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REGISTER AND POST-HERALD, BECKLEY, W. VA., SATURDAY MORNING. MARCH, 1969SIXTEEN--Ancestors Produced Famous RiflesRitchie Carper Family Proud Of HeritageBy DOUG LAW (Grandview is very proud of itsPost-Herald Staff Writer jheritage, and rightly so. RitchieThe Ritchie Carper family oflCarper’s great-grandfather andgrandfather were gunsmithsl Ritchie’s great-grandfather,i THE LAST RIFLE made by and produced a weapon known!Joseph Howard Carper, was a Joseph was also the first as the Carper rifle. igunsmith in Appalachia, Va.Jfinished by Samuel since Josephand later moved to Union, then died in 1880, before he finished•X-.vXit. Samuel finished making the rifle in 1881 and it carries that date and the number 1 on the barrel.This rifle stands in the living room corner of the Carper home and brings back fondin Virginia. He was born in 1802 and died on Feb. 8, 1880.Joseph’s parents are believed to have emigrated from Germany and to have originally settled in Pennsylvania. Joseph served on the first Raleigh County Grand Jury, which was chosen in April of 1850.The Carper family does notl Samuel made 54 rifles. Some know how Joseph learned his ; were long, some were short, gunsmith trade, but they said and the bore sizes varied from■'.V'V.V^/.*.o• ••• %• ••••*ioxo. •■Vo-. ■w.wa-'./xx,; :Xv-'Xv^y/.yXyS.•wXvhof their craftsmenmemoriesrelatives.W* « . . V* * • • • • * * * • •• • *• • » I * . ,,f.’* • •;■:K •• v:: • ••••■••: ' .; vXi»::x. . .• .. 'HP;hMhU.28 caliber to .44 caliber. The Carpers have traced down eight of Samuel’s 54 rifles and, according to Ritchie, “they were all different.” Samuel’s workshop was located near the Grandview Overlook.The number one rifle thatthat the Carper rifle was considered to be a very accurate weapon. Carper said he believed that his great-grandfather made over 100 rifles.SAMUEL CARPER son of Joseph Carper, was born in Union Va. in 1847 and died in1927 after having moved to the resides in the Carper home is Grandview area, where he built a handsome weapon and; a home in 1860. His wife, Alma, measures a rather long 58inches. The gun has a part of a dime for a front sight and a half stock. It is inlaid with brass and has a brass patchbox on the stock that was used to keep ‘patches’ for use as a seal for the round balls it fired.While the barrels were purchased, the rifling was cut in the barrels by the Carpers. As Ritchie said, “the cutting of the riflings usually deter-!the mother of Ritchie Carper lives in that very home, which is just south of the RitchieCarper home on GrandviewRoad.Samuel learned the gunsmith trade from his father. All of the Carper rifles carry the date of their origin on a small oval plate on the butt stock and a number is engraved on the octagon-shaped barrel. Most ofmma»v' • *Father, Son Look Over Gunthe Carper rifles had eight!mined whether the rifle was riflings or grooves in the barrel.;accurate or not fT^ __ _ _ _ —. . ? ... ' i • a f l1 ¥T iT* C CRitchie Carper shows his j Samuel made in 1881. Samover 150 rifles. The Ritchie Carpers live at Grandview.son, Steve (right), the lock action on the first Carper rifle that Ritchie's grandfather,uei’s father. Joseph, taught him the trade of making rifles and the two of them madeTHE STOCKS of the weapons: were carved from the wood of the maple, walnut, chestnut and cherry tree.The Carpers said they had been told that someone had traded “all the land you can see from Grandview Overlook” for a Carper rifle.All of the Carper rifles were similar in design to what is termed “the Kentucky squirrel rifle.” The early rifles made in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virgi-inia. West Virginia, and Pennsylvania were similar in design. They were long and slim and used the more accurate small bore design.THE CARPER rifles were of the percusson type more commonly known as “cap and ball.” This type of weapon used the explosion of a primer cap to set off the black gunpowder charge in the barrel. The cap was set off by being struck by the hammer.The act of seeing and holding a rifle that was carved from wood and metal over 100 years ago by some of the early pio-ineers sends one back mentally !to that time period and it is then that you begin to realize the efforts it required to make such i a weapon. It is then that you begin to appreciate your ancestors and the problems that confronted them.The grooves impart a spin to (Post-Herald Photo) the round ball that made the“long rifles” so accurate.
Newspaper Details
Post Herald and Register
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Sat, Mar 22, 1969
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Raleigh C.
WV, USA 29 Oct 2018
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