For this project I tried to imagine that sometime in the 1760’s a Native American gave a worn-out early English trade gun to a gun stocker and asked him to build a new gun. The lock was missing or beyond saving so the gun stocker provided Germanic lock. Once the stocker completed his work the Native American added his own trade bead decoration.
It will be offered as one of the fundraiser auction items at the August Contemporary Longrifle Association meeting. I started it at the 2024 Southern Ohio Artisans gunmaker’s workshop with Ian Pratt and Ken Gahagan and finished it up this past fall.
For a stock pattern I chose a parts gun from the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation shown in Of Sorts For Provincials (Jim Mullins, 2008). That gun, however, has no butt plate or side plate, and only a simple iron strap for a trigger guard while I chose to build my version with a full suite of handmade hardware. Engraved serpent side plates show up on many early trade guns. Relict butt plates with a serpentine return have been found at a few early native American sites in North America. I added the serpent’s head to the butt plate to match the side plate. There are two similar butt plates shown in Historic Arms of Early New York 1640 to 1850 (Wester White, 2022), though not on trade guns. The trigger guard was made from sheet brass and is also similar ones found at several Native American archaeological sites. The ribbed brass ramrod pipes are typical of trade guns were handmade from sheet brass. I used a Chamber’s Germanic lock as it has a nice “banana” shape. I gave the 20-gauge barrel English proof marks and is marked with my initials (RW) though they could also be those of Richard Wilson, a period maker. The front sight is made from coin silver. Bead decoration is known from a small handful of surviving guns though this gun does not follow any particular example. One well-known French trade gun has beads bedded in red sealing wax and I have followed that here. The gun is stocked in maple stained with aquafortis and rubbed with several coats of oil varnish followed by wax. It has been finished to represent an aged but well-loved family heirloom.
Barrel: Rice Barrel Company, 48” 20-gauge smoothbore
Lock: Jim Chambers Flintlocks, Early Germanic Flintlock
Stock wood: Harrison Gunstocks/Nathan Cox, curly maple
Engraving: Ian Pratt (butt plate and side plate), Ken Gahagan (wrist escutcheon)
Barrel inletting: Mark Wheland
