My AW.SPIES Pennsylvania Rifle 34 caliber?

[.577 caliber]

Heres pictures of my first kentucky/Pennsylvania rifle it has set triggers, rifling in the barrel and no half cock when I removed the lock to fix this I found no half cock notch or any signs of it ever being there so Im not sure whats going on there
But what strikes me the most about this rifle is the thickness of the barrel which makes it on the heavy side so shooting it standing and retaining accuracy would have been a challenge However the bore size is only about .34 inches ?





Feel free to tell me what you know about the rifle click on the pictures to enlarge

Information

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[gew8805]

Others will have to tell you about A.W. Spies, I've heard the name but am not familiar with details, my preferences run to military firearms of the pre-1865 era.

It is not at all unusual for the half cock notch to be missing, it probably never had one. When hunting, the gun was loaded and capped when setting out. The hammer was kept down on the capped nipple and could be cocked when ready to fire, that was considered safe practice in the day. If on the target range the nipple could be loaded, then capped when ready to step up to the line.

[browningautorifle]

Shooting standing can be achieved better with shooting sticks. A bit awkward to carry perhaps, but it works.