What is that rifle on the Blog today?

[Don Tripp]

Of course the George Suitor rifle on the Blog today is beautiful, but what style is it? 

[G-Man]

Looks like a mid-19h century English sporting rifle to me. 

[Bob Roller]

The George Suiter rifle is a mid 19th century Alex Henry copy and a very fine one. It has a barrel made of Damascus or Damascus finished steel with the correct Alex Henry rifling.  I think Ed Rayl may be the maker.The lock is a correct English style with a 4 screw bridle that I made for this gun at George's request. These rifles,be they old or properly made new ones are to firearms what the Duesenberg is to cars,made without regard to cost and without compromise and with no thought of distressed markets. While few of us can afford them,we all can admire them.
This kind of new work is a celebration of a time and people long gone from our planet.
Bob Roller

[Don Getz]

I have a feeling that this gun was built from a kit sold by the late Don Brown.   The kit he sold was probably the best kit
of any kind made.   The kit came with the properly rifled barrel and a patent breech already fit to the barrel.  When I got
my kit I thought the standing breech was soldered to the hook on the breech but found that it was just fit so tight and
well done, didn't find this out until I accidently bumped it and it moved.    I heard recently that the tooling for this kit
was bought and the kit will probably be back on the market..........Don

[bob in the woods]

I sure hope that kit is made available again.  I would love to take one of those rifles to the 1000 yd matches !

[Bob Roller]

Rod England in South Carolina is the owner of the Don Brown Alexander Henry project and his E mail is <rtengland864@aol.com>
I have no idea what the status is right now,
I think he wants me to make some locks but also told him that most will opt for a cheap lock and I don't do cheap,especially on this type of rifle. Anyhow,his contact info is now out.

Bob Roller

[Don Getz]

Unless I am mistaken R.E.Davis made the locks for Don Brown.  After all, all it has to do is pop a cap.   The lock on the one
I did was a good functioning lock and looked like it belonged on an Alex Henry rifle.....Don

[Don Tripp]

What would be an appropriate caliber and twist for such a rifle as this?

[flintriflesmith]

I have a feeling that this gun was built from a kit sold by the late Don Brown.   ..........Don

This was not from a kit. As Bob said in his post--he made the lock and Ed Rayle made the barrel out of some of that modern steel that looks like damascus. I'm not sure about the other parts but George made this in his home shop and he is a skilled machinest.

[Bob Roller]

For the long range .451 the current standard is a 1 in 18 inch twist. Some of the old ones had a 1 in 20. The modern bore of .450-.458 seems to work well with either grease grooved or paper patched bullets from 480 to over 550 grains. Bill Roberts had an old one he rebarreled with a Douglas blank for a 458 Winchester Magnum and it shot good at the 500 yard range at Friendship. I made up a scratch built one using a Green Mountain blank that was 1 and 1/8 inches octagon but I had Tom Nixon turn it down to .900 at the muzzle and taper it leaving about 2 inches of octagon to mate with the Don Brown breech I used. It shot clover leaf groups at 100 yards using a greased 475 grain bullet.
As I said earlier,Rod England owns all the tooling now to make this rifle and plans to continue the same high standards Don established back in 1987.
These rifles are a breed unto themseves and were the ones that brought the muzzle loader to a conclusion as far as performance is concerned and with a load of 90 grains of quality black powder and the heavy bullets,they are a very potent hunting rifle and easy to reload.

Bob Roller

[Don Getz]

Gary........meant no disrespect for George's gun, fantastic gun.   Also, a very difficult gun to build.    Mark Silver has one
like it that he built from a Don Brown kit, I'm sure you can envision what he did with it..........Don

[Bob Roller]

I saw George Suiter's Alex Henrt copy at the CLA Show last year at Ed Rayls's table and it is superb.These rifles are a hard build and the one I made was a straight grip style. It took a long time to make it and I started it in 2001 and range tested it in 2003. Too many things interfere for me to ever get serious about any more of these rifles.
The rifle I saw at Friendship that Mark Silver had on display was a 40 caliber version but not cased with all the accessories but still a fine example of the gun maker's art.

Bob Roller