Author Topic: How it all started  (Read 9510 times)

Offline jdm

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #25 on: December 10, 2017, 06:06:33 PM »
My first antique gun was a gift from my mother it was under the Christmas tree. She had stopped  in a coin shop to buy my dad some old coins for Christmas . The owner had a 1816 Springfield musket hanging on the  wall and she got it for me . Paid a hundred dollars for it in 1971.That started me on my road to ruin . My first Longrifle  I no longer have . For those that have any interest in seeing it there are pictures of it in two books that I know of.        "Maryland Longrifles"  by Hartzler & Whisker Pg. 248 and " Accouterments III " by Jim Johnston Pg. 43 &44. It was a John Armstrong that strangely came into my hands on a Christmas day years later.  When I got it I knew nothing about Kentucky's ( kind of like now) . When I researched  it and found out the value it had to go. With a young family I felt  a gun worth more than my house was not something I should have. Jerry Noble says I'm the only  guy he knows who started at the top and worked his way down.
My third longrifle  I still have . I bought it from Louie Parker  around 1990. It's the John Rupp pictured below along with my Springfield musket.


Sorry for going down memory lane . It's that time of year.










« Last Edit: December 10, 2017, 10:09:19 PM by jdm »
JIM

Offline Cades Cove Fiddler

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #26 on: December 10, 2017, 06:48:04 PM »
 ;) ;)... Iloco... I kinda like that buttstock profile ... unusual for a Southern rifle ....pictured is a Tennessee rifle I just had to have .... profile is almost Lehigh Valley, with the gentle curve on lower butt ... both rifles are not straight as usually seen on Tennessee-Southern guns ...... I like 'um ...... Regards, CC Fiddler ....


dogbest

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #27 on: December 11, 2017, 04:30:11 AM »
Very nice guns!! 
You made the right decision selling the rifle when you had a young family.
I would have done the same.

Offline Buck

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #28 on: December 11, 2017, 11:29:10 PM »
Jim,

I was born in 1971, you're old!

Buck

Offline iloco

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #29 on: December 12, 2017, 12:06:15 AM »
;) ;)... Iloco... I kinda like that buttstock profile ... unusual for a Southern rifle ....pictured is a Tennessee rifle I just had to have .... profile is almost Lehigh Valley, with the gentle curve on lower butt ... both rifles are not straight as usually seen on Tennessee-Southern guns ...... I like 'um ...... Regards, CC Fiddler ....


I agree we got a couple of rifles that don't fit the mold of other rifles.  I had a good friend who took pictures of my stock and was going to get an expert to look at the stock and get his opinion.  Sadly he passed away and we never heard from him.
 Maybe someone else can tell us about our unusual stocks.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2017, 01:07:16 AM by iloco »
iloco

Offline jdm

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #30 on: December 12, 2017, 04:49:58 AM »

Jim,

I was born in 1971, you're old!

Buck
[/quote]

I had to get the bargains   before you came along!
JIM

Offline JIM FRANCIS

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #31 on: December 12, 2017, 03:48:54 PM »
Buck, You're just a puppy.   Thanks to all the guys that have replied to the post. Some great stories and nice guns.                Jim

Offline Buck

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #32 on: December 12, 2017, 08:48:45 PM »
Jim,

Touché!

Jim,

It's not the age, it's the mileage!

Buck

Offline Avlrc

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #33 on: December 19, 2017, 09:34:51 AM »
I have read all of your post & appreciate you fellows sharing them.  As a Johnny come lately , I don't have a good story.  I think it was about 12 or 13 years ago I first heard of gunsmiths making rifles in this area in the 1800s.  You guys did a good job at  keeping  it a secret.  I think my first Hampshire county rifle was acquired  on Gunbroker from the "Hurricane From Virginia.  I sold that rifle a few years back.  Thanks Fred for the other two you sold me a lil later.   But to be honest it was James B whisker who told me about makers in this area, maybe a year or two  earlier.   If it was not for him, I would still be putting pre-war-Winchesters in my safes.  So James, this drink is to you &  I hope you have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New year.
The following is not a great story , but represents the  mindset of a unrepentant collector. For several years I had envied the early percussion signed Z. Sheetz that "Douglas" on here displayed at the shows.  But always seemed to be out of folding money when It was in front of me.  Then at a show maybe Hodges Virginia show , "Jim Francis" had this  early percussion signed R P , that looked like it must of came out of Zeb's shop.  I knew I had to get one , but was torn to which it would be.  I left the show without either rifle.  A few weeks later I told my friend, "Homerifle " my quandary.  he said "this is simple", I looked confused. He added "buy both" . So to make a long story short, I contacted both & met them at the  same place & time,  halfway from my home & theirs. You know I had to smoke machined rolled stogies &  drink cheap whiskey for awhile, but it was worth it.  Pardon my poor grammar , but where I come from reading don't mean much  & writing even less, LOL.
 












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Benp

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #34 on: December 23, 2017, 04:57:50 AM »
I'm new to this group and I'm really impressed by the knowledge of the members. I recently posted my first long gun, a fowler, and got a lot of good information. I got involved in collecting old guns by accident about 35 years ago. I found some old documents that turned out to have some value to a couple of antique dealers in the area. They also dealt in antique firearms. So we started trading documents for guns. I'm still not very knowledgeable of the guns i own, but have enjoyed owning them. I like to think about all the history of our country that they represent. My first love is period furniture making and I'm blown away by the skills these these early makers had and what they could make with basic hand tools.


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dogbest

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #35 on: December 24, 2017, 12:22:35 AM »
AVLRC,
Your writing is fine.
Your rifle is beautiful.
Congrats on a nice gun.

Offline JIM FRANCIS

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #36 on: December 24, 2017, 03:02:51 AM »
Avlrc, Please post photos of the "RP" rifle. I don't remember that one.    Thanks, Jim
                        Thanks to all of you that have kept this thread going.
           Merry Christmas to all and your families.

Offline Avlrc

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #37 on: December 24, 2017, 03:20:56 AM »
Avlrc, Please post photos of the "RP" rifle. I don't remember that one.    Thanks, Jim
                        Thanks to all of you that have kept this thread going.
           Merry Christmas to all and your families.

Jim, it is the top two photos.  Surprised you don't remember it.  You and Douglas, relieved me of my paper money, LOL.  I don't remember  people I owe money to, but I do remember every gun I ever sold, the good , bad & the ugly. LOL

Offline JIM FRANCIS

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #38 on: December 24, 2017, 03:48:27 AM »
Just didn't remember it being marked "RP''.               Those were 2 fine rifles you got from Doug and me.     Jim

Offline mountainman70

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Re: How it all started
« Reply #39 on: December 24, 2017, 04:19:03 AM »
:o :o :o... Wow, Lex  .... an original Hawken ... !!! .... do you recall the cal. & bbl length ..? ... would be great to be "found" again ......!!!
   

I believe the barrel was about 36" or so and ~ .52 caliber. The trigger guard was definitely different. It looks as if somebody had made a replacement out of a strip of iron.

Lex, I have a rifle I built with antique parts using a guard similar to that one,got it from a fellow selling off his dads stuff in Dallas,Texas,5 years ago. here is pic