Extremely Rare Rotary Disk Breech Single-Shot Rifle by J.D. Wilkinson of Plattsburgh, NY

Description:
NSN, .38 RF, 26 3/4" octagon barrel with a very good, bright bore that has light pitting towards the muzzle-end. This is a very interesting rifle and one of only a handful known to have been built on J.D. Wilkinson’s 1871 patent for a breech-loading single shot action utilizing a rotating disk breechblock (please see Item #50806 for a second example in our listing). Once the hammer is locked at half-cock, the disk is rotated clockwise via the knurled lever at the top of the wrist, exposing a U-shaped cutout matching the wide loading trough at the rear of the frame. Once the action is opened the lever can then be withdrawn rearward which pulls the extractor outwards from the chamber mouth. The frame has a mostly dark plum-brown patina with silvering along the edges and projections, with some minor impact marks on either side of the barrel pin, and the ornate German silver trigger guard has a dull, frosted appearance throughout. The barrel has retained about 40-50% of the original blue, with spots of plum-brown along the exposed metal as well. Additionally, there is gray fading at the muzzle, as well as trace silvering along the edges of the barrel flats. The plain walnut forend is in fair-good shape, with numerous minor handling marks scattered about the old varnish finish, and several chips missing from the edges on both sides (a repaired chip is present on the left side at the forend cap). The buttstock appears to be a period replacement and features a graceful shadow-line cheek-piece, very few marks or blemishes in the excellent finish, and has a hole on top of the wrist for mounting a no longer present rear aperture sight. Period iron sights are mounted on the barrel. This is quite possibly an early example or prototype of the Wilkinson rifle as there are no patent markings, indeed no markings of any kind are present, and the action itself, while fully functional, does not operate with the smoothness of other marked examples. J.D. Wilkinson was an Upstate New York inventor and gunmaker who moved back and forth between Plattsburgh and the nearby town of Keeseville (16 miles away) from 1860 & 1874. While he has no definitive connection to either Orville M. Robinson, or the Adirondack Firearms Co., he may have had a familial relationship with Daniel Wilkinson, who was one of the company’s listed employees. There was almost certainly a connection with G.C. Wilkinson, another gunmaker in the Plattsburgh & Keeseville area who operated at the same time. This is a great and unusual little rifle, utilizing a novel rotary breech mechanism, in very good condition, and possibly a pre-production prototype. Antique;

Antique: Yes

Price: $3,995.00