A thread on Carl Pippert was started a while back that requested pictures of Carl Pippert's work, and I posted some pictures of one of his guns. Unfortunately the topic was deleted or removed, so I thought I would start a new thread on Carl's work and re-post the pictures.
Carl Pippert was one of the founding fathers of the Kentucky Rifle Association and was a mentor to many current gunsmiths, including Earl Lanning and others. He spent a lifetime studying original longrifles and was close friends with Old Joe Kindig. He had total access to the Kindig collection and was able to study rifles that most of us only get to see in pictures.
As a result, Carl made some of the best contemporary longrifles I've ever seen, most of which, would have made the old masters proud. His work was so well known, that his rifles, and the rifles of his students, became known as the "Bladensburg School" of gunsmithing.
Carl was extremely knowledgeable about original Golden Age Kentucky's and his advice was frequently sought out by collectors. Because of this wealth of knowledge, he was involved in the creation of the Kindig book, "Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifles in it's Golden Age" as well as being involved (in some way or another) with almost every book written on the Kentucky rifle up until his death in 1999.
Carl was a true gentleman who was willing to help anyone who asked for an opinion,and he was always available for advice. I was fortunate enough to have been his last apprentice and I not only consider him as my mentor, but he was my friend as well.
I'll attach several pictures of one of his rifles that was a bench copy of a Simon Lauck rifle (at least I believe he had the rifle in hand or had access to it). I don't remember this particular rifle, so Carl may have added some of his own touches, but rest assured, they would have been appropriate for Lauck's work, or Carl wouldn't have done them. He was in his 80's when he built this rifle, and even in his later years, (as you can see) his work was still great.
Frank
