It is a beauty! Maybe, probably, possibly it was Made in Texas. If anyone has info pro or con I'd sure love to hear it. According to Mr. Bowman, who bought it as a Texas made gun ... and who thinks that if proved to be a it's value would be double ... at least .... what it is now; provenance is almost everything. But like most everything in life, possession in 9/10's of the truth!!
Dan's research ... and it was danged extensive ... to verify or disprove Texas origin is as follows:
This gun was crafted by a pro; not a "blacksmith" gun as Dan calls the everyday, put together from available parts kind of frontier rifle. So many existing guns are composites of different original guns because you just couldn't go to the store for replacement parts - you used what was available. So, it had to be made by a legitimate "smith" ... and,
No listed gunsmith by the L Miller name anywhere ... in any of the huge databases on gunsmiths - except in the Texas Gun Trade book (see below).
Dan has not seen another "L Miller" marked gun in all his years of collecting and inspecting. And there was another "thread" of inquiry on a gun collectors site looking for an L. Miller without success:
