I made a rifle

[Century to late]

Nice quality work. Makes me want to get back on my projects.

 

[TDM]

@HighUintas your rifle is beautiful! Top notch fit and finish!

 

[deerstalkert]

what an abomination! quickly now, send it to me to dispose of!
you sir are an artist! makes me ashamed to show my efforts and i have been at the game a while.
your effort could grace any museum as a masterpiece.
looking at your photos and muttering yum, got me accused of browsing a different type of site!

 

[WALT53]

More

Very nice .

 

[Notchy Bob]

Your rifle is outstanding. The workmanship is impeccable, but I would also commend you for the traditions you honor with this rifle's concept and design. Phillip Creamer was very well known and highly regarded as a gunsmith in the southwest Illinois/St. Louis area in the early 19th century. I think it's great to see somebody honoring his legacy. I love Hawken rifles as much as anybody, and maybe more than some, but there were other gunmakers in those days. I recently read an article about "arming the emigrants" on the Oregon Trail, and if I remember correctly there were something like 149 practicing riflemakers in St. Louis alone in the 1840's. That's not even counting the independent gunmakers in the outlying counties and countryside.

In reading the books and documents from the period of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, the Santa Fe trade, and the westward migration, one phrase I keep seeing is "...a long Missouri rifle." Yours may be an example of the type.

John Bidwell was one of the organizers of the first wagon train to leave Missouri for California, in 1841. In his memoir, The First Emigrant Train to California, he wrote, "My gun was an old flint-lock rifle, but a good one. Old hunters told me to have nothing to do with cap or percussion locks, that they were unreliable, and that if I got my caps or percussion wet I could not shoot, while if I lost my flint I could pick up another on the plains." So, flintlocks endured.

I really like the triggerguard on that rifle, too.

Great work, my friend.

Notchy Bob

 

[N5JIF]

Mercy! I’m extremely impressed. That hits my taste in color, shape and finish. Simply fabulous

 

[mountainman_53223]

I call that

Hi All,

I built a rifle. It is done, with the exception of the engraving. It will take me a long time to learn that and I'll get it added eventually, so I'm calling this rifle ready to start getting beat up.

It started as a Jim Beckwourth rifle, and then became something inspired by the William Clark rifle made by Philip Creamer and the famous Hawken rifles. It is supposed to be an 1825 rifle, maybe made by a new gunsmith in southern Illinois that was impressed by Creamer and Jake Hawken.

This rifle is supposed to be as new or slightly used. Bright steel but with a bit of Birchwood Casey's brass black rubbed mostly back. I left the rear sight much darker to dull the shine in full sun, even though it is obviously darker than the barrel. 36" colerain 58 cal., 7/16" rod. Chambers late ketland lock with the rear tit removed from the plate. Stock blank provided by Allen Martin. Davis triggers. Hawken butt plate and highly modified Ohio guard. The Ohio guard sort of throws this out of the time period, but I was hoping it would be modified far enough away from being "Ohio" that it would just be a good looking guard. Plain pipes that I modified. I made the keys, escutcheons, inlay, toeplate. Made the patchbox side plates from sheet and the finial/door was a kit hinge. Patch box is copied from the Creamer/Clark rifle. Finish is gilsonite in turp, then LMF Lancaster maple, permalyn sealer as sealer and finish.

Feel free to critique as much as you see fit for things that could be improved, based on what I've stated. There's a few obvious goofs I'm aware of that I didn't have the skills to fix properly... Off side lock panels lock bolt hole #1, mis-drilled tang bolt.

Thank you Herb Troester and the late Louie Parker.

Hi All,

I built a rifle. It is done, with the exception of the engraving. It will take me a long time to learn that and I'll get it added eventually, so I'm calling this rifle ready to start getting beat up.

It started as a Jim Beckwourth rifle, and then became something inspired by the William Clark rifle made by Philip Creamer and the famous Hawken rifles. It is supposed to be an 1825 rifle, maybe made by a new gunsmith in southern Illinois that was impressed by Creamer and Jake Hawken.

This rifle is supposed to be as new or slightly used. Bright steel but with a bit of Birchwood Casey's brass black rubbed mostly back. I left the rear sight much darker to dull the shine in full sun, even though it is obviously darker than the barrel. 36" colerain 58 cal., 7/16" rod. Chambers late ketland lock with the rear tit removed from the plate. Stock blank provided by Allen Martin. Davis triggers. Hawken butt plate and highly modified Ohio guard. The Ohio guard sort of throws this out of the time period, but I was hoping it would be modified far enough away from being "Ohio" that it would just be a good looking guard. Plain pipes that I modified. I made the keys, escutcheons, inlay, toeplate. Made the patchbox side plates from sheet and the finial/door was a kit hinge. Patch box is copied from the Creamer/Clark rifle. Finish is gilsonite in turp, then LMF Lancaster maple, permalyn sealer as sealer and finish.

Feel free to critique as much as you see fit for things that could be improved, based on what I've stated. There's a few obvious goofs I'm aware of that I didn't have the skills to fix properly... Off side lock panels lock bolt hole #1, mis-drilled tang bolt.

Thank you Herb Troester and the late Louie Parker.

I call that mighty pretty

 

[HighUintas]

Your rifle is outstanding. The workmanship is impeccable, but I would also commend you for the traditions you honor with this rifle's concept and design. Phillip Creamer was very well known and highly regarded as a gunsmith in the southwest Illinois/St. Louis area in the early 19th century. I think it's great to see somebody honoring his legacy. I love Hawken rifles as much as anybody, and maybe more than some, but there were other gunmakers in those days. I recently read an article about "arming the emigrants" on the Oregon Trail, and if I remember correctly there were something like 149 practicing riflemakers in St. Louis alone in the 1840's. That's not even counting the independent gunmakers in the outlying counties and countryside.

In reading the books and documents from the period of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, the Santa Fe trade, and the westward migration, one phrase I keep seeing is "...a long Missouri rifle." Yours may be an example of the type.

John Bidwell was one of the organizers of the first wagon train to leave Missouri for California, in 1841. In his memoir, The First Emigrant Train to California, he wrote, "My gun was an old flint-lock rifle, but a good one. Old hunters told me to have nothing to do with cap or percussion locks, that they were unreliable, and that if I got my caps or percussion wet I could not shoot, while if I lost my flint I could pick up another on the plains." So, flintlocks endured.

I really like the triggerguard on that rifle, too.

Great work, my friend.

Notchy Bob

Notchy Bob, thank you very much. And thank you very much for always providing some education to our discussions! I'm very excited to read the memoir you linked.

Another apparently brilliant gunsmith of the same era or slightly earlier is John Small of Vincennes, IN. He also built a rifle for William Clark, that is unique and beautiful. Especially unique considering the time period!

 

[Col. Batguano]

Was that your first use of wedges vs. pins? Excellent job. They're a LOT more work aren't they? Did you slot them so they could be captured by a pin in the stock? Losing wedges is a real downer.

 

[Century to late]

Was that your first use of wedges vs. pins? Excellent job. They're a LOT more work aren't they? Did you slot them so they could be captured by a pin in the stock? Losing wedges is a real downer.

I've gone back and looked at all your pictures. Im very impressed at the work done on this beautiful work of art. Anything in the works for next build?

 

[shorthair]

Too pretty for me but dang I'm envious of your talent.

 

[HighUintas]

Was that your first use of wedges vs. pins? Excellent job. They're a LOT more work aren't they? Did you slot them so they could be captured by a pin in the stock? Losing wedges is a real downer.

My first build, so yes. I can imagine they are a lot more work than pins!;it took me awhile to get the mortise cut out enough to use the heated key trick.

I didn't slot them to capture them. They're snug enough I have no worry of them falling out and I really didn't like the idea of having them hanging off the side of the stock when I remove the barrel.

I've gone back and looked at all your pictures. Im very impressed at the work done on this beautiful work of art. Anything in the works for next build?

Nothing started yet. It's close enough to hunting season I need to get ready for that.... Get in shape, practice bow, and figure out how to shoot this new flinter accurately! The next one may be either a half stock, or skinny southern mountain rifle, or a Creamer fowler.

 

[Century to late]

My first build, so yes. I can imagine they are a lot more work than pins!;it took me awhile to get the mortise cut out enough to use the heated key trick.

I didn't slot them to capture them. They're snug enough I have no worry of them falling out and I really didn't like the idea of having them hanging off the side of the stock when I remove the barrel.


Nothing started yet. It's close enough to hunting season I need to get ready for that.... Get in shape, practice bow, and figure out how to shoot this new flinter accurately! The next one may be either a half stock, or skinny southern mountain rifle, or a Creamer fowler.

Keep up the beautiful work.

 

[Col. Batguano]

They're darn easy to lose. More than once I've helped friends dig through the leaves looking for a lost wedge! If you used store bought wedges it might be a good idea to buy an extra 1-2 and file them to the size of your largest / longest wedge, and keep them in the patch box.

Another trick I've used out in the woods is to put a piece of masking tape over the heads to help keep them from falling out. (Wedges seem to be more prone to coming out than pins are. It's easy to get a tight fit for a 1/16" pin with a 1/16" hole vs carving out a consistent 1/16" tight rectangular slot. And with pins, there's no head to snag on things and get pulled.) They always seem to be looser in the summer than they are in the winter, (which is when I installed them).

In either case, installing slotted and captured pins is a relatively easy retrofit if you choose to do so. I don't find having the slotted wedges hanging out of the stock at all disconcerting when I'm doing my cleaning / barrel removal, and they add another point of interest when showing it to others. (We ALL do THAT!)

 

[Robert Jeannotte]

Hi All,

I built a rifle. It is done, with the exception of the engraving. It will take me a long time to learn that and I'll get it added eventually, so I'm calling this rifle ready to start getting beat up.

It started as a Jim Beckwourth rifle, and then became something inspired by the William Clark rifle made by Philip Creamer and the famous Hawken rifles. It is supposed to be an 1825 rifle, maybe made by a new gunsmith in southern Illinois that was impressed by Creamer and Jake Hawken.

This rifle is supposed to be as new or slightly used. Bright steel but with a bit of Birchwood Casey's brass black rubbed mostly back. I left the rear sight much darker to dull the shine in full sun, even though it is obviously darker than the barrel. 36" colerain 58 cal., 7/16" rod. Chambers late ketland lock with the rear tit removed from the plate. Stock blank provided by Allen Martin. Davis triggers. Hawken butt plate and highly modified Ohio guard. The Ohio guard sort of throws this out of the time period, but I was hoping it would be modified far enough away from being "Ohio" that it would just be a good looking guard. Plain pipes that I modified. I made the keys, escutcheons, inlay, toeplate. Made the patchbox side plates from sheet and the finial/door was a kit hinge. Patch box is copied from the Creamer/Clark rifle. Finish is gilsonite in turp, then LMF Lancaster maple, permalyn sealer as sealer and finish.

Feel free to critique as much as you see fit for things that could be improved, based on what I've stated. There's a few obvious goofs I'm aware of that I didn't have the skills to fix properly... Off side lock panels lock bolt hole #1, mis-drilled tang bolt.

Thank you Herb Troester and the late Louie Parker.

Beautiful work. Just "remade" an old spanish made "kentucky" rifle. Gave up making it pretty. Just to far gone, but it works well now. If I had your rifle I'd be afraid to shoot it.

 

[S.Kenton]

Man that is a FINE looking rifle!

 

[SOLANCO]

That rifle is a thing of beauty!

 

[The Appalachian]

That's a fine, fine rifle......

 

[user 31232]

May your aim be true, beautiful rifle !