my little squirrel rifle

[George]

Thirty-five years ago I bought a trim little flintlock .30 caliber rifle which as been my main squirrel rifle. It would be hard to make a better one. The rifle was built by Louis Smith of Johnson City, TN. It has a Wm. "Bill" Large 38" barrel which is 11/16-inch across, straight octagon and has a 1:56" twist. The lock is a Hadaway, made by "Doc" Hadaway in my home town of Louisville, Ky. I've never seen a gun with as many inlays and engravings as it has. It is so slender and trim that first glance makes you think it's a woman's or child's gun, but trigger pull is 13 3/4", overall length is 55" and it fits me very well. Weight is 7 lb., and it hangs well offhand. I shoot mostly .295" balls with .010" patch, sometimes .290". It handles 15 to 30 grains of FFFg well and is my most accurate gun out to about 40 yards. As the old boys used to say, "she will make 'em come!"

Spence

 

[ny griz]

:thumbsup: All i can say is"WOW!!!!!" Griz

 

Spence,
Most people call them beautiful but that is one Handsome rifle. If it only shoots half as good as it looks those tree rats are in big trouble.
Mark :thumbsup:

 

[Semisane]

That's so pretty I got tears in my eyes. I'd smile all day carrying it in the woods even if I didn't see any game.

 

[vern faulkner]

:thumbsup: For one of the very few times in my misguided life, I'm speechless. That rifle is where the term "pride in ownership" was meant to be used. Thank you so much for posting the photo's and sharing it with us.

Vern

 

[Shane Carter]

That is a definite looker ya got there! Best of luck with the tree rats.

 

[George]

Thanks, I'm glad you like her. Flintlocks are special, aren't they?

Some more details:

 

[vern faulkner]

The only negative thing that I have to say about that rifle is "it ain't mine" (and I'm not usually the jealous type).

Vern

 

[wvbuckbuster]

That's neat! I bet when them squaks see you coming they get in line just to be shot with that pretty flinter. :thumbsup:

 

[torn moc]

That flinter is More than " SPECIAL" ! !
10 STARS ON THAT'N My Friend....for Sure.

 

[Zonie]

I'm more than a little pleased to hear that you are using that fine rifle for what it was intended for. :hatsoff:

More than one person says when seeing a well decorated rifle like that, "I sure wouldn't use that for hunting! Might scratch it up. Something like that is only good for hanging on a wall!"

As you know, the fancy guns shoot just as accurately as a plain one and they were built to be shot.

Thanks for sharing your gun with us.

 

[sidelock]

BOY A perty pup kant even hold a lite on thatn.Shore is perty. I kin taste squirl grave and biscuts rite now. A beauty. Thanks for showing.

 

[WALKERs210]

Your rifle has really made me decide to look at going this route on my Perdersoli Frontier. Doubt if anything I could do would ever come close to the beauty of yours.

 

[George]

I kin taste squirl grave and biscuts rite now.

Like this, sidelock?

Spence

 

[runnin lead]

WOW :thumbsup:

 

[Tim Ott]

many hours of work is what I see! A real beaut! :bow:

 

[Jim Comer]

what time is dinner? I will catch the next flight out!

I kin taste squirl grave and biscuts rite now.

Like this, sidelock?

Spence

 

[Jim Comer]

That is a museum piece wow! :bow:

 

[Vaino]

If'n I was only a squirrel....beautiful LR...Fred

 

[neal b]

WOW!!!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: