I have always been fascinated by these "conversions"!r
Carlos Gove of Denver, Colorado, specialized in lever conversions of the remington rolling block; and German-born Frank Freund of Cheyenne, Wyoming, modified Sharps and Ballard rifles, and JP Gemmer took over the Hawken shop in St. Louis modified
Sharps, Spencers, and trapdoors
from
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/American+innovation%3A+frontier+gunsmiths+solved+problems+with+the...-a0179532707Carlos Gove, born in 1817 in New Hampshire, eventually apprenticed to a gunsmith. He joined the First United States Mounted Rifles in 1837, serving until 1840. Achieving the rank of sergeant, Gove mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, subsequently staying on with the Indian Department as a gunsmith. Gove eventually settled in Denver in 1860 and switched his business to sporting goods and gunsmithing having found the grocery biz in Denver too cutthroat.
Gove made muzzleloading rifles and shotguns for the local trade employing up to seven people on occasion. As the Civil War raged, he served in various campaigns against the Indians in addition to running his business. In 1865, C. Gove Gun Shop advertised Henry and Spencer rifles, Hawken rifles as well as Colt, Remington and S&W for sale and "guns made to order."
It was the Remington rifle on which he put his particular stamp, advertising it as the "Improved Remington" in 1874. Gove's improvement was the incorporation of an underlever to apply greater leverage seating a cartridge. Few were actually made and surviving specimens sell in the 5-figure range, making them an extremely valuable old West collectible. Most were restocked in a frontier style with a wiping rod underneath the barrel and a wicked crescent buttplate.
Gove's styling is unique and has many hallmarks of a Mountain Man's rifle for use far from hearth and home. His choice of wood, wiping rod, pewter fore-end cap, a lever formed to the shape of a Hawken triggerguard all transform the Rolling Block from a basic, sturdy everyman's rifle to one as individual as the frontiersman who ordered one.
These "crossover" cartridge rifles blend the handiness of the muzzleloader with the convenience of a cartridge arm. The Hawken Shop under JP Gemmer did conversions of Sharps, Trapdoor Springfields and Spencer Repeaters to resemble the storied Hawken rifle. Gove's converted Remington Rolling Blocks and several models of John Marlin's Ballard rifle all featured wiping rods under the barrel, convenient for the ever necessary cleaning arms fired with black powder demand.
yhs
prof marvel