Don Stith Squirrel

[KLMoors]

I've got no right to complain in life. Overall things usually go pretty well for me. Not so with this gun!  It was one of those projects where everything that could go wrong did. I won't bore you with all the details but the final joy was while putting the lock together for the "last" time  a couple of days ago. I noticed the screws wouldn't draw everything tight so I loosend them to see what was up and the fly fell out broken in two.  I must have had it jammed up somehow. I e-mailed Bob Roller and he's going to fix me up.

Anyways, here it is. It is a Don Stith Deluxe Squirrel, Ed Rayle 38 inch .40 cal barrel,  Roller lock ( I had to make my own lockplate due to a problem with the pre-inlet stock, but its guts are all Roller), steel furniture, poured pewter nosecap, a real nice, hard piece of maple, one coat of Danglers orange, various coats of LMF maple and walnut, and Chambers oil for finish. I rust the barrel and hardware pretty heavily  with LMF and then rub all the rust off.  Then use some cold blues to get the colors I'm looking for.

Hope you like it cause it dang near killed me.  

[Kermit]

Nice. Like that tang engraving. Let us know how it smokes.

[Tom Currie]

She's a pretty one all right. I agree, the emgraving's  a nice touch.

[Ray Nelson]

Nicely done!

Love these type 1/2 stock guns and really like to see such a nice accomplishment! Looks like a KEEPER!!

Ray

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

It looks fantastic!  Any problems you might have encountered, you sure overcame them, 'cause they don't show.  And it's a good plug for Don's squirrel rifle...nice design!!  Thanks for giving us a peek.

[greybeard]

Beautifull brand new pristeen stock with grand engraving and my personal feeling is that the barrel and hardware should be the same and not appear that the gun is a restock of a bunch of refurbished parts. This is my own personal taste only and is not the intent to put down what is a beautifully made rifle.  I would just perfer that the entire piece look new.   Cheers   Bob

[rich pierce]

Indeed, life has been good to you so far.  Really fine rifle.

[B Shipman]

Drop dead nice rifle. I feel the patina matches perfectly. A few dents and scratches in the stock honestly applied will only add to the effect.

[Dew]

Very nice! If you don't mind me asking did you just put the walnut on the parts of the stock that you wanted darker or did you put it on the whole stock and then rub it back to make the lighter spots?

[gregg]

It looks fantastic!  Any problems you might have encountered, you sure overcame them, 'cause they don't show.  And it's a good plug for Don's squirrel rifle...nice design!!  Thanks for giving us a peek.

Beautifull brand new pristeen stock with grand engraving and my personal feeling is that the barrel and hardware should be the same and not appear that the gun is a restock of a bunch of refurbished parts. This is my own personal taste only and is not the intent to put down what is a beautifully made rifle.  I would just perfer that the entire piece look new.   Cheers   Bob


I guess Bob and I just going to have to make our own!!!! ;)I would went with all new look.
But I know I could never build it as nice as that..
Its a WOW
 

[roamer]

SWEET

[KLMoors]

Thanks guys, I'm anxious to get out and try it.  Dew, the shading is a combination of walnut staining, and black spray paint. I then rub it back with steel wool. Then I apply the finish. The shading looks a little more intense in the pictures than it really is. The sun was really low and the lighter colors in the stain really lit up on the camera for some reason.

Taylor, this gun is the coolest feeling gun I own.  It balances right at the back edge of the pewter cap and it feels real slim and graceful in my hands for a Hawken style gun.

[Roger B]

You did a wonderful job on that rifle!  Fast, too.
Roger B.

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

Generations of squirrels will line up to have their picture taken with that rifle. SUPER ! 

 Lon 

[rick landes]

Looks like it could be a generational heirloom. Beautiful job.

Good thing it did not kill you.

I just say what ever don't kill me just makes me more handicapped!

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Ken, if you are still really frustrated with it and want to get it out of your sight... my address is...........  Very nice!!!  I like it a lot!!

[axelp]

very nice--- and great execution. that long tang is just gorgeous... I have always admired Don's kits....

Ken

[wetzel]

Very nice, I would be curious to hear more of the story as it may help me someday.  The rifle is beautiful and I can't see anything I don't like.  Whatever the problems you did a enviable job of working through them.  I am really tempted to go for one of those Don Stith rifle kits. 

[Gene Carrell]

Great looking rifle. I love  the staining of the stock. Don't you get a lump  when you put the Dangler's orange  on the wood? But it really makes the curl jump out.

[KLMoors]

Gene, my wife happened to stop out into the shop after I had the orange on it and she said "Oh my God, why'd you paint that one that color?".  Really cracked me up!

Wetzel, it was just one of those projects where even the most mundane tasks gave me a hard time. There was a problem with the lock inlet and I know that if I had mentioned it to Don he would have replaced the stock but I decided to take care of it myself by making a new lock plate that allowed me to install the lock straight. That took way longer than I thought it would.

Another beauty was that I decided to use a different breechplug to get a little different look. After  a long struggle getting it fit, I filed down the tang and found a big defect (bubble) right where the hook is. Lots of stuff like that.

 Every step of the project took twice as long as it should have. In my career building really high end houses, a couple of times I had a project that went like this rifle. We used to joke that we must be building it on an old indian burial ground because of all the bad luck we'd had doing stuff. Sometimes projects just go that way.

Don's stuff is first class and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. He will also give you a ton of help on the details.

[Frank Barker]

That's a beautiful gun, I like the "patina" on the stock. Reminds me of an old fiddle finish. I particularly like the Bob Roller locks, they are top shelf. Bob is quite a mechanic......Frank

[wattlebuster]

Great job. I like it

[westerner]

I really like your rifle. Love the style and engraving.  The antique finish?   No.  Would be a fantastic rifle in a movie !


Have one very similar.  

          Joe.

[Dew]

Capt.  I love the color you got. I used danglers orange on my half stock and that stuff does make the curl pop. I didn't think about using paint to shade the stock. Cool idea. Is there a certain kind of paint that works best? I'm guessing flat black as the color.  By the way, I went to a gun show today with some Friends and a guy there had some original antique muzzleloaders. One of them was a Sam Hawken half stock squirrel rifle. I think the cal. was .38. It reminded my of your rifle. He let me handle it  and man that thing was sweet! Balanced very well. I never thought I would get to handle an original. If that gun could only talk. He had a tag on it for 6000$,so just think of the money you saved by building one. Thanks,Dew

[KLMoors]

Dew, yup it's flat black. It's either rusltoleum or krylon. Whatever you can get at your local store should work fine. I learned it from Mike Brooks.