"Antique" East Tennessee Squirrel Rifle

[Mike Brooks]

Hmm.......... I often wondered if attic guns turned so black because of all the ammonia etc. from roof rats living in the attic............. Some old ...or even new attics you better wear a gas mask when you enter!

Hmmmm.  "Rat $#@*" school , has a certain ring to it.
 Seriously nice gun. I was talking to george potter last week end and he considers a gun a work in progress long after it's finished. He fiddles with the patina for quite some time. It's too bad so many of us have delivery deadlines, it would be great to continue to fiddle around untill the gun was "just right". With you're father being the owner of this one maybe you will have an extended period of fiddling.

[WKevinD]

Eric- beautiful!
This sure beats the right or wrong debates about aging into submission.

[James Rogers]

I love it Eric. You are a man of diversity.

[Ric27]

I am a big fan of the aging process. It is an art form and yours is a fine attempt. What you did with saving a stock that would be discarded by many is commendable. That is a skill the old gun makers fed their family with.
Ric

[Curtis]

Eric, I really like what you accomplished here!  Great work!

Curtis

[kaintuck]

Mike, I've been working on my aging process, pulled a lot hair out, put just the right amount of grey in the last remains hairs.....put wrinkles here and there, walk with more of a shuffle........oh, wait a minute, your talking about rifles......

Heck, I even have the old @$#% listening/understanding thing down better.........

Marc n tomtom

[kaintuck]

Ok, I'll sell tomtom litter to any that want it......I change it once a week......it'll have to ship UPS as its classified as Hazmat....

Marc n tomtom

[Ted Kramer]

Eric,

Very nice rifle, perfect in my opinion.

Was it difficult to proportion the rifle around the 3/4" barrel? I've never used a 3/4" but at times I find it tricky to keep things looking right with a 13/16" bbl.

Great job!

Ted

[E.vonAschwege]

Hey Ted,
   If the barrel hadn't already been inlet into the stock, with no wiggle room with the way the profile was cut to allow me to inlet a larger barrel, I wouldn't have used a 3/4" barrel.  The size of the lock next to such a small barrel is a bit ridiculous.  The lock innards were almost touching the back of the breech plug, and I think the amount of wood removed for the lock weakens that area of the stock.  It was also the main reason I used a single lock bolt - with the ramrod spacing as it was and the size of the lock, the bolt would have been smack in the middle of the ramrod  .  I love skinny guns, but will stick to swamped barrels and larger breeches if I can  . 
-Eric