Handmade Tumbler Trouble In conjunction with some recent repair/restoration work, I have started working on an all handmade flintlock. That means one made of wrought iron in the same manner as an 18th century Virginia gun shop including making all the screws. I have completed a set of templates for the lock and have forged […]
Shown here is a previously unpublished John Davidson longrifle. It was made for a farmer in Rockbridge county Virginia and is still in the family. While the rifle is the victim of a very poor restoration job many years ago, there is still considerable artistic merit to the gun. The longrifle is mostly intact. […]
“From a flat bar of soft iron, hand forged into a gun barrel; laboriously bored and rifled with crude tools; fitted with a stock hewn from a maple tree in the neighboring forest; and supplied with a lock hammered to shape on the anvil; an unknown smith, in a shop long since silent, fashioned a […]
This document is not intended to provide detailed instruction in the loading and shooting of a traditional muzzle loading weapon or substitute for personal shooting instruction by an experienced muzzle loading shooter. It is assumed that the novice muzzle loading shooter will seek proper instruction before using their new custom firearm. Shooting Never use anything […]
So, you want to build longrifles. The most important thing you can do before you waste your time and money is STUDY. The following books and videos are highly recommended to form the foundation of your longrifle library: Rifles of Colonial America, Vols l & ll by George Shumway Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in […]
Shown here is a an original signed Simon Lauck fowler. The distinctive signature S_____ Lauck is shown in the last photo. I had originally believed that this gun was mostly a restoration. However, after a careful and detailed examination of the disassembled gun under expert guidance, I have come to believe that this gun […]
This is an original, fully iron mounted rifle most likely made somewhere on the border of southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee probably between 1820 and 1830.. The lines of the breech stock look Virginia while the mounts are typical East Tennessee. The stock is a plain piece of Black Walnut in pretty good shape […]