'Furniture' as applied to firearms

[gcrank1]

Words are funny things! One is the word furniture, as applied to firearms, from way in the past of gunbuilding. Here is a very apt definition (from 'The Art of Building the Pennsylvania Longrifle', 1st Ed. 12th Printing, 1978, by Dixon Muzzleloading Shop Inc.)

Furniture- any decorative, as well as functional, METAL additions to a (long)rifle, such as: nose cap, escutcheons, ramrod thimbles, enry thimble, trigger guard, patch box, butt plate, and other decorative inlays.

Strange as it may seem, historically it most definately does not apply to the stock(s). This convention is continued in gunbuilding today.

Im sure all you inquiring minds just wanted to know....... .

[keith44]

I always said that "gun furniture" was anything attached to the stock, except the lock plate(s), trigger, and barrel.  Guess I wasn't far off.  So anybody got any added furniture or engraving on a Handi?

[oldsoldja]

http://world.guns.ru/assault/rus/ak-74-e.html

'Early production guns featured polymer pistol grips and wooden buttstocks and handguards.Later in production all furniture was made from polymer'

 http://www.lowpriceguns.com/browse.php_112938

'Select a category under Stocks / Furniture Kits to narrow search'


http://www.gunsmagazine.com/web-blast-ar-15-furniture/

furniture seems to be an ambiguous term when it comes to guns if your definition is correct


I would call the wood parts furniture and the metal add on parts decorations or trim, accessories

[gcrank1]

I see that those references lack a historical context and would seem to have made a similar assumption regarding 'wood' and now replacement materials for 'stocks' as being 'furniture'.
FWIW, I was made aware of this distinction some 35yrs ago, and though it seemed odd to me at the time, the more I read and studied the art form of the rifle the more I ran across it. As I consider that any field has its correct nomenclature, I just went with it.

[AtlLaw]

Darn good point Blake!  And maybe I misused the term in my post about my 450 Sharps Express.     Depending on whether you consider it a "modern" firearm or not.

Your definition:

Furniture- any decorative, as well as functional, METAL additions to a (long)rifle, such as: nose cap, escutcheons, ramrod thimbles, entry thimble, trigger guard, patch box, butt plate, and other decorative inlays.

I believe is absolutely correct with regard to ML rifles.  For them -  match lock, flint lock, cap lock firearms - the stock is the centerpiece of construction.  Every part is held in place and aligned by the stock.  So all other parts, "nose cap, escutcheons, ramrod thimbles, entry thimble, trigger guard, patch box, butt plate, and other decorative inlays," are furniture for the stock.

Hi-ebber, and day always be a hi-ebber,    modern rifles can be shot nailed to a 2x4!  The barreled action can function apart from the stock.  Therefore, the stock becomes furnature for the main component of a modern rifle, the barreled action.

But what do I know... that definition just sounded reasonable to me when I got on a ML building kick.  I wouldn't ever call a stock "furniture" when referring to a ML.  But I do when talking about a modern rifle.  Like my 450 Sharps Express Handi!