PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!!! This is not even a good fake. I hope if somebody bought this monstrosity it was the fraud unit from some police agency. I have seen some beautifully built, and aged, long rifles, and trade guns, That had the builder wanted to, could easily have passed them off as antiques. A nicely aged firearm requires the eye of an artist, and the hand of a master gunsmith.
many years ago I set out to replicate a fine antique chiefs grade trade gun featured in a coffee table book called "The Peacemakers". This gun would be everything I wanted in an aged replica. I pictured myself strolling the Rendezvous with this gun on my arm, being stopped every few feet for someone to admire it. As I have said before I am a firm believer in examining everything with some magnification, that includes photos in books. Under magnification I found that this "gorgeous antique" had a lock in it just like the one I intended to use to build it. I do mean "just like" the one I intended to use. Complete with the vent sprue from the lost wax casting process, still on the hammer, and GRF acid etched behind the hammer, on the plate. A close examination of the tacks on the stock, and the trade silver ornamentation, along with the barrel being marked Montreal, leads me to believe this gun is a Green River Forge trade gun somebody antiqued up, and sold as a relic. It was supposedly part of a museum collection, and added to a book by a "renowned" expert. I am now suspicious of everything this author prints, and will not replicate anything in one of his numerous books.
Hungry Horse
