Something a Little Different

This rifle is a distant relative of rifle number 119 in Rifles of Colonial America by George Shumway.  It is a bit unusual due to its architecture resembling a fowler, but clearly being built as a rifle from the outset.  Due to its fowler styling, it is a very comfortable gun to shoulder and shoot.  The slim wrist and overall profile makes for a nice, slim, lightweight gun.

This particular example is built with a Rice, 42 inch, B-weight, .50 caliber, swamped barrel.  It weighs in at 7lbs and 12 ounces.  It has a curly maple stock and is lightly aged/antiqued. 

I have slightly smaller hands than average so I love the slim wrist on this rifle.  It is just a super comfortable gun to carry and shoulder.

 I hope you enjoy the pictures:

Another Moravian/ Christian Springs


This is another Christian Springs style rifle with heavy Germanic styling.  You can read my earlier posts for a history on these early gunsmiths.

Jaeger Style Rifle

This is a jaeger style rifle I built for a good friend.  It has a Rice .62 caliber barrel and a Jim Chambers lock.  The walnut stock is a nice hard piece of Black Walnut and came from Dunlap.  It had quite a bit of curl on the outer parts of the blank, but alas, most of the curl disappeared once I shaped out the stock.  Such is life when dealing with wood!

Here are some pics:

The gun turned out real well and the owner went out and won some shooting competitions right away.  Those Rice barrels are real shooters.

Thanks!

The Moravians

 

Christian's Spring was a small religious community located in Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. It was settled by a group called the Moravians, who had come from Europe. They came mostly from the areas in and around what is now called Germany.

By the mid 1700's, the Moravians were establishing Christian's Spring as a center for commerce. They were skilled in several arts, including- music, blacksmithing, lock making, and firearms repair and making.  In these early years, it is likely that most of the firearms produced were assembled with parts that had mostly been made in Europe. But, over time, the Moravians became more self reliant and were able to produce the parts needed  for gun making.

 

These early guns have a beauty all their own. They are my favorite style of longrifle. Although each maker had his own "look", the Moravian firearms often share certain features. There is often a step in the area where the wrist meets the underside of the butt stock. This is commonly referred to as a "stepped toe". Many of the rifles from this period had an early brass patchbox, often with a side opening hinge.  Over time the hinge was moved to the "top" of the patchbox, on the end nearest the wrist. Sliding wood patchboxes were also used, but the brass patchbox would eventually become far more common.  The butts on these guns are usually fairly straight, with very little crescent, and they are also wide and tall. Often, the butts measure 2 inches or greater in width and at least 5 inches tall.  This adds greatly to their overall architecture.

 

Many of the great early gunmakers can trace their beginnings to the Moravian communities. Such men as William Antes, Andreas Albrecht, Christian Oerter, and Jacob Dickert were involved with the Moravian communities in Pennsylvania and produced some of the finest firearms of that time period.  For those of you who don't follow the history of the American longrifle, this list of names is a veritable "who's who" of the early stars in this trade.

 

 

 

I have included here several pictures of a couple rifles I have built that follow this early style of longrifle.