Something a little different from my shop.

[Bob Roller]

I can see the start of a new trend! Everyone needs a "Beater gun"

With one exception EVERY gun I ever made (10)? was beater gun.

Bob Roller

[Tim Crosby]

 Really cool David, Saw something very similar at a show in Winchester Va. 40+ years ago, at the time I thought it pretty crude and why would anybody even display something like it. The seller had a story but I thought; yea right. Funny how things change and just how much there is to learn.

  Tim

[David Rase]

I am really enjoying the conversation this project has generated on the origins of this type of rifle.  All the different scenarios have been educational and thought provoking.  I know my mind has been opened up due to some of the comments.
Thanks, David

[Ian Pratt]

Neat project Dave - I imagine there was some interesting new territory here for you. do I know you have done some other cool primitive stuff - an impressive wooden powder flask (oak?) that you did a while back comes to mind - but you also do some really clean, precise work, and plenty in between.  Builders who do a lot of different styles always have their own approach and I'm interested in hearing about yours. Reading your initial post you described a lot of details that you had in mind, but I am guessing there's more to how and why you did it than the planning alone.         

[B.Barker]

Neat rifle, Dave. Neat to see what you can come up with using minimal toolage. I can't say I've seen a trigger guard on sm rifles like that but plenty of barn rifles from PA had them made that way.

[Dphariss]

I did some of these back in my teens so I don't have to do them now. But I cheated and used rasps and sandpaper.
When someone comes up with an original rifle that is somewhat crude I think of the story of "Old Blackfoot" as detailed in "Firearms of The American West 1803-1865". According the its last owner who wrote of it,  it was traded from the Blackfeet with broken stock. It was taken to Bents Fort where it was restocked and used as a match rifle. The writer then traded for it and took it to St Louis and had it "half-stocked" and some other repairs, maybe converted to percussion. He then used it for the rest of his time in the west.  Always calling it "Old Blackfoot"...  So when you see an old rifle it may not bear a lot of resemblance to what it was when it left the original maker's shop. I often wonder if "Old Blackfoot" got stamped "Hawken" after it's second rebuild.
Dan

[rfd]

just wonderful.  the undeniable rustic beauty of a workingman's tool.

[AMartin]

A friend of mine from Texas owns this family hillbilly rifle ..
Sorta minds me of Daves rifle with all the rough tool marks present .

Also I own a original Lehigh rifle Schimmel with a  buttplate , one ramrod pipe and triggerguard ..
The wood is dead plain but the interesting thing is that you can see rasp/file marks all over this piece . A saw cut at the end of the comb .. was well as other little details !!

Good enough ... now go kill something with it !!

Allen

[hudson]

Absolutely love it great job.