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- Nov 26, 2005
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Hi Folks,
I always liked rifle #52 in Shumway's first volume of Rifles in Colonial America and felt it would make a good shooter for me. I am not fond of the decoration on that gun but the architecture really appeals to me and I think it is an early piece, perhaps made before the Rev War. I think it is a Northampton County, PA gun but its provenance is unknown. Anyway, I made a scale drawing of the gun and adapted it to my build adding some drop and shortening the LOP. I used a 62 cal. Getz D-weight swamped and rifled barrel, and a red maple stock blank. I regret the stock wood because, although dense overall, it had some hidden soft spots that coincided with areas for carving such as behind the cheek piece. Its penchant for chipping and shredding made carving at times a frustrating challenge. I did not copy any of the carving on the original gun but constrained it to simple designs and motifs consistent with the time and location of the original. Unlike my previous Reading gun, I did not limit my time spent on tasks but after planning my moves, I attacked each task with deliberation, efficiency, and speed, not fussing overly. I really like the look resulting from that strategy, at least for now. It seems authentic. The trigger guard and butt plate are castings and the lock is a modified Davis Colonial American flintlock. I made all of the other components. The wood is stained with ferric nitrate, filed, scraped and burnished (no sandpaper at all), and finished with Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil. I kept the engraving to a bare minimum (something really hard for me to do) and appropriate for the gun. Finally, I added a silver star burst in an unconventional location as a final touch to the "Star of Bethlehem". This is a big bore business-like man's gun not meant for the faint at heart.
dave
I always liked rifle #52 in Shumway's first volume of Rifles in Colonial America and felt it would make a good shooter for me. I am not fond of the decoration on that gun but the architecture really appeals to me and I think it is an early piece, perhaps made before the Rev War. I think it is a Northampton County, PA gun but its provenance is unknown. Anyway, I made a scale drawing of the gun and adapted it to my build adding some drop and shortening the LOP. I used a 62 cal. Getz D-weight swamped and rifled barrel, and a red maple stock blank. I regret the stock wood because, although dense overall, it had some hidden soft spots that coincided with areas for carving such as behind the cheek piece. Its penchant for chipping and shredding made carving at times a frustrating challenge. I did not copy any of the carving on the original gun but constrained it to simple designs and motifs consistent with the time and location of the original. Unlike my previous Reading gun, I did not limit my time spent on tasks but after planning my moves, I attacked each task with deliberation, efficiency, and speed, not fussing overly. I really like the look resulting from that strategy, at least for now. It seems authentic. The trigger guard and butt plate are castings and the lock is a modified Davis Colonial American flintlock. I made all of the other components. The wood is stained with ferric nitrate, filed, scraped and burnished (no sandpaper at all), and finished with Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil. I kept the engraving to a bare minimum (something really hard for me to do) and appropriate for the gun. Finally, I added a silver star burst in an unconventional location as a final touch to the "Star of Bethlehem". This is a big bore business-like man's gun not meant for the faint at heart.
dave
