Opinions on Tip Curtis gun?

[123.DieselBenz]

Mike,

From all the reading I've done ... He has atleast one son who is working with him, maybe more.

Also it appears that most of his guns are very basic, ready for the fancy work that you do! :grin:

I also understand that some of his guns are already finished, but he sells mostly in the white guns ...

I'm looking to spend up to $1600 ... And thought that the gun that started this thread, since it had been up for sale for a month, that I might be able to get a deal on it for about $1000, right away, instead of waiting for one to be biilt ... but now I'm thinking (there I go again!) that if I could get one a tad longer, and still not have to wait that long ...

It will be an extra 100 miles or so out of my way, on my trip back from VT, but ... Then I can drive right through Clarksville, AR and get some powder too! :grin: P

 

[tg]

Many folks, myself included would never go back to a straight barrel once they use a swamped one and if the historical urge is strong they are pretty much a must do for the pre 1800 guns as a general rule of thumb though todays swamped barrels are usually an exageration of what was done with originals, I would trade off for a plainer wood to have a swamped barrel in a heartbeat and with earlier guns the plainer wood is likley more common from what I have garnered over the years from posts by knowledgeable gun students/builders and looking thru photos of originals, the choice of super duper curly wood has become something that has been trumping many more historicaly "urgent" matters for quite a while now.Once again, good luck, and hopefully the journey to a new gun will be a relatively short one for you.

 

[Macon Due]

Sir
Could you tell me where Tip Curtis is located?.May I assume he also builds fowling pieces?
Thank you.......Macon

 

[gizamo]

Yep,...

Here is a 28 gauge Fusil.

 

[Stumpkiller]

P.O. Box 203, 4445 Jernigan Road, Cross Plains, TN 37049

Google "Tip Curtis Muzzleloaders". He has no website, however.

 

[BigDeutscher]

Yes He does
There is one for sale on classifieds
At cost!

 

[123.DieselBenz]

He is a bit North of Nashville, and yes he does fowlers.

Tip Curtis Frontier Shop
Cross Plains, TN 37049,
(615) 654-4445.

:grin:

 

[123.DieselBenz]

Google "Tip Curtis Muzzleloaders". He has no website, however.

Correct, however there is LOTS of feed back from MANY people on various forums ... I haven't read ANY negative things about him, always people who are happy with there visits with him! :grin:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I have a "Tip Curtis" story. Back in 2005 there was something like a 400 lock backorder at Chamber's shop. I had called to order a lock and, in talking to Jim, he suggested I contact Tip; but to tell him if he was out of stock on that particular lock to "check in the box under his counter". I called Tip and he did say he had none, but when I mentioned he should check in that box he chuckled and said "He told you about that, did he?" I guess that is his private stock for his own builds.

But I did get the lock! We're fortunate the m/l community is made up of such good folk.

 

[Macon Due]

Giz
That's a pretty piece and just the ga. I'd like [too bad he accidently built it with the lock on the wrong side].

B.D.
Yeah I wish yours was 'correct' handed ,it looks nice!
Stump and everyone else...thanks for the info.
Macon

 

[Leatherbark]

Are we even sure that Tip actually makes these rifles himself? I would suspect that is all farmed out..... I know I'm incapable of that volume of work, even as fast as I am. :idunno:
Not that it makes any difference.

I asked him the same thing at Friendship. He stated that he has a couple of guys that "roughs" them in for him. Whatever the definition of "Roughs" means.

Bob

 

[Stumpkiller]

Fred Miller used to inlet barrels for a LOT of other gunsmiths from all around the country; for an attractive price as well ($70 to $80). Would certainly be worth it to me. I think Knob Mountain has taken on that job using his old patterns now.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Stopped by Tip's 4 years ago, got the grand tour of his place. One side of his building was his retail operation, the middle was his shipping and vendor trailer area and the other side of his building was his gun building shop. He said he had an occasional person help him build guns in his shop and could produce a gun in the white in 3 days.

He did have a pretty extensive array stock duplicators and inletting machines if I remember correctly. Seems like he designed and built some machines to do very specific tasks.

Here is a picture from his retail operation and his in stock guns. I snatched the picture off one of Keith Lisle's posts years ago.

 

[Birddog6]

Tip has 3 double racks on rifles in his display area like the one in your photo, I think there is 50 rifles on each rack when they are full, and they generally are all close to full. That is not counting what he has in the trailer & truck he takes to the shows. He has a selection on "in-the-white" rifles that is hard for anyone to compete with.

Keith Lisle

 

[hanshi]

A mouth watering display, for sure. An in-the-white gun in three days screams "SKILL" big time. A gun builder on this very forum once posted that anyone building a gun in a month didn't build anything worth "much". That statement would then appear to be simply "not so"!

 

[Mike New]

I am very fortunate that I live only about 45 minutes from Mr. Curtis' shop. Anything that is found in the catalogs can be held in hand and compared with similar parts. I have not purchased a gun from him but would not hesitate to do so. I never order when I can go and buy from Mr. Curtis. Mike New

 

[hanshi]

It would be great to live so close to someone like Tip; it would, however, get me in real trouble. :grin:

 

[123.DieselBenz]

Well the seller of the gun, which started this whole thread never got back to me . . . and the ad is now been removed, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to see the pictures, and ask questions, as now I can stop at Tips shop, and try a bunch of different models, with different barrels . . . a seller/builder that I did not know existed . . .

I'm planning on stopping there on my way back after Thanksgiving . . . I'll try to get some pictures for the rest of you, while I'm there :wink:

 

Call first to make sure he's there, it's pretty much a one man operation. It's easy to get to but you will need a GPS or directions, or you could drive right by it.

Bill

 

[Leatherbark]

I shot my Tip Curtis early Virginia a few days ago for the first time. Windage was dead on shooting offhand. It shoots slightly to the left from a rest but my shooting style that is the way I have to zero them. I only had to file the front sight maybe a 32nd of an inch. The rifle fired extremely fast and I had no misfires in over 40 shots that morning. To say I am well satisfied is an understatement.

When you look at his guns pay particular attention to the location of the touch hole. I am a stickler for it being centered exactly and located so the frizzen covers it well when closed.

Bob