Bedford County- beautifully slim rifles.

Bedford County rifle made for a young man a few years back. Nedless to say, he's delighted. The patchbox lid has a paragraph of inletting, showing ownership and the maker's name./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
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[sse]

Did you build that thang??? That is one of the most beautiful creations I have ever seen!! You must do that for a livin??!!

Regards, sse

 

Thankyou for the accolades - no, I lack the skill - but my brother doesn't. This is another rifle he made. One of about 65 or 70 by now. It's a .58 made in a convertable - fellow wanted a cop-lock for shooting, flint for show. I used to feel the same way, but I now shoot flint only.
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Wow those are awesome rifles!
Give me a little history lesson if you would please. What distinguishes a Bedfor County from somehting like a Bucks County?
Now I just happen to own a .45 flinter that I bought from birddog6, though he did not build this particular one and I think he said it was a Bedford.
I did buy an American Jeager in .58 and a .40 Bucks that birddog6 did build and they are truly beautiful.
You'd think I'd know the difference from a Bedford and a Bucks, but I don't.
I have only recently repented of my sinful ways and got away from in-lines and took the plunge into period correct flinters.
Now I'm an absolute rock lock addict.

 

Hey SSE, check out this site if you haven't already.
http://www.geocities.com/birddogsix/index.html

 

The second rifle I posted of butt section isn't a bedford rifle, BTW.
: Apparently ALL of the Bedoford rifles have the same lock plate - to the best of my nowledge, whether they be flint of percussion. These were made by the Bedford gunsmiths themselves, where other countie's gunsmiths used their own & imported locks.
: The Bedford rifles all have the same familiar slim, massive drop to the comb & highly ornate(inlaid)stocks. Apparently the Bedford rifles changed very little over their long liftime of building for some 120years or so.
: The patchboxes also were rather distinct, however I've seen one quite similar to the "Q" finial on a Lancaster rifle, but it has a dropped tail into the circle, opposing the Q's tail at the top.
: Unfortunately, I lack the knowledge to properly answer this question - Sorry.
Daryl

 

:snore: Well duh! Why didn't i just look at my Bedford and Bucks and compare the two. So I did that this morning.
The Bedford is slimmer and trimmer than the Bucks, the Bucks has a different shape in the butt stock too.
The particular Bucks I have is prettier than my Bedford because Birddog6 used P+++ maple when he built it.
He sure does nice work.
It's guys like birddog6 and rollingb that got me into this period kerrect thang in tha 1st place. Dang 'em anawho!