Maybe it was the owner of the gun that just put his own name on the muzzle. ?

My little knowledge is that a lot of the early muzzleloaders were not even marked with the maker of the whole gun at all. If they were, they maybe on one of the barrel flats or on the lock. But a name on the lock could just be the maker of the lock. Not the maker of the rifle as a whole.

Saw a picture of a Purdey breech loader which had "Kill it stupid!" engraved on the rims of the breech

Pretty sick. Who would do that?





.

That would make sense. Vincent style rifles were very common in Ohio at that time. I have one in .32 cal that will shoot dime size groups at 25-yards.

JDG