Martin Meylin Longrifle
Martin Meylin Gunshop · Rifle · Discontinued · 1719
Also known as: Meylin Rifle, Mylin Longrifle, Pennsylvania Longrifle (Meylin school)
Overview
The Martin Meylin Longrifle is an early American flintlock muzzleloading rifle attributed to the Swiss-German Mennonite gunsmith Martin Meylin, who established a gunshop and boring mill near Pequea Creek in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania around 1719. Long celebrated as one of the earliest examples of the Pennsylvania (later 'Kentucky') longrifle, it features a slender full-length curly maple stock, a long octagonal iron barrel with spiral rifling for improved accuracy, a brass patchbox, and a flintlock ignition system. The spiral-grooved bore that gave these rifles their remarkable long-range accuracy made the frontier longrifle a defining tool of colonial and frontier America.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 3600 g (127.0 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1400 mm (55.12") |
| Barrel Length | 1270 mm (50.00") |
| Action Type | Muzzleloader |
| Firing Mechanism | Flintlock |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 1 rounds |
| Muzzle Velocity | 550 m/s (1804 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 1710 J (1261 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 180 m (197 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 270 m (295 yd) |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Number of Grooves | 7 |
| Frame Material | Wood |
| Barrel Material | Iron |
| Stock Material | Maple |
| Finish | Browned |
Calibers
- .50 Caliber Ball · primary — also known as 12.7mm round ball, .50 caliber patched round ball
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Muzzleloaded
- Features: Octagonal Barrel, Curly Maple Full Stock, Brass Patchbox, Set Trigger, Spiral Rifling
Service history
Operators
- American frontiersmen and settlers · adopted 1719
Production
Production years: 1719-1750
Handcrafted individually at the Meylin gunshop; no production records survive and total output is unknown
Origin
Country of origin: United States
Designer: Martin Meylin
Discontinued: 1750
Notes
Meylin's exact role in originating the longrifle is historically contested; no rifle signed by Martin Meylin has been authenticated, and two rifles once attributed to him have been questioned (one identified as a later European musket, another bearing an impossible 1705 date). Specifications given here reflect typical early Pennsylvania longrifles of the Meylin school. The Meylin Gunshop building still stands on Long Rifle Road in Willow Street, Pennsylvania.
Background
Martin Meylin (1665-1749) emigrated from Zurich with a group of Swiss Mennonites in 1710, settling at Pequea in the Pennsylvania frontier. An 1844 county history records that he was the first gunsmith in Lancaster County, erecting a boring mill on Meylin's run as early as 1719. Traditional accounts credit the Mennonite gunsmiths of his shop with crafting some of the first American longrifles, whose rifled bores could reportedly strike a target at 300 yards.