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A mid-18th century Jaeger rifle is gradually taking shape these days in the Pricketts Fort gunshop. The photos show Greg Bray, senior blacksmith, fitting a steel buttplate to the stock of a .60 caliber Jaeger, a big-game hunting rifle brought over in significant numbers by German gunsmiths in the years between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. Arriving chiefly through the port of Philadelphia, these gunsmiths initially concentrated in Lancaster county, later fanning out into western Pennsylvania, including the Pittsburgh area and the upper Monongahela valley.
Gradually, in response to the needs of western frontiersmen who wanted a rifle that was more economical, more accurate and longer-range, these early gunsmiths began modifying the basic Jaeger design to fit the requirements of the American frontiersmen. They lengthened the barrel and reduced the caliber, resulting in a rifle of greater accuracy and range, and requiring a smaller amount of lead for musket balls.
The German Jaeger was thus the forerunner and basis for the legendary Pennsylvania-Kentucky longrifle. It was also a first-rate hunting rifle in its own right, and remained the preferred weapon of many.
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