doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Niedner Krag

About a month ago there was a discussion about the Niedner Krag that sold at Poulins auction. I am the one who bought it and I wanted to take it to Tulsa to let Monte and Bryndon look at it to see if they agreed with my identification but at the last minute I was unable to attend Tulsa.
Fred will be along this evening to post some photos for me of some details that I feel identify who made the gun, some of which were only mentioned in the auction description. After the photos get posted, let's hear some opinions.

Dan

Here are the photos

























[img:left]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/PhysDoc/100_16002_zps0c38a9bd.jpg[/img]

[img:left]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/PhysDoc/100_15992_zps0c79a97c.jpg[/img]

[img:left]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk315/PhysDoc/100_15982_zps5b608cd9.jpg[/img]

If it was a "name" maker, I've got a pretty good idea who I'd lay the blame on, but I'll wait and see what everyone else says. Should be pretty easy for someone who has done some reading.

John

Someone enamored with their circle punch�

Not as professional as there only Sedgley Krag I've seen.

Is that a vestige of Shelhamer's "chin strap" behind the pistol grip? Hard to tell. The dominating cheek piece is a bit off-putting though, but does tickle my memory of someone's work but I can't put my finger on it. I'll guess too that someone added the stipling around the checkering (and the punch marks), and the horn tip looks like a replacement/after thought (I think I see traces of tearout in the walnut where it was cut for the tip plus the tip doesn't look flush with the walnut in a couple places). I could be seeing things, though.

Could it be a rifle that was simply re-barreled by Niedners?

Cheek piece shape and all the little ivory dots or pins remind me of James Howe's practices.

The Niedner barrel stamp appears off center. Not sure if that would be normal for Niedner or not. Perhaps it is just the angle of the photo? An interesting rifle. Thanks for sharing.

Tom

I would agree with Terry. If you look at the examples of his work in his books, Howe liked to use stippling in his checkering. He also used a lot of ivory and other accents in his stock. He was a great mechanic, but not much of an artist.

John

Terry is correct, I'm almost positive that it's by James V Howe. The shaping of the trigger guard matches what he did on two of my Howe '03 rifles plus all the punch markings and ivory dots. The Niedner barrel number shows the barrel was made in 1934 while Howe was in Cleveland. Pretty sure that Howe would have had Niedner do the barrel in 25 Krag and then Howe made the gun. Notice the reshaping of the tang and Michael wrote of Howe case coloring TGs, this one has case colored TG, loading gate and side plate. Add to this all the stippling in the checkering patterns and around the TG. One of my Howe '03s has a similar front sight ramp with the curved shape on the sides.

Dan

Forgot to mention that many of the rifles I have with Niedner barrels have the barrel markings on the side like this one and not on the top.
Dan