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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  BRITISH RIFLE BAKER FLINTLOCK .65
Maker/Manufacturer:	BAKER, EZEKIEL
Date of Manufacture:	1823-1839
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 8142
Measurements:	OL:116.8CM 46" BL: 77.4CM 30 1/2"

Object Description:

BRITISH RIFLE BAKER FLINTLOCK .65
Made in England - Standard British Baker rifle in original flint that has unfortunately seen better days. Brass mounted. Stock cracked at buttplate, patchbox removed and filled in with wood, bayonet bar removed, and rifling reamed out to make a smoothbore. Barrel appears to have been lightly drawfiled. Small splice in wood on left side of stock by lower barrel pin. Upper sling swivel missing.

Markings:
Lock: Only visible marking is British crown.
Barrel: British proofs and initials RW. RW = Richard Wheeler - Wheeler supplied 150 barrels in 1823.

Weapon donated to the Springfield Armory NHS by Tufts University (Victor A. Friend Collection) on 3 August 1979.

Friend's # 5-1 - "English Flint-Lock Fowling Piece. Marked 'Busby, London.' Probably made about 1760-70. Guns of this type were used for hunting purposes but many Colonial soldiers fought with them during the Revolutionary War."

Notes: "Rifles, as military weapons, would appear first to have been used in 1631 by the Landgrave of Hesse; but it was not until the War of the American Independence that their value became clear. In 1800 the Baker rifle was issued to the newly raised British Rifle Brigade. It was sighted to 100 yards with a folding sight for 200. Baker says he could hit a painted man on a six-foot target 32 times out of 34 shots at 100 yards. The main difficulty with all early rifles was fouling of the barrel, which impeded loading." - Fuller

"I have found 200 yards the greatest range I could fire at with any certainty. I have fired very well at 300 when the wind was calm. At 400 and 500, I have sometimes struck the object, though I have found it to vary much." - Baker

"Baker, Ezekiel. London (1758-1836). Apprenticed to Henry Nock, and worked for him until c. 1787. Established himself as a gun-barrel maker in 1780 with premises at 8 Fieldgate St. until moving to 23 Little Alie St. in 1791, from which time he made civilian small arms. How he managed to bring himself to the attention of the Board of Ordnance with regard to the design of rifle barrels is not known; between 1794 and 1798 he had only performed barrel-repair work for the Board, and from March 1798 he also supplied complete Short Land Pattern muskets. In a series of trials in 1800 against other makers such as Egg and Nock his barrels were chosen for the new infantry rifle. He delivered his first rifles to the Board in April 1800. In 1801 the first edition of his book Remarks on Rifle Guns was published; the eleventh edition appeared in 1835, one year before his death. He remained at Alie St. until 1804, by which time he had seen his rifle barrel adopted as the Government pattern for both infantry and cavalry rifles. How much of the remainder of the weapon known by collectors as 'the Baker rifle' was actually designed by Baker is unknown. He was also a contractor to the East India Company fro 1803 to 1822, and they adopted several useful Baker improvements to the locks of their service arms. In 1804 he moved to 24 Whitechapel Road where he remained until his death. From 1823 he operated as Baker & Son, with both his wife Elizabeth and son Ezekiel John taking the leading role at various periods." - Bailey

References:
Bailey, De Witt. BRITISH MILITARY FLINTLOCK RIFLES 1740-1840. Andrew Mowbray Publishers. Lincoln, R.I. 2002.
Fuller, J.F.C. ARMAMENT & HISTORY: THE INFLUENCE OF ARMAMENT ON HISTORY FROM THE DAWN OF CLASSICAL WARFARE TO THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. De Capo Press. N.Y., N.Y. 1998.
Lewis, Berkeley R. SMALL ARMS AND AMMUNITION IN THE UNITED STATES SERVICE, 1776-1865. Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C. 1960.
Rogers, Colonel H.C.B. WEAPONS OF THE BRITISH SOLDIER. Seeley Service & Co. London, England. 1960.