Ian's Rifle on Contemporary Blog

[Ken G]

If you are a fan of Iron mounted Southern rifles you need to take a look at Ian's rifle on the contemporary blog today.  It's as good as it gets. 
Ian, that is one great looking rifle! Outstanding work all the way around. Is the grip rail forge welded to the trigger bow or brazed?
Ken

P.S. Special thanks to Art and Jan Riser for taking the time to post pictures everyday. 

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/

[Jim Kibler]

This really is a fine rifle.  Had the pleasure of handling and shooting it yesterday.  Looks even better in person!  Think the finish Ian got is just perfect.

[chuck c.]

Ian, that's another absolutely outstanding piece of work! Would you mind saying what lock you used and how tall the butt plate is?

[b bogart]

Nice rifle Ian!! I need to attend those classes in Lodi so I can see some of this stuff close up!
Bruce

[B Shipman]

LOve it. The lock , the shapes. About as good as it gets for this type of rifle.

[Dave R]

Ian, You are an exceptional artist with wood and iron!The lines and attention to incredable detail are just fantastic! It's a work of art !!!!!!  Keep up the gun work!  Dave R                 

[G-Man]

These guns are all about subtle features - the lines, the tang, the neat little touches like that cool 2-piece entry pipe/ tailpiece arrangement.

Another great one Ian.

Guy

[eagle24]

Another home run Ian!  She's a beauty!

[Sean]

Slick...

Sean

[Pratt]

  Hey thank you guys, glad you all like it. Jim and I had some fun with it murdering a bunch of poor defenseless cans and some Jalapeno peppers that got left in the back of my truck. Neat way to make pepper spray.
   Ken that grip rail is copper brazed to the bow, filed a post right on the end of it and riveted that to the bow, kind of dead ends into it.  This rifle was built with a overall feel similar to the Jacob Gross gun but definitely not a copy. The guard for example has a similar feel to it but the original has the bow and grip rail as a continuous piece. Back when I first saw pictures of the rifle in a couple of the books I always thought the guard was one of those forged from a single piece, but after seeing some good close up pictures more recently you can see where some welds came apart over time. Million ways to do these.
  Chuck that is a Caywood lock, I don't remember what they call them but maybe Ken will remember, I know he has used one or two of them.  The butt plate is around 4 3/8" tall

[Firelock]

     Ken that grip rail is copper brazed to the bow, filed a post right on the end of it and riveted that to the bow, kind of dead ends into it.  This rifle was built with a overall feel similar to the Jacob Gross gun but definitely not a copy. The guard for example has a similar feel to it but the original has the bow and grip rail as a continuous piece. Back when I first saw pictures of the rifle in a couple of the books I always thought the guard was one of those forged from a single piece, but after seeing some good close up pictures more recently you can see where some welds came apart over time. Million ways to do these.

Beautiful Rifle Ian, I love your work! (cough's nervously).......... is that copper braized to iron? Won't there be a reaction between the copper and iron? Maybe thats why the welds came apart? (i'm not familiar with the Gross gun).

[Pratt]

 I should have been more specific - when talking welds in blacksmithing we usually mean forge welds, the metal is fused to itself with no brazing material. If not done quite right a bad joint will eventually separate, which appears to be the case on the old gun I was talking about
  Copper brazing - I have seen a bunch of old iron mounted guns and other old items brazed with copper that are still in one piece nearly 200 years later. On these rifles the buttplates were often joined this way and take plenty of abuse right at the area where the joint is

[Pratt]

Here's an old one

[M Tornichio]

Ian, You did a really nice job on this rifle. I like it alot. I really like the patina on the mounts.
marc