This rifle is inspired by the European stocked, early rifle, featured in the book, “Moravian Gunmaking II”, starting on page 51. I fell in love with this piece the first time I saw it, and decided I wanted build something similar.
I wanted to keep the basic architecture the same, but “Americanize” it some. To that end, I substituted a brass muzzlecap for horn, and squared the toe of the stock, verses a round one. I also greatly simplified the side plate decoration, but kept the basic shape.
The rifle is stocked in a piece of Red Maple, that was not real hard, and subsequently, a little difficult to work with. The barrel is a 31” Colerain in .54 cal. The lock is a Chambers round faced Germanic. The trigger guard is from MBS. The butt piece is a commercially available one that I modified in the comb area. The leaves and flower engraving were cast in the brass, and I pretty much left them as cast. Some engraving was added to the comb area. I also did some simple engraving on the cock of the lock. I stayed fairly close to the carving of the original rifle, adding a couple things here and there.
Anyway, here are some photos. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Thanks!
Ed
