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The stock and flint lock mechanism of a Pennsylvania Long Rifle
Credit: Courtesy of the State Museum of Pennsylvania
While many people today associate a Pennsylvania Long Rifle with ornate decoration, a huge trade in plain, utilitarian longrifles destined for the frontier developed quickly as settlers pushed west in the eighteenth century. Even though the brass patch box on this rifle is without decoration, it was probably no less a source of pride for its owner, and a deadly necessity for any frontiersmen.