Well, I kinda hate to admit this, but many years ago, a bright eyed pilgrim attached himself to my camp at one of our bigger rendezvous. Like all of us when we started out, he had an endless stream of questions. One of those questions was how do you make your gun look like its actually over wintered in the Rocky Mountains. I said shucks thats easy, just give it to me, and I抣l fix it right up for you. He did, and I took his pristine.50 caliber Great Plains rifle home with me. I stripped the stock, and the metal, of their finishes. I belt sanded the bottom of the forearm clear through to the ramrod channel, and then smoothed it up to resemble saddle wear. I rawhided the wrist with a rawhide dog chew, and stained it with a wash of Lincoln抯 medium brown leather dye, rubbed down while wet with a wet rag and rubbed it good with some black masonry tint while just barely damp. The metal got a mix of Birchwood Caseys plum brown, and cold blue, rubbed back to bright, except in the corners. A painted on finish, rubbed back and accented with a little more masonry tint to simulate dirt, and the wood was done. I added some brass tacks, and treated them with salt, and hydrogen peroxide, to green them up, and she was done. I expected him to freak out when he saw it for the first time, and planned it so there would be a crowd, just in case he didn抰 take it well. He loved it, and long after he had gotten a much better gun, it could always be found leaning against something in his camp.
Hungry Horse
