Finished Bedford

[rennikselum]

Well I finally finshed my Bedford. Thanks all who responded to my earlier post about the carving. I was able to thin the beaver tails out some, and work the height down a little in certain areas. Most of the other advice I will be applying to my next rifle (already in the vice, will be of Southern Mtn origin and very SLIM hopefully).
Wow! How my mistakes are amplified when looking at the finished product. There are plenty of things I will do a little different on future rifles.

Jeff

[Acer Saccharum]

Looks to be a beautiful rifle in my eyes, one that you can be proud of.
Mistakes? Yes, of course, we all make them. But you know what they are, so that means you are on the road to improving your work and your eye.

I like your folky carving, and nice staining and gentle aging of the finish. Good job.

If you get time, I would like to see profile views of the buttstock, one from the side, from the lock to the butt, and one from the top.

Also, it looks like the guard finials are sitting on top of the stock, when they should be let in almost flush. That's the only thing I see.

Thanks for posting your work, Jeff!

Tom

[Nate McKenzie]

Looks pretty darned good to me. Why don't you try a little engraving.  Even very simple engraving can be very effective.

[rich pierce]

Looks right to me, real nice job.

[northmn]

Looks Ok to me.  Really I am not a fan of Befords but will comment that when you talk of fixing mistakes you will find you make a few more etc, until you get the groove.  It takes a few rifles.  Mostly I think you learn to live with them as sometimes what is planned and what is done are different.  I have a smoothbore I have been working on that I had to put up a while.  I will nick name her "Old Slabsides" when she is done as things got a little out of hand in web thickness and I did too much to fix it now.  Really I do not think it will look all that bad.  One reason the old timers made the same type of rifle instead of switching styles as we do, like you mentioned going to Southern Mountain. You now have to deal with another style.  How does the rifle fit   Some claim the originals had all the fit of a hockey stick.  Looks like a nice rifle.

DP

[Long John]

I, too, am not real knowledgeable about the Bedford style of gun making.  but it seems you got a whole lot more right than you got wrong!  It looks a lot better than my first rifle!

Now develop a load for it and have some fun!

Best Regards,

JMC

[Mike R]

Well, I like Bedfords and I think you have captured the essence of them--nice job!

[jim meili]

A good friend who builds rifles full time refers to Bedfords as hockey sticks. Just joking, of course. I love the lines of a well built Bedford and like all the schools of longrifles they have their own culture. You've done a great job of capturing those lines.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

No "insurance policy" needed here...That is a well made gun!  I don't know much about Bedford guns, but that is a very well made rifle!  Be proud!!!

[bdixon]

What parts? Methods, master plan "in your mind", etc, etc did you use on this rifle, it looks very nice to me.

[rennikselum]

Thanks all, for the kind words.
This has been on my bench for over two years so hopefully I'm accurate with some of the details...
42" Green Mtn 13/16" barrel, .45cal. The lock is an L&R. I cut the toe plate, side plate, RR pipes & scutcheons. It has a 4" drop at the heel. Weighs ~81/4 lbs.

This my 3rd rifle, my first long rifle. My first two were half-stocks (Hawken & Vincent). The hawken (my first) is very rough as far Hawken lines are concerned, but it shoots very accurate (Rayle .54 barrel) and I drag it thru the forest every year hunting deer.

I had more "fun" with this gun and can't really see wanting to build any more half-stocks.I wanted to try engraving on it; as I have been practicing alot on scrap pieces, but will re-visit that when I gain more confidence. I probably enjoyed the carving part the most even though I am very "green" at it. I now understand why everyone advises to buy the hardest stock vs more figure.
The triggerguard frustrated me when finishing the rifle, I need to learn to work with repairing iron and brass mistakes. I guess I should braize the pin holes that I drilled into the lugs on the TG and inlet it deeper and redrill new pin holes in the lugs?

Here are some requested additional photos...don't focus too much on the over-inletted hinge area on the patchbox. Nice dip in the stock

[VP]

I wish my first longrifle looked as good. Your finish work, staining, and inletting are very well done. I most certainly would be proud of it.

Van

[Mike Brooks]

I like it!

[Roger Fisher]

We know that you have to jump to spit now over the snow piles, but you must let us know how she fits offhand and how she shoots

[Brian Jordan]

That is a rifle I would be proud of!!!