilliard
and his former employer, it is obvious David Hilliard took over
the manufacture of the simple, economical and profitable under hammer gun business and continued to fabricate all manner of these guns as well as rifling barrels for other gun makers
all over the region. During those busy years Hilliard’s shop
employed as many as 15 workers, many of them highly skilled
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July 2013
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gunsmiths who were to swell the ranks of the Government and
private armories that supplied the Union Army in the Civil War.
At the outbreak of that conflict, the patriotic Mr. Hilliard labored night and day to build enough of his heavy-barreled
target rifles to outfit a company of sharpshooters. He personally carted them to the state capitol at Concord where he presented them to the Governor of New Hampshire as his contribution to the Union cause.
David Hilliard continued to labor in his gun shop until retiring, producing in 30 years an estimated 3000 rifles and pistols.
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Muzzle Blasts
Are we looking at one of those Civil War sharpshooters’
arms from Hilliard’s shop?
This rifle weighs roughly 25 pounds. Its barrel is 30
inches long, 1.7 inches across the flats, and .515 caliber.
Its false muzzle lacks the bullet starter. The tang sight has
a tall staff but no Vernier-screw adjustment. (Can any reader
identify the tang sight pattern?) The gun has a single set
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trigger. The top flat at the breech has several threaded
holes and two dovetails that once served some critical
function. The patent breech, tang, trigger guard, lock screw
escutcheon, toe plate, forearm screw escutcheon, and lock
plate and hammer are all engraved to varying degrees. Engraving seems unlikely to be lavished on a Civil War
sharpshooter’s instrument. Perhaps those engraved components were in inventory when Hilliard commenced his
sharpshooters’ rifles project. The front sight incorporates
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a small spirit level (hard to imagine it was visible from the
shooter’s perspective.)
A number 1700 is stamped behind Hilliard’s name on the
barrel flat. A serial number?
I am going to go conservative here, against my wishful
thinking, and suggest that this is NOT one of the sharpshooters’ equipment. An alternative history for the rifle
has yet to occur to me. The over-stamp of Hilliard’s name
is an enigma, also.
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The last example of a
Hilliard target rifle is a
picket gun, turned at the
muzzle for bullet starter.
The 15-pound rifle has a
33 1/4" barrel of .36 caliber. The barrel measures
1.29" across the flats at
the breech and 1.19" at
the muzzle. It is retained
by double cross keys in
the stock. All the hardware on the walnut stock
is German silver, with the
exception of a silverplated pewter fore end
tip. The single set trigger, tang sight that appears to be an adaptation of a rear telescope
base, and the globe
front sight all define a
dedicated target rifle.
The barrel is marked D. H. Hilliard-Cornish, NH. and
the lock has the name “J. Hapgood.” The capbox contains
two spare percussion nipples.
MB
–To be continued –
July 2013
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