Thanks everyone for your comments on this rifle. Very much appreciated.
Concerning the front sight........ This is something that many times is requested by a customer after offering sight/blade options for their rifle.
I will have to admit that , at the time, I probably would have never thought of the front blade being made from a coin (modern or otherwise), showing coin features, if it were not for a Hershel House rifle with an almost identical front sight that I saw at Dixon's Gunmaker's Fair in 1988. I might be wrong but I think it was also shown in his rifle making booklet that came with his early gunmaking videos. I think most, if not all, of us would have to admit that we have been influenced somewhere along the way by Hershel's work...either directly or indirectly.
I thought then, as I think now, that it was a small, neat feature that was never intended to mimic the front sight of an original rifle, but did, indeed, make that rifle unique.
I took it a step further with my rifles and when I did use a modern silver quarter (1964 or before), I would always try to feature the eagle watching the ball leave the barrel......strictly a patriotic symbolism reflecting and promoting the rifle that helped pay for our freedom.
If something like this bothers a person it is so easy to tape off the barrel at the front sight and with a fine file obliterate the features on both sides of the blade and successfully arrive at a more traditional look.
Indeed, today when every feature of a contemporary rifle is examined to the "nth" degree it is probably easy to uncover bits and pieces that would have never been found on originals. But that's another story.
