AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: vanu on April 08, 2022, 04:22:56 PM
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A new exhibit has just opened at the William King Museum in Abingdon, Virginia. This exhibit is gust curated by Wallace Gusler and presents a spectacular array of original longrifles, and associated frontier artifacts. Most importantly this exhibit provides an excellent historical context from which one can see the role of these arms in the expansion and settlement of the Virginia frontier..
https://www.williamkingmuseum.org/exhibit/the-long-rifle/
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Thats awesome. Thanks for the info.
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Hi,
The introduction states that longrifles were the only guns made in numbers in America during the 1700s. Really? What were all those gun smiths in New England doing at that time, making lawn ornaments?
dave
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There is no truth required in advertising. One of the great failures of our legal system.
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Hey c'mon. We all know Thomas Earle was a hack. :o
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No Eric, he was a "haaack". You have to get the accent right. ;D
dave
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;D ;D
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Hi,
The introduction states that longrifles were the only guns made in numbers in America during the 1700s. Really? What were all those gun smiths in New England doing at that time, making lawn ornaments?
dave
Wallace B. Gusler, renowned scholar on 18th-century firearms and retired Master Gunsmith, Curator of Furniture and Arms, and Director of Conservation at Colonial Williamsburg, noted that colonial American gunmakers controlled one niche of the gun market: rifle making. “The long rifle was the only gun made in numbers in America in the 1700s,” Gusler said. “During its time, it was the highest expression of the gunmaker’s art in this country.”
:-X
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Hi,
The introduction states that longrifles were the only guns made in numbers in America during the 1700s. Really? What were all those gun smiths in New England doing at that time, making lawn ornaments?
dave
They were mostly making New England Fowlers. A few were making rifles, but not in the quantities that were made in Pennsylvania, and Viginia and the Carolinas.
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Hi alacran,
The quote from Wallace does not say "the only rifles made in numbers" it says "the only guns made in numbers".
Hopefully he meant rifles.
dave
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You are right. On both counts.
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Oh dear, Rifles vs Guns....
John
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Hi,
The introduction states that longrifles were the only guns made in numbers in America during the 1700s. Really? What were all those gun smiths in New England doing at that time, making lawn ornaments?
dave
One way to insure that your forum will lose valuable input from people at the pinnacle of your topic is for a moderator to make a post like this. In my opinion, Wallace deserves more
respect.
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Hi,
The introduction states that longrifles were the only guns made in numbers in America during the 1700s. Really? What were all those gun smiths in New England doing at that time, making lawn ornaments?
dave
One way to insure that your forum will lose valuable input from people at the pinnacle of your topic is for a moderator to make a post like this. In my opinion, Wallace deserves more
respect.
I agree.
Maybe someone smacked their thumb with their engraving hammer early this morning.
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Oh good grief! Who is really showing lack of respect? Not me. So you agree? Long rifles were the only guns made in numbers during the 1700s?
dave
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"Made in numbers" is such an open ended quantity. Perhaps he means that the gunsmiths were making most of the firearms in the colonies because there wasn't much of an armory around at the time? Maybe as a collective the individual 'smiths WERE making most of the guns/rifles.
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A museum in Virginia has an exhibit showing how important the long rifles were to that era. That's a good thing. They're a museum doing public education, for a specific topic, and era. All museums in all regions do that.
I remember when Las Cruces, NM opened a huge new "Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum". In a sleepy 200 year old former Mexican region that was part of the Spanish Camino Real (Royal Road) for many generations, they make a museum about a small part of the population (white ranchers) that successfully ranched for about 50 years, before the desert made it too difficult, but they're hanging on with their nails. Ignoring the 200 years of Spanish rule and the merging of them with the Indians. The Pueblo Indian culture was there for 1500 years before, one mesa-top village is probably the longest continually inhabited place in America. And the mining and space/rocket research that dominated the early 20th century and the late 20th century, ignored. Ranching? Very little done, for a very short period - it's all desert. Farming? Yes, but not with the Conestoga wagons and windmills the museum inserted in their displays. Basically, the two biggest museums there are for two isolated instances in time - the Billy the Kid stuff, and the Farm/Ranch museum.
However, Virginia (and the South) really did have an important history with long rifles. We should be glad for that, nowadays.
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Nobody is closing the show by noting an inaccuracy. Should be a great show. I know these things are a lot of work. Kudos to those putting it together.
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I'd love to go to the seminar by Wallace Gusler on Powderhorns, Tomahawks, and Riflegun Accouterments of the Virginia Frontier. It will be spectacular.
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Stop jawing and get in yer wagon and go see it. The displays are excellent. A lot of work indeed. The rifles are super, mostly VA incl. WVA back when it was. Have seem some before but many new. Let the critics critique and the rest enjoy the show. AND it's free. Nothing like it around these parts before and will probably not be anytime soon.
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Bluelight and I stopped by on way to the TN show and the displays. Really good displays, well worth the time to visit. Loved the huge forge/workshop display. Highly recommend stopping by.
Dennis