Another 'NY' rifle just finished

[godutch]

  Yes, I'm painfully aware we have no 18c rifle culture here in the Hudson Valley and for whatever reason this is the third one I came up with. This one also falls under the 'flight of fancy' genre. Overall concept relied heavily on the English fowler section of Grinslades book of which a few were attributed to the NYC area, 90mi. so. of me. Taking my que's from that section showed that by the end of their run the English Fowlers were devoid of most all adornments of any kind. I had to go that route owing to the late Ketland (Kibler)  and what I believe to be a later style sideplate also. Earlier scavenged parts like the Dutch trigger guard, mongrel buttplate (Dutch style heel, English stepped tang), and the ramrod pipes were on hand in the shop so they got used up. Quite a few of those examples show reused Dutch hardware. At any rate the rifle sports a Rice A wgt. .40 cal. Allentown bbl., Kibler's late Ketland, and Stan Hollenbough single set trigger all stocked up like a Fowler. 'Make's no sense whatever (chuckle). Think of it as a NY rifle that's about 250 yrs. late to the party.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

[Stoner creek]

Nice job. Nice color on the stock too. It’s pretty close to the color that I have kinda settled on. That English side plate is always a challenge to inlet. Congratulations!!

[rich pierce]

It’s got very nice lines.

[godutch]

  Thank you gentlemen. I understand things like this fly in the face of convention but in all truth it's just plain fun to due a project that offers a bit of a degree of latitude. As to the 'lines' (Thanks for that compliment) I did this one from a blank but used a tracing from one of my fowler patterns and took out some drop for this 'rifle' version. I had intended for it to be slimmer overall but the rr channel web came out wider than anticipated and rather than plug and redo I just went with it. I also found to my dismay when first firing it that the USPS had bent the barrel in shipping and I got my first hand wringing experience in straightening a barrel. It's fine now although I think I prematurely aged during the process. 

[rich pierce]

A dear friend of mine who passed away had planned a Hudson Valley fowler with a rifled barrel, as a fun “surprise” build. He believed that the most interesting builds have a “story” to tell. I think maybe you’re feeling that too in this build.

[JV Puleo]

For whatever it's worth...around 1780 the British Ordnance Department did an exhaustive study comparing one of their Pattern 1776 rifles with a captured "New York Rifle". Of course, we don't actually know what the rifle was, it may just have been taken in New York but it's interesting just the same. The report was never published and exists today as a MS ... in fact, the copy I was sent photocopies of is believed to be George III's. It's actually quite boring unless you are into serious ballistic studies.

[Daryl]

Looks like good lines for a hunting rifle to me.

[Craig Wilcox]

Go, that is a very fine firearm, and I really like what you have done with the various parts-pieces.

The wood, in particular, is very nicely done.

[godutch]

Thank you all gents. That color is JK's aqua fortis topped with LMF maple with a dropper of LMF cherry added. Finish is a French marine varnish called Le Tonkinois that I inherited 2 gal.of. Heat treated resin, linseed, and tung are the "binding agents" so that sounded a lot like an oil varnish to me so that got used as did the mash of English and Dutch parts. Grinslades examples of colonial English fowlers showed more than a few with the odd Dutch re-used or leftover hardware. 'Fine for me. I had things on hand to cobble together what should have been a fowler except for that rifle barrel deviation (chuckle). I may not have a rifle culture here in my environs but there are advantages to living upstream from a three hundred yr. old commercial port as far as stretching the truth goes. I suppoes  I've treaded where others have gone before and maybe that's where Rich P's comment about a 'story' would come in. Cheers all, and thanks again. 'Hope I provided some amusement/entertainment with the latest flight of fancy.   p.s. It would have made a slick little 24 ga. fowler don't you think?