Author Topic: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....  (Read 7960 times)

Offline Ed Wenger

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2457
Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« on: February 18, 2017, 02:52:26 AM »
This is a Winchester, VA inspired rifle, based loosely on the work of Lauck and Sheets.  It's not a copy of any particular rifle.  The barrel is a 44" .50 cal Getz.  The trigger guard is a Sheets style from MBS, the butt piece is a Dickert style, and has a little shorter tang than you'd typically find on a rifle from this area.  The box design is typical for a Winchester area rifle.  I was going for a "Early Golden Age" piece, so did the side plates of the box without piercings.  The Lock is a Chambers, Dale Johnson.  The stock is American walnut.  Not a lot of bells and whistles on this one...


     Ed



















Ed Wenger

Offline PPatch

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2456
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2017, 03:14:21 AM »
Very very nice Ed. Tight!

dave
Dave Parks   /   Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Offline SingleMalt

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 613
  • One day I'll be considered a good builder.
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2017, 03:33:22 AM »
I like it!  What's the finish on the stock? It really looks smooth
Never drink whisky that isn't old enough to vote.

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."- Plato

"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."

Offline BOB HILL

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2276
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2017, 03:43:09 AM »
Very nice work. I really like it. Thanks for sharing......Bob
South Carolina Lowcountry

Offline Joe Schell

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 208
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2017, 04:06:13 AM »
Thats a really nice rifle !

Offline Paddlefoot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1844
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2017, 04:16:49 AM »
I've been thinking a lot about barrel tang length and tang screw placement lately. The screw on this one looks like it's pretty far back on a long tang. Is that typical of that school of gun builders or just particular to this gun?  I like the gun overall. Very understated elegance.
The nation that makes great distinction between it's warriors and it's scholars will have it's thinking done by cowards and it's fighting done by fools. King Leonidas of Sparta

Offline bama

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2164
    • Calvary Longrifles
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2017, 05:33:00 AM »
Beautiful rifle Ed, fantastic workmanship.
Jim Parker

"An Honest Man is worth his weight in Gold"

Offline FALout

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 875
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2017, 05:40:35 AM »
I like what you've done Ed, may not be overly adorned, but the details really stand out.  I really like how you did the toe plate and the tail end of the lock.
Bob

Offline Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15678
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2017, 07:38:58 AM »
Ed- this rifle is ELEGANT!  So beautiful.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Dan Fruth

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 556
    • D Fruth Flintlocker
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #9 on: February 18, 2017, 07:42:46 AM »
Nice job Ed...That Dale Johnson lock is a quick little lock.
The old Quaker, "We are non-resistance friend, but ye are standing where I intend to shoot!"

Heavies

  • Guest
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2017, 12:39:54 PM »
Very beautiful piece!

Offline Rolf

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • There's more than one way to skin a cat.
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2017, 02:56:24 PM »
Beautiful, clean work!!! Really like the carving.

Best regards
Rolf

Offline Marcruger

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3699
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2017, 02:58:33 PM »
Well done Ed.  You know I appreciate the ones with subtle bling.  This is a Goldilocks rifle - not too much, not too little. 

Just like a beautiful lady doesn't need makeup to shine, the architecture and crisp work you've done here certainly speaks for itself. 

This is the one with the hidden knuckle patchbox release, right? 

Your carving continues to impress (just gets better) and that buttstock and tang work is super 3D. 

I'd love to take that one out for a spin.  :-)  The only trouble would be for me to load it with that 44" barrel.....I'd have a hard time seeing the muzzle at my height!   Hah, hah. 

I am going to have to drive up to see what else is cooking in your shop.  Goldfinch say's "hi".

Marc

Offline Joe S.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1989
  • the other Joe S.
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2017, 03:44:31 PM »
I like it,very nice.I like the fact that its elegant without being over done.Like the patina on both steel and brass and it blends so well with the walnut stock.

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13415
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2017, 04:07:14 PM »
I like bigly.
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline Curtis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2332
  • Missouri
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #15 on: February 18, 2017, 04:48:13 PM »
I like bigly.

Me too!  So VERY bigly!  Some nice 'gravin and carvin' there Ed!

Curtis
Curtis Allinson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes, late at night when I am alone in the inner sanctum of my workshop and no one else can see, I sand things using only my fingers for backing

Offline Cades Cove Fiddler

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1714
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #16 on: February 18, 2017, 05:01:22 PM »
....Beauty in her simplicity......Elegant, yet not overdone......I LIKE HER.....!!!

n stephenson

  • Guest
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #17 on: February 18, 2017, 05:30:48 PM »
Clean, Crisp, Elegance!!! I like the whole rifle very much but, I really think you did a SUPER!! job on the carving , very clean!!     Sometimes Walnut can be a bugger to carve , at least for me.  Nice Work!!!                                     Nathan
« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 05:33:14 PM by n stephenson »

Offline Robert Wolfe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1285
  • Great X Grandpa
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #18 on: February 18, 2017, 05:47:51 PM »
Very nice. Always like seeing walnut guns - my favorite.
Robert Wolfe
Northern Indiana

ron w

  • Guest
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #19 on: February 18, 2017, 05:59:19 PM »
just the right balance between lethal utility and visual artistry,....very nice !    just exactly the way I like them.....pretty enough to look at all day long, without being gaudy !.  I've often wondered just exactly how common walnut was back then.

Offline Ed Wenger

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2457
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #20 on: February 18, 2017, 06:00:28 PM »
Thanks, all, bigly!

Single malt...,  The stock's grain was filled with Herter's French Red, then I used my old standby of a few coats of Permalyn sealer, rubbed out with pumice stone & paraffin oil, using an old tooth brush.

Joe...,  I think what you see as being a long tang and back set tang bolt, is a photograph thing.  The tang bolt is pretty much 1/3rd from the end, which is where I typically place them, and the tang itself is around 2 3/8".  Don't know if that's "correct", but it's typically around what I shoot for. 

Ed
Ed Wenger

Offline Dennis Glazener

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 19450
    • GillespieRifles
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #21 on: February 18, 2017, 07:14:47 PM »
Love the gun, great craftsmanship and just the right amount of bells and whistles for me. The only thing I am not keen on is that Germanic pan on a VA rifle but I guess as close as they were to the Great Wagon Road they could have taken some of those PA German locks in on trade ;D

Curious to what the 5159 is on the barrel?
Dennis
 
« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 07:16:33 PM by Dennis Glazener »
"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend" - Thomas Jefferson

Offline Marcruger

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3699
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #22 on: February 18, 2017, 07:39:48 PM »
Hey Ed,  Erin says "It's perfect and beautiful!"

Love that toe plate too. 

Marc

Offline Ed Wenger

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2457
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #23 on: February 18, 2017, 10:41:38 PM »
Marc & Erin, thank you, and George says "hi", lol....

Dennis, the lock was strictly one of those "client preference" things.  Having said that, I've seen more than a few "Valley guns" with Germanic locks, especially ones of an earlier nature.  Remember too, there was a substantial amount of "Germanic" immigration into the Valley from both the Great Wagon Road, as well as through the James River basin.

The 5159 is a just a number significant to the client...

     Ed

Ed Wenger

Offline c deperro

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 105
Re: Winchester, VA inspired rifle....
« Reply #24 on: February 19, 2017, 12:21:47 AM »
Very nice looks great .