doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Another Orphan Adopted,

Before Hoffman made their own single-shot they offered the .22 target on both the Ballard and the Martini. Do you remember the barrel number or could you put me in touch with the current owner.

I'm about done with my Hoffman Falling Block article and could use info on the rifle you had.

Michael, wasn't some of the Kirk stockwork by a lady?

Yes the daughter of David,
1878 at the age of twelve, William Kirkwood apprenticed to his father, David, and it was not long before William became a fine workman. David Kirkwood died in March of 1897 and William and his sister Margaret (Parks) ran the shop under their father’s name until 1902 when the name was changed to Kirkwood Brothers. A brother named Horace worked for a time at the shop, then left the gunmaking business and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Margaret was a accomplished trap shot and a friend of Annie Oakley. A.O. Niedner in an interview in 1954 referred to Margaret Parks as a good stockmaker; when and what kind of stockmaking she did I have not learned. By the time the 1903 Springfield was starting to be sporterized, shotguns to order were no longer being made at the Kirkwood shop.

is this of the same Kirkwood?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=173247216

That would have been David the father and possible one or two of the kids but yes, the same family. Their shop in Boston was open for 99 years.

I want to shoot the Kirkwood so I removed some of the thin wood so it will not split out over the side mount.

It has also stopped taking linseed oil and beginning to look like a Kirkwood should.



Bigger Picture

I took No. 3 to the range this morning and set up at 100-yards. After nine shots with me moving the Noske mount back and forth not a single bullet on the target so I moved the target to 50-yards.

I only brought twenty rounds so at 50 I did a good bore sight fired one and tighten down the adjustment which moved the group a little bit to the left. I then fired three with the Lyman 48 and the last four with the express sight.

Great trigger at 3lbs-8oz, Kirkwood installed a little plate in the trigger-guard that takes the slack out of the two-stage.

I was surprised that I even hit the plate with the express sight. The sights need to be moved about a foot closer to the front

Michael,
There is a simple solution. Sell all your US made rifles with open sights and buy British rifles with wide Vs. Seriously For some strange reason I can still see them and and can not use any other form of open sight anymore. Its a good thing so many old US made rifles came with tang and receiver sights.

That would solve many problems

I have a half-stock muzzle-loader and my Remington-12 .22 that I've had since I was a kid. I think these are the only rifles that I have with just a rear barrel sight.

Last year a friend stopped by with a new custom rifle by Lon Paul. The rear sight was about at the forend tip, nice and clear sight picture and a rifle I could shoot.