Photos of finished Alexander Henry rifle

[Curtis]

Seeing Rolf's post on making an Alex Henry lock reminded me I have yet to post any photos of my finished rifle.  (original build posted here:https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=55149.0)

The lock, breech and standing breech were color cased by Randy Grunkemeyer, the trigger plate, trigger and pistol grip cap were color cased by Tom Snyder.  All other finish work was done by yours truly... the trigger guard and buttplate were given a "Bright English Charcoal Blue" and the barrel was rust blued.  The wood finish was covered in the original posting.  I should mention I let my highly polished barrel rust too long during the rusting and got a fair amount of pitting. 

Enough typing, now for some photos!



































Thanks for looking, comments and questions are welcomed!

Curtis

[Rolf]

Thanks for posting pictures of the rifle. Truly beautiful work.
Best regards
Rolf

[hawkeye]

Wow my god, this is the most beautiful Alexander Henry  I saw
Super executed
Thanks for sharing Hawkeye

[Preacher Dave]

Beautiful beyond description. I have spent the last two hours going back over the posts of the construction of this rifle. Truly outstanding work at a master level. I am hoping that it shoots for you as good as it looks.

[heinz]

Beautiful gun.  Next we want to see targets

[archer829]

Beautiful rifle!  A work of art!  Your other post—about the build—is fantastic as well.

[Big Bubba]

WOW!

[T*O*F]

Wow!!  As one who remembers your humble beginning I would say that you are now the #1 surviving master of the English rifle.  You have learned your lessons well.

[Tim Crosby]

 It can't be possible to do it better, Beautiful work.

   Tim

[hortonstn]

Absolutely beautiful Curtis

[J. Talbert]

Great, great work Curtis.

Fun to look at,
Jeff

[smart dog]

Hi Curtiss,
That is beautiful and looks exactly like it should!

dave 

[Tony N]

Beautiful work!

Tony

[Austin]

Really nice

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Wonderful work Curtis.  But I concur with other posters...need to see targets.

[snapper]

I keep thinking that you will show up one of these days to shoot that thing.

Fleener

[MJBush]

Oh my, beautiful!
Michael

[Justin Urbantas]

that is really amazing. Looks fantastic.
 I think I'll be getting some parts from Rod to build one too.

[RickH]

Spectacular!!
Nicely done!

[Bob Roller]

Extremely well done.Paper patched bullets may be the best but you can try lubed ones as well.Lyman 451114 may still be available because of the Gibbs? Pedersoli rifles. Refresh my feeble mlnd,did I make that lock or??.The one I made back in 2002 used a GM 450/458 with 8 grooves and a 1 in 18 twist and I used a Ron Long custom Mould that made a 550 grain grooved bullet and the breech loaders had no advantage at 500 meters except easier loading.Mine was a stalking rifle because I had a good looking trigger guard copied from an original
and my own 4 screw lock and front and rear sights.I used Don Brown's semi finished stock and it went together with no problems and was very plain with no engraving  or checkering.
Bob Roller
 

[Dennis Daigger]

Curtis,
Really beautiful stock work, crisp lines and the checkering is superb.
Dennis

[TommyG]

I'm not familiar with Alexander Henry's work, but I do know outstanding craftsmanship when I see it.  Wow!  That is absolutely gorgeous!

[Curtis]

Well WOW, thanks everyone I'm flattered to hear all the positive comments!  I learned a lot on this one, hopefully I can remember most of it.  : )  The most nerve-wracking part of the build was probably the checkering, though the engraving was a challenge in it's own right.

It seems to shoot pretty nicely, I shot it at Friendship the Spring of 2021 at the 500 yard rams and targets - TOF spotted for me and we were able to get it dialed in after several rounds downrange.  After that I was hitting the target 75-80% of the time even with my bad form.  I haven't shot it since but hope to get out and punch some targets with it soon.  I can get about a 260 yard shot at my range here and will see what groups I can come up with.

Wow!!  As one who remembers your humble beginning I would say that you are now the #1 surviving master of the English rifle.  You have learned your lessons well.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that!  However I certainly appreciate all the help you have given me over the years, on this rifle and including the first gun I built 18 years or so ago back when you had the Campfire Bulletin Board.

Also got some great help with this rifle from Jim Westberg (may he rest in peace!) and Tom Snyder

I keep thinking that you will show up one of these days to shoot that thing.

Fleener

You and me both Art!  I'm hoping this year and the next is the magic time for it to finally happen. 

Extremely well done.Paper patched bullets may be the best but you can try lubed ones as well.Lyman 451114 may still be available because of the Gibbs? Pedersoli rifles. Refresh my feeble mind,did I make that lock or??........

Bob Roller

Bob, this is one of Rod England's locks, I haven't had the good luck to score one of yours yet!  I have been shooting 530gr PP bullets from Buffalo Arms mold
JIM4435350E and 86 gr Swiss FFg, a combo I got from Art.  It seems to work well.  I also acquired a Buffalo Arms mold for a 530gr GG bullet but haven't fired any of those yet.


Again, thanks everyone for all the kind words!

Curtis

[flatsguide]

The end result of a lot of Careful work. It turned out lovely! Too bad about the barrel “pitting” is there a possibility of repolishing?
I’m looking forward to starting on my Rod England A.Henry Kit this winter. His components are very, very well done and are of the very best quality.
I really appreciate your posting of your build as it will really help me during my build and will help avoiding some “pitfalls”.
Cheers Richard
PS super neat engraving!

[Curtis]

Richard,

Thanks and yes, the solution to the problem would be to strip the barrel and re-polish.  That may be in the card for some future date, or maybe not as this rifle was built to be a shooter.


Curtis