AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Contemporary Longrifle Collecting => Topic started by: emmagee on June 27, 2019, 10:46:00 PM
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I thought it might be nice, as my first post, to show off a Don King rifle which has been in my greedy clutches since 1971:
Cal: .45
Bbl: 44", 15/16", straight
Weight 9 lbs.
LOP: 12 1/2"
Barrel by Bill Large
Marked in pencil in barrel channel"February 1963."
Bought it when I was 16 years old. Mowed a lot of yards for this rifle!
(https://i.ibb.co/Msqx6Yy/DSC01272.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Qfs3d27)
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More photos. My photography skills are barely adequate. I wish these had turned out better but I hope to show you some details of the rifle.
(https://i.ibb.co/Lv6QXwB/DSC01274.jpg) (https://ibb.co/R7Phknt)
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Welcome, and very nice rifle you have there. I would say that is a lot of yards mowed. My kids want to do something along thise lines, but I don't trust my cheap mower to last for more than a few yards currently.
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(https://i.ibb.co/Lg8958Z/DSC01275.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Wz6Bt62)
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(https://i.ibb.co/wByw9FF/DSC01276.jpg) (https://ibb.co/S5Ndh44)
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(https://i.ibb.co/SvDS8X7/DSC01281.jpg) (https://ibb.co/LpDKWzh)
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(https://i.ibb.co/7gM776W/DSC01282.jpg) (https://ibb.co/28VXXft)
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(https://i.ibb.co/QvrDKdC/DSC01279.jpg) (https://ibb.co/YBp0LZy)
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(https://i.ibb.co/SrT6gW5/DSC01287.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ySTNCGd)
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Very nice and nice you’ve kept it. Looks like new.
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An amazing rifle for sure! And at 16!
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Thank you!
I seem to remember being told at some point in the distant past that this rifle was a direct copy of an original. I have never seen a pic of the original, if this is true.
What I do know is it shoots dead on at 50 yards with 60 grains of 3F, a .440 RB and .010" patch!
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Now there's a gun that'll knock you out. Very nice!!
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lTtgTPBELfg/U2ruS2EPMGI/AAAAAAAADQE/dZ3-yd_1JtU/s1600/iconic-hair-don-king.jpg)
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Nice rifle.
Don was one of my best friends. Many an evening spent visiting with him in his shop.
He could look and handle an original and recreate it.
His personal rifle "King' Ransom" was a Bedford with silver wire inlay,silver inlay and engraved, with a . Bill Large .40 cal barrel.
Yours reminds me of a plain version of his personal rifle.
Take care and enjoy shooting it that is what he built them for.
Carney
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Is this the famous Don King from out West? It doesn't look like most of his work, signature is different than the ones I have seen.
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Considering it was done in 1963, and the longrifle resources available at the time, that is an amazing job. I was only one year old at the time! God Bless, Marc
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Considering it was done in 1963, and the longrifle resources available at the time, that is an amazing job. I was only one year old at the time! God Bless, Marc
Ah, I missed the 1963 part. Very good quality for such early work.
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Don was a long time friend and mentor. I had a very fine Kentucky he made for a mutual friend but it went to pay a doctor bill.... I have two of Don's flint Hawkens and a pair of flint pistols.
He is a greatly unappreciated maker today who in his working years was head and shoulders above almost everyone.
Kings Ransom's stock was being laid out on his garage floor when his neighbor walked over to tell him Kennedy had been shot. it was named when someone offered him $1500 for it in 1964-65 at Freindship. Don refused and a freind told him 'that's a King's Ransom!"
Don made many, many fine rifles. You are lucky to have this one.
Don logged the guns he made and restored until May 1971 then for some reason he stopped. The last Bedford listed is Feb 23, 1971. 45 cal 44" Golden Age barrel 44". He made many more after this but never logged them. Just as a reference his FS FL Hawken "pattern rifle" was finished Jan 3. 1971 and counting this rifle he made 7 by May 5, 1971.
#1 is a pistol from March 1950. He used an old shotgun lock and a piece of old Winchester rifle barrel.
#2 in noted as " .375 cal fullstock percussion pistol 6" round barrel, Sold 1954 to ? (All parts made by hand at Norfolk Virginia Naval Base)"
Rest in Peace Don.
(https://i.ibb.co/jk9wpcG/Don-s-Headstone.jpg) (https://ibb.co/tpw2d7c)
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DARN! I missed the 1963 too.
Too busy looking at the photos. I thought the rifle looked too early for 71.
The book (this is in the blank pages at the front and back of "The American Arms Collector" by the Collectors' Press 1957. The earlier entries were apparently copied from logs in a copy of Ned Roberts' "ML Caplock Rifle" which I also have.
For Feb 1963 we see:
#21 Feb, 15, 63 .450 caliber Flintlock Bedford County rifle made for myself (Bill Large barrel, Kirkland lock) sold to Jim Pacaud Sapulpa, Okla March 1st. 63
Does this match the rifle?
Dan
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DARN! I missed the 1963 too.
Too busy looking at the photos. I thought the rifle looked too early for 71.
The book (this is in the blank pages at the front and back of "The American Arms Collector" by the Collectors' Press 1957. The earlier entries were apparently copied from logs in a copy of Ned Roberts' "ML Caplock Rifle" which I also have.
For Feb 1963 we see:
#21 Feb, 15, 63 .450 caliber Flintlock Bedford County rifle made for myself (Bill Large barrel, Kirkland lock) sold to Jim Pacaud Sapulpa, Okla March 1st. 63
Does this match the rifle?
Dan
Yes!!! Yes it does. Thank you!! Actually I was hoping you would see this post and chime in. Now I have a bit more history on the rifle. I remember being told that the lock was a Dixie Gun Works lock which had the lockplate reshaped.
I would love to own another of DK's rifles but they never seem to come up for sale.
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Another thought. Was Mr. King a small-statured man? Seems to me he was, from the photos I've seen. That would tend to explain the short LOP. I can still shoot it comfortably, but have always wondered why the pull was so short.
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I would love to own another of DK's rifles but they never seem to come up for sale.
That sucks. Now, whenever someone sees a rifle with my initials on it, they will think it's a Don King rifle.
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Another thought. Was Mr. King a small-statured man? Seems to me he was, from the photos I've seen. That would tend to explain the short LOP. I can still shoot it comfortably, but have always wondered why the pull was so short.
Don was fairly short probably 5'6" or so.
But he also tended to make guns as they were made originally and many originals were 13" or less. His FS Hawkens have the same pull as a 1903 Springfield. Or so he told me and he had access to an original FS Hawken at the time as well.
This is old photo of Don with King's Ransom. The rifle he apparently made after he sold the one you have now.
Dan
(https://i.ibb.co/NY2486N/Don-KIng-1960s-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vz4t7xd)
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Thank you for this....I need to take some better quality pics of the rifle. Some experimentation is in order.
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Firearms are notoriously difficult to get good photos of. Good luck. Usually need to be over exposed if over a light background.
Dan
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The picture of Don was taken at Historic Wichita Cow Town.
The BP rifle club put on demonstrations there in the 1960's and 70's
I have a Vincent Ohio .32 perc., rifle,, a Hawken pistol, and a Kentucky pistol that Don built. Will see if I can post pictures.
Like Dan had to sell the other rifles and pistols that I had.
Carney
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Glad to see another of Don's early works. He was a true early master who did not get a lot of credit. I spent a lot of time at Don's house in Wichita being stationed at the Base there and living less than three blocks from Don 69.70 and 71. I have two rifles built by Don a deliverer Vincent delivered in 1972 and a Bedford flint as well as we can tell made for Bill Large about 1965 to 1969. Proud to have them both,
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As was stated, guns are notoriously hard to photograph well. The photos you provided are not that bad, but busy backgrounds like a woodpile, or a Persian rug, or just a busy landscape, are terrible. Lighting is difficult on firearms because of all the shadows, and reflective surfaces. A old style clamp on hog light with a piece of cheese cloth stretched over the face, held in place with a big rubber band, reduces the glare, and defuse the light. A gray, or tan neutral background, without a reflective surface helps. You must always be aware of the shadows as well.
A guy I know that photographed our local museum collection for insurance purposes, used an old one piece fiberglass shower stall, lined with photo gray material. He made a fixture that fit the drain hole with several different sizes of brass rods to accommodate different bore sizes. It worked very well.
Hungry Horse
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Don't know when he did this one or for who... Don stopped keeping records in 1972...
Dan
(https://i.ibb.co/V2cCWzg/t-Xr-A-HYj-Q9efj1m-HVLI49-A-thumb-548b.jpg) (https://ibb.co/gzLWMfS)
(https://i.ibb.co/XZcTdh9/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW-thumb-548d.jpg) (https://ibb.co/WWm1dbQ)
(https://i.ibb.co/F8vPxCc/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW-thumb-5477.jpg) (https://ibb.co/RQn5vdt)