Thoughts and maybe a little history

[galamb]

I'm putting the final touches on my pattern for a Maryland build in which I'm trying to come up with a compilation of Christian Hawken's style over his 40'ish year career.

I have eight original examples plus the fine contemporary work of Bill Shipman which I have been using to pick features that I want to incorporate into my rifle.

Anyhow, I have run across one original that seems to depart from Christians style and I can't quite figure where to place it in his building timeline.

The rifle is in the possession of the Cody museum.

The examples I have generally follow the Maryland architecture as far as the "lines" go - most notably the very straight comb line. The rifle in question shows a very notable arc, not to the degree of a roman nose, but certainly leaning that way more than a straight comb.

And, it has a domed lid metal patch box, but with numerous piercings which would tend to indicate it came later, rather than earlier in his (solo) career which began at/about 1778.

So my "history question" is - was there a particular period where a domed lid metal patchbox was prevalent??

On the opinion side of things - why would a builder depart from their normal architecture sometime in the middle of the career and then go back to what they have been more typically doing?

Just to try it? - perhaps influence from their master that they decided to revisit? - request of a customer (perhaps most likely)?

Here is a pic with four examples of what I'm asking about - the third rifle is the one that doesn't seem to fit the progression of work in terms of architecture.

[Elnathan]

On the opinion side of things - why would a builder depart from their normal architecture sometime in the middle of the career and then go back to what they have been more typically doing?


Took one too many strokes off the nose while roughing it out and had to smooth it out without altering the drop? Maybe the apprentice installed the buttplate at the wrong angle and curving the comb slightly was the simplest fix?

[Dave B]

I think the fact that when we build we some times will deviate from what we have done previously in small ways as just a matter of course. The use of the domed lid is an interesting question. Some seem to use it more than others. I personally like the looks of a domed lid. It makes the thinner brass stiffer obviously but some thicker boxes were domed. It raises the question about how much of the mounts were actually made on site by the maker or some were purchased much like we do today. The later period pieces fit this profile much easier. The use of an apprentice will raise all sorts of variations to a project and depending on how picky the master is on letting a particular product out the door with an acceptable variation in his design. The other is the reuse of patch boxes and hardware salvaged from previous rifles broken. I have seen this in a few cases. I like the work of this particular school of building in particular and am curious to see what others think about this.