The vast majority of original powder horns were as plain as they could be and still be functional. That means a flat pine (or other softwood) base plug and little or no carving of the throat; just enough work to contain powder and attach a strap. Many times a screw was used to attach a […]
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 […]
This powder horn was made from a raw horn in a late colonial style. I scraped it down, carved and filed the spout in the traditional manner. The plain domed base plug was carved from pine and held in place with wooden pegs. I turned the stopper from a scrap piece of curly maple. […]
An Unusual Iron Mounted Rifle The longrifle shown here is an iron mounted chunk gun with stylistic elements found on guns from the Augusta/Rockbridge area of Virginia down into southwest Virginia. This rifle includes a four-piece iron patchbox and a faceted trigger guard and thimbles similar to a couple of rifles from Wallace Gusler’s step-toe […]
Read More… from Gun #12 – An Iron Mounted Virginia Chunk Gun
Shown here is a previously unpublished John Davidson longrifle.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 […]
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 […]
Shown here is an original rifle attributed to William Britton of Hampshire County, West Virginia. It is published on page 64 of Gunsmiths of West Virginia by Lambert and Whisker. This rifle has been re-converted from percussion to flint. The Maslin lock shown is not original to the gun and is poorly fitted in the […]
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 […]