Earlier this year Tom Rowe showed me pictures of rifles built by Singer.  I had not seen any of Singers work and I found it very unusual compared to other rifles of the time.  And, I wanted one!  I figured I would never own an original so I started planning to make one.

Most of his rifles were built using the Winchester 1885 so I went looking for an action.  I ended up finding a double set, take-down action, that was short a bunch of parts.  My plan is to round up all the parts and get it working.  The take-down adapter is from Frank Zika and needs to be attached to the action, I'm currently working on this.

For the wood I am planning to use Brazilian Rosewood, it is believed the originals are made from this, and I have been in contact with a couple gentleman that have some very old inventory.  Although, I don't want to commit to any until I have my drawing of the stock finalized so I know how much I need, which I'm close to having completed.

Singer guns are different enough that once you know what they look like, are readily recognizable.  He did make different versions but they still are in the family of his style.  I have chose a version that I have 2 different guns to look at.  The owner of one of these rifles was kind enough to measure his for me.  And, he is mailing me the buttplate pattern. 

These pictures are of the two rifles, and are from Tom Rowe.  These rifles, along with several other Singer Rifles, will be included in his upcoming Jersey City Pope Book.

The drawing is my Version 2 and has had changes since I took this picture.  I generally make a quick drawing and then continues to study the originals and make changes over many days.  This version has several things that make me uncomfortable.  Some have already been changed, while others are still under study to determine what I need to fix.

I will continue this thread as I have new information to share.  So far, it has taken some time to round up all the parts and  information I need, but now I felt I am getting close enough to to start this thread.
Bob

Singer rifles are pretty tough to find! I haven't seen any except for pictures in books or auctions. Larry Shelton's book on California Gunsmiths 1846-1900 doesn't even mention Singer! Singer was listed in the Los Angeles city directory as a machinist in 1887 and a gunsmith in 1888, so not sure why Larry's book overlooked him? Singer's family immigrated from Austria around 1870 I believe, and Singer apprenticed at the LeFever Arms Co. and was listed as a gunsmith there in 1880.

One interesting thing about the rifle with the starter and lower buttplate prong bent up more than the other, is that it has quite a little cast off.  I don’t have the numbers right here in front of me but I believe it was 1/4 inch at the heel and 1/2 inch at the toe.
Bob

Schutzenbob wrote on Dec 18^th, 2025 at 5:51pm:


I’ve seen that advertisement and you are correct, it looks very similar to these two guns.
Bob

This is the piece of Brazen Rosewood that was offered to me for this project by Terry Buffum (hope he doesn't mind me mentioning his name) he was very generous in his offering of it.  As can be seen there is dark streaks of grain in it, I'm anxious to see what is hidden in this piece of wood.

You can see in the first picture I have trimmed down to where,  the top of, the top tang will set.   
Bob

Nice looking lumber you got from Terry! I've gotten some nice things from Terry over the years, and he's a great guy and a friend.