Books on Building Muzzle Loaders

[shifty]

  If you could only buy one book or maybe two on building muzzle loaders what would you get ? I'm talking both Flint & Percussion.

[alyce-james]

"Recreating The American Longrifle". By Wm. buchele G. Shumway.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Here they are in order

http://www.americanlongrifles.org/Books_frame.htm

[Ky-Flinter]

"Recreating The American Longrifle". By Wm. Buchele and G. Shumway.

Same here.

-Ron

[whetrock]

Here's a link to thread on the same topic, from December. Might be helpful to you.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=24569.msg235238#msg235238

[draken]

I have all three books, the most recent addittion being Peter Alexander's "Gunsmith of Greenville County"    Speaking as a rank amateur, I would go with Alexander's work if had to limit myself to one book. 

[Eric Smith]

I would bite the bullet and buy all three.

[shifty]

I guess Gunsmiths of Grenville co first.

[Mark Elliott]

In my opinion, the most comprehensive reference is Peter Alexander's The Gunsmith of Grenville County.   It includes all the material in Buchelle's book and then some.   The next book I would buy is Gunsmithing  Tips & Projects, a compilation of Rifle magazine articles, for the articles by John Bivins.   That is what I read and study these days along with the Journals of Historical Armsmaking Technology.   After you have an idea what you are doing,  John Bivins tells you how it is really done.   He shared so much,  it is a shame he was taken so soon. 

[Mark Elliott]

I should note that the books I listed only tell you the how, not the what.   For the what, you must have Rifles of Colonial America and Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in it's Golden Age as a start.   These books set the standard for documenting longrifles.  The only other books I have or seen come up to the same level of usefulness  are Moravian Gun Making of the American Revolution published by the KRA and North Carolina Schools of Longrifles, 1765-1865 by Bill Ivey with photos by Kenneth Orr.   What is more useful, other than examining the gun in person, are the photo CDs distributed by the KRA Foundation.  To their credit the KRA has really stepped up to make the best guns of their membership available to the general public through books and photo CDs.