Author Topic: Brooks pistol No. 23 - so nice, I had to buy it twice!  (Read 4996 times)

Offline bones92

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1190
  • I'm broke, and I blame Mike Brooks!
Brooks pistol No. 23 - so nice, I had to buy it twice!
« on: January 31, 2022, 07:27:51 PM »
I thought I would share this with you all, given that this pistol made by Mike has some nice features and is, quite frankly, a work of art (IMHO). 

The checkering of the grip is captivating.  The pistol also feels really comfortable in the hand.   I asked Mike about it, and this was made as a prize for a competition shoot in 1989.  Mike made the pistol, and the lock was made by a certain Michael Bratton.   I was lucky to acquire this from the gentleman who won the pistol in 1989.

It is a .45 rifled barrel, 13/16" across the flats. 

















« Last Edit: July 19, 2024, 11:37:50 PM by bones92 »
If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Online smylee grouch

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7907
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2022, 07:59:43 PM »
Nifty  ;)

Offline bones92

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1190
  • I'm broke, and I blame Mike Brooks!
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2022, 08:23:43 PM »
Nifty  ;)

Well, it's not the ugliest flinter I own...   was going to use it to pound tent stakes, but could probably use my hand sledge for that.   :P
If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13415
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2022, 08:30:38 PM »
33 years old, almost antique status. ;) Cool beans man. :P
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 wattlebuster

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2087
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2022, 08:44:30 PM »
I like it. Lots.
Nothing beats the feel of a handmade southern iron mounted flintlock on a cold frosty morning

Offline iloco

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1029
  • Old Timer, Chilhowie, Va.
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2022, 10:26:28 PM »
I'd like to have one like it.  Very nice pistol.
iloco

Offline ScottH

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 574
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2022, 12:33:09 AM »
Outstanding! especially the grip checkering!
How many pistols have you made Mike?

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13415
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2022, 03:43:39 AM »
10ish probably
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 Martin S.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 549
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2022, 12:58:09 PM »
Wow, I really, really like that one!

Well done, Mike!

Offline Stoner creek

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2913
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2022, 02:44:52 PM »
Quasai-Nifty
« Last Edit: February 01, 2022, 03:05:05 PM by Stoner creek »
Stop Marxism in America

Offline acorn20

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 541
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2022, 08:46:54 PM »
Very nice looking pistol!  Wish I would have had that for the dual I had the other day.
Dan Akers

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13415
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2022, 09:08:19 PM »
Very nice looking pistol!  Wish I would have had that for the dual I had the other day.
Obviously, you survived your duel, so the gun you were shooting was obviously adequate.
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 DHouse

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 132
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2022, 12:02:01 AM »
Wow, awesome looking piece. Thank you for posting and congrats on the new addition.

Offline Seth Isaacson

  • Library_mod
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1104
  • Send me your rifles for the ALR Library!
    • Black Powder Historian
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #13 on: February 04, 2022, 12:17:07 AM »
I was wondering who picked this one and the Lea pistol up. Now I know. Great additions to your collection for sure.
I am the Lead Historian/Firearms Specialist at Rock Island Auction Co., but I am here out of my own personal interests in muzzle loading and history.
*All opinions expressed are mine alone and are NOT meant to represent those of any other entity unless otherwise expressly stated.*

Offline bones92

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1190
  • I'm broke, and I blame Mike Brooks!
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #14 on: February 04, 2022, 06:33:21 AM »
Seth, I have no doubt I had just plain dumb luck on both of them.   I feel privileged to be custodian of them (until the day that someone else will keep them).
If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Offline iloco

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1029
  • Old Timer, Chilhowie, Va.
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2022, 09:14:58 PM »
Does the pistol have a stainless touch hole liner.... Not sure if they were in use when Mike made the pistol.
iloco

Offline Yazel.xring

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 339
  • Ethan Yazel ILoveMuzzleloading.com
    • I Love Muzzleloading
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2022, 03:03:25 AM »
Brooks sure knows how to make something nifty
Hi, I’m Ethan and I Love Muzzleloading

ILoveMuzzleloading.com, independently reporting on muzzleloading and the people who have kept it going for generations.

Offline bones92

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1190
  • I'm broke, and I blame Mike Brooks!
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #17 on: May 25, 2022, 09:41:27 PM »
Does the pistol have a stainless touch hole liner.... Not sure if they were in use when Mike made the pistol.

Yes, it does have a stainless liner.     It weight 2 lbs, 2 oz.   The Mike Lea pistol weighs 2 lbs 15 oz. 
If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Offline Bob Gerard

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1342
    • Powder Horns and Such
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #18 on: May 26, 2022, 06:22:20 AM »
I've changed my mind. I like this one best  :)

Offline t.caster

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3729
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #19 on: June 02, 2022, 04:28:16 PM »
That's a keeper for sure! Very nifty!
Tom C.

Offline bones92

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1190
  • I'm broke, and I blame Mike Brooks!
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23 - an unlikely twist
« Reply #20 on: July 01, 2024, 04:37:11 PM »
 Update, 2 years later....

Well, it's not often that you end up buying the same piece twice.    As it turns out, a fellow member bought this Brooks #23 pistol from me, and I regretted it before I even handed it over the counter at the Post Office.   

Then, as fate would have it,  over a  year later I found it listed on another ML forum (but not by the ALR to whom I sold it...), and so I bought it.   Again.

So now I call it "a pistol I like so much that I had to buy it twice."     

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Offline Bigmon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1411
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #21 on: July 01, 2024, 04:55:12 PM »
It always mysifys me how Mike Brooks and others on this site's work always seems to have the correct "look" to their work?  I think it is more the shape and architecture of the pc more than the engraving and carving, wire inlay, etc.
I try and try and a few times I think have come close, but just not there yet.
Seems the more wood taken off, the closer I gets to that "look".?
Great work, as usual. I really nice pistol.

Offline J.M.Browning

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 179
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #22 on: July 02, 2024, 05:43:27 PM »
Im speechless!
Thank you Boone , Glass with all the contemplate I read with todays (shooter's lightly taken as such) , you keep things simple .

Offline Bob Gerard

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1342
    • Powder Horns and Such
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #23 on: July 03, 2024, 02:52:52 AM »
Very nice pistol!
Who is Mike Brooks?


🤣

Offline bones92

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1190
  • I'm broke, and I blame Mike Brooks!
Re: Brooks pistol No. 23
« Reply #24 on: July 08, 2024, 07:50:44 PM »
Careful, Bob... if you say his name three times, he appears in your gun room and replaces your finest flintlocks with brooms.
If it was easy, everyone would do it.