Gove traits

[kansas_volunteer]

I've accumulated enough odds and ends to start work on a late plains rifle. My inspiration is a rifle in a museum stocked in fairly plain light colored wood, probably maple. It has a back action lock and cast white metal forend tip. In other regards it is pretty much a late plains rifle.

I'm thinking I might draw some inspiration from the guns of Carlos Gove, well known gunsmith in Denver, Kansas Territory. I find only a little about his guns online and much of it is repiticious. Do you have any thoughts on Gove guns and their traits? What are your thoughts on percussion late plains rifles in general, as they might have been just prior to cartridge rifles leaping to popularity?

I will be stocking my rifle with a nice piece of fiddle back maple, not a bland piece of wood.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

It's an area of muzzleloaders that few are interested in today.

If only us caplock fans had half the enthusiasts the flint people have... Sorry I couldn't be of further help.

 

[apachesx2]

http://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/B039_Sellers.pdf

Interesting history and examples of his work.

 

[plmeek]

I'm only being slightly facetious in the following comment.

Take a Thompson Center Hawken and copy it using your back action lock and iron mounts, and you have what you want.

Use this trigger guard from Track, Part #TG-DIMICK-I

This butt plate, Part #BP-TC-H-I.

Or this one, Part #BP-HAWK-JB-I.

You might have to use a Hawken breech plug as the other options such a Dimmick or English style plugs aren't available anymore.

The Carlos Gove single barrel rifles (Gove built double barrel rifles, too, some side-by-side, some over-under) I've seen aren't much different than some J.P. Gemmer, H.E. Dimmick, or numerous other gun makers from New York to California that were building half stock, heavy barreled rifles of the late percussion era.

Put a slight perch belly in the bottom of the butt stock. There wasn't much else that distinguished one maker from the other.

Phil Meek

 

[Pete44ru]

I will be stocking my rifle with a nice piece of fiddle back maple, not a bland piece of wood.

Sometimes, wood can surprise you.

Before pitching that stock, I would first try sanding an area clean, slightly stain it (or not - or do 2 areas, one with stain, the other not)- then apply some finish.

I've been successful in adding some fiddleback grain to plain/raw wood (there's several different ways, too long to get into here).

I've had more than a few surprises, over the years - after all, what do you have to lose, other than some minimal work ?

 

[Col. Batguano]

There are far more cap gun shooters than rock lock shooters. About a 4:1 ratio or larger if you look at sales numbers for the manufacturers. It's just that there seem to be more flint gun BUILDERS than there are cap builders. But, most builders that have built more the a couple of guns have done at least one cap gun. It's just that the whole lock mechanism isn't as visually interesting to look at and finicky to make function as it is in flint.

By the time the cap gun era came around, (which also lasted far less time than the flint era) carving as a decorative element had passed its' hey day, and guns became more plain. Metal inlays and engraving became more prominent as decoration. Engraving scares people (as builders) more so than carving does. A lot of builders are at least as interested in carving (or decoration in general) as they are in building. Also, the engraving in flint (American) guns tends to be more folk artsy, rather than fine artsy, as you find more of in continental and English guns. An average builder is far more likely to achieve the level of mediocrity the original builders had in their flint guns than achieve the fine art level seen in European or some of the later American percussion stuff. That's my take on it anyway.