"Opinions are subjective but: who's your favorite flintlock builder? Simple question, purely subjective, arguments not welcome."
I have seen a few flintlock guns made by William Buchele--they are made to be beautiful and useful. Buchele was a well-known gunmaker and author during the 1950s through the early 1970s and he died in 1977. My brother-in-law (who usually does not like "copies" or "repros"), bought a Buchele-signed flintlock rifle several years ago and it is wonderful. It has very distinctive curly maple wood, carvings, silver inlays and decorative brass fixtures.
I just bought a beautiful, but still simple-looking Lehigh Valley style (dropped stock look) flintlock rifle at the Lodi, Ohio, Log Cabin Shop. It was made and signed by Ken Netting, using a W.M. Large, J.J.J.J. signed, .40 caliber 42 ½” barrel (gun is overall 57 ½” length).
William “Bill” M. Large was one of the best barrel makers back in the 50's and 60's. Bill Large made muzzle loading rifle barrels in Ironton, Ohio from the 1920's until his passing in 1985. His barrels were marked with his name and “J.J.J.J.” to honor his four daughters whose first names all began with the letter “J”. His match barrels were also marked with "L." which indicated a little more attention, such as the hand dressing of the concave lands.
My Ken Netting made rifle is a beautiful curly maple, full stock which is lightly engraved the entire length. It has no brass adornments. The steel butt plate is two-piece, the top metal beginning at the barrel tang, inlaid and ending in the middle of the butt. The other half is separated in the middle of the butt and goes about halfway under the stock. There, embedded is a single white diamond, about ½”, with a centered black dot, is embedded on the bottom middle of the stock. The double-set triggers are adorned with an engraved steel trigger guard, steel thimbles, steel lock plate, and steel patch box on the right side. The barrel and all the steel bands and trimmings were given an aged-looking patina on the steel-trimmed items.
I wish to learn more about Ken Netting and eventually talking to him about my rifle. Claude Collins,
[email protected]
Today, I finally was able to take some primitive homemade photographs of my Ken Netting steel trimmed .40 caliber rifle.
