My Smallest Longrifle

[davec2]

I have been cleaning out a lot of old books, tools, and just plain junk I have accumulated over the years.  I recently stumbled across a box of things I had not opened in probably more than 50 years.  In a small plastic box, I found something I had made as a 12 year old boy.........

Years ago, on the old board, I posted pictures and the story about building my first real long rifle when I was 17.  I bought a Dixie Gun Works .45 caliber barrel and a couple of brass castings and made everything else including the lock.  But a few years before that, while I was working for my Dad as a dental technician, I made a miniature long rifle.  It didn't fire but the cock and the frizzen moved and I did drill out the tiny octagonal barrel I made for it.  Probably the most unusual thing about it is that all the metal parts are made of gold.  Working as a dental technician in my Dad's lab, we used a lot of gold (and it was about $75 an ounce back then)......so I used gold to make the parts.  The lock parts, butt plate, trigger guard, and trigger I cast from tiny wax patterns I had carved.  For the barrel, I drew a length of wire, drilled it out in a jeweler's lathe, and then filed it octagonal.  The stock is Brazilian rosewood and the rest of the parts (muzzle cap, patch box, ram rod pipes, etc.) I made from 24 karat gold sheet.







Don't remember the caliber.....I will need to measure it...



I even managed to engrave my name on the side plate......when my eyes and manual dexterity were a lot younger.....



Cock and frizzen in the fired position



Cock and frizzen cocked and ready to fire.......



Not a real long rifle.....but I thought it close enough to be included in the "Gun Building" section......

[Jeff Durnell]

Geeze. That's impressive. And at 12 years old? Very cool indeed.

[Smokey Plainsman]

Looks like an excellent first rifle, as in first rifle for a foetus!!

[Tim Crosby]

 I do remember this form the old board, really neat. 75 bucks an oz, wasn't it more like 35 50 years ago?

   Tim C.

[hanshi]

Did you build this before or after you engraved the Declaration of Independence on the head of that straight pin?   

[thecapgunkid]

How do you live with yourself being so cool?

[Daryl]

How do you live with yourself being so cool?

Now THAT'S a good question!

[Adrie luke]

The handwork is art!
It is from The Golden Age!
Great job.

Adrie

[Mick C]

How do you live with yourself being so cool?

Now THAT'S a good question!

Ditto and double ditto. 

[Kingsburyarms]

Where is the Micro Powder Horn? - Looks Awesome....love the detail -

Jon

[davec2]

Thanks to all.....just a fun thing to find in a 50 year old junk box.

Tim, it may have been $35 an ounce, but this was dental gold.....18 karat alloyed with platinum and palladium, so it was more expensive than 24 karat gold....

Jon,  I didn't think to make a tiny powder horn but I was learning scrimshaw at the time and found this one (that I made from a small piece of ivory) in the same plastic box with the long rifle:

[J Henry]

  Now post pictures of the full sized rifles you have made,much more IMPRESSIVE.

[oldtravler61]

    Davec2 Very impressive work... Attention to detail is amazing..!  Thanks for showing ..!  Oldtravler

[Berksrifle]

davec2, where did you get such a large quarter?

Ken

[J. Talbert]

You'd think by now I would no longer be surprised by the things you make Dave, but holy cow... 12 years old.

Once again, may I say, I'm impressed.

Jeff

[SingleMalt]

I’m repeating everyone else when I say that I’m impressed. No, that’s wrong. I’m floored!  At the same age, I built a CVA kit I got for Christmas. Major inletting problems, etc., but it shot, and that’s all I cared.

[t.caster]

I'm blown away! among other things, inletting that tiny pierced patchbox and ramrod pipes....#@$%&^*!

[Majorjoel]

I have always had an inkling that some folks are born with talent.  Dave, you have sure proved my inkling to be much more than an inkling!! 

Now, somewhere I have an old GI Joe from my childhood ca. 1963-4 that needs some miniature colonial duds to display this rifle!

[Mqabbi]

Maestro, I respectfully tip my hat to you. I mean this very sincerely. When I was 12, I was given a small book, (that I still have) called miniature firearms. This started my love affair with guns of all shapes and sizes. I graduated as a mechanical engineer due to my obsession with things that work, especially firearms.

I have built and still build firearms of all shapes and sizes, but unfortunately my guns do not have an American flavour as it is a culture that I have never been immersed in. I have seen others here showing European arms and maybe someday I will show mine.

Once again, my deepest admiration for doing something so intricate and fine at such a tender age.I hope I am not being presumptious in telling you that you owe your dad big time

[Mike from OK]

I'll be impressed if the patchbox opens...

Seriously though, that might be one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Mike

[davec2]

Mqabbi,

Thank you for your kind words.....I think I have the same book on miniature firearms !!  And yes, I owe my Father more than I could ever repay in a lifetime.  He passed away on 1 January, 2018 at the age of 91.  I was blessed to have him around for all of my 65 years.  I miss him every day.  But I will see him again soon....   I would love to see the guns you build.  If they don't fit in the category of "american longrifle" you can PM me or send an email.

Thanks to all for your kind words.  I don't attribute this little rifle to any great talent.  I think that, at 12 years old, I had the great advantage of not knowing I couldn't do it... .....and my eyes were a tad better !

[Craig Wilcox]

Dave, it amazes me that you could have held onto such a treasure all this time.
Like you, I come from a Navy family - we moved, on average, every 12 months.  And apparently it is passed along in the genes, as after my  years in the Navy, I  also moved a LOT.  When I turned 55, I was moving into my 55th house - but there have only been 5 since then!  So here I am at 73, only having lived in 60 houses. On 4 continents!
But along the way, a lot of treasures go missing - and many are, indeed, missed.

It is a beautiful thing, and made all the more beautiful by the hands that made it.

[will payne]

Dang, that must taken some patience. That is very awesome.