Mountain Rifle

[Nativearizonan]

I will try this:

I bought the barrel, lock, trigger, end cap, and sights. I made all the other furniture and the stock from scratch. I was trying to make a Southern Mountain Rifle, but I couldn't live without a roman nose buttstock, for whatever reason.

 

[Nativearizonan]

Here is the flip side:

 

[Jim C]

That's some beautiful figure to the wood, and some fine lookin' craftsmanship to boot.

 

[Nativearizonan]

Thank you for the complement, MMJ! I was working and living at an isolated State Fish Hatchery at the time I made that and my wife was working and going to school 100 miles away, so I would just go home on the weekends. It gave me a lot of free time and a nice workshop at my disposal on weekends. That nice piece of maple just decided to uproot itself, so I slabbed it with a chainsaw and started trying to teach myself how to build a rifle. I spent a lot of time looking at pictures and reading everything I could get my hands on.

It was kind of like those prison crafts, I guess, in a way. It took me about a year, more if you include the slabs curing for a bit before I chose one and started shaping it.

I had put together a CVA pistol kit once that I had won as a door prize at a Sportsmen Club meeting, but that was my only experience with gun building before the flintlock.

 

[Elkeater]

Very nice Native.
Does the Roman nose fit a guy with a long neck and head? As it appears it might

 

[Nativearizonan]

Hmm. I don't know. I never measured the length of my my neck. As far as the head, I wear a long oval hat, does that count? I've been accused of having a big head, but no one ever said I had a long one.

 

[Ken Cormier]

Welcome from the Great state of Maine and enjoy the forum

 

[Nativearizonan]

Thank you, Kenny.

 

[Len Graves]

Welcome back? I don't think you really ever left, in your heart. Easing back is like being a little pregnant. You have the disease. Ok ok welcome back. Shoot center.

 

[Nativearizonan]

Thanks for the laugh, I think you're right. Maybe I should have said the fever is returning, kind of like Malaria.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Beautiful craftsmanship, simply gorgeous! Really like how you've shaped the stock, very nice curve on the comb, very fitting! More inspiration for my Tennessee build... :thumbsup:

 

[tlallijr]

Very nice, I would love to see some more photo's.

 

[MSW]

I like it! :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[fahopity]

Nice. What caliber is it?

 

[Nativearizonan]

It's a .50

 

[Nativearizonan]

Thank's much. I just drew the silhouette I wanted on a piece of paper. It took a bunch of tries on the paper before I had the curve right. I transferred the drawing from paper to cardboard and then from cardboard to plank, roughly. I didn't have a planer, so I had to either cut, sand or rasp everything down. I did buy a good power sander before I got done, for rough sanding, but all the finish sanding was done by hand. It was done with a combination of hand and basic power tools. As far as shaping, other than the silhouette, I did that pretty much as I went along, just looked at it and removed the wood I didn't like.

 

[Nativearizonan]

I'll try to get a few closeups of the details up sometime. I just found where they moved this to from my "Welcome to the Camp" initial thread.

Whatever moderator moved it, thanks for putting it in the right place.

 

[Nativearizonan]

I am proud of the Trigger guard and buttplate. They were hammered, welded, and ground to get the shape I wanted, rather than being cast pieces. The same with the thimbles and the sideplate.

 

[loojack]

That is a fine looking rifle! I really like the roman nose!

 

[Crewdawg445]

Good to know! Thanks for sharing :thumbsup: Any more pics?