Henry Leman Longrifle

About the Henry Leman Longrifle

The Henry Leman Longrifle is an American percussion muzzle-loading rifle produced by Lancaster, Pennsylvania gunmaker Henry E. Leman from the 1830s through the 1880s. Firing a patched .45 caliber round ball from a rifled octagonal iron barrel, it is best known in its 'trade rifle' form: a sturdy, plainly finished half-stock plains rifle with brass furniture, a percussion lock and a set trigger. Leman built these rifles in large numbers under U.S. government contracts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where they were distributed as treaty annuities and trade goods, and they saw heavy use among fur trappers and buffalo hunters on the Western frontier.

Henry E. Leman (1812-1887) trained as a journeyman under Philadelphia gunmaker George W. Tryon before opening his own manufactory in Lancaster around 1834. His mechanized shops, which forged, rifled and finished barrels in separate buildings, made him one of the most prolific American riflemakers of the muzzleloading era, and his name became synonymous with the government-contract 'Indian trade rifle.'

Henry Leman Longrifle specifications

Leman offered his trade rifles in several standard calibers (.45, .50, .54 and .58) on a 1-inch octagonal barrel of about 33 inches, with a 14-inch length of pull and a weight near 9 lb. Both flintlock and percussion locks were made, though percussion dominated Leman's later production. Dimensions here reflect a representative .45 caliber example; individual rifles varied by order and period.