Ca. 1830 Hawken pistol

Good friend Joe Corley from Montana started this one, after an original.  When visiting Jack Brooks recently, we experimented with the etching process they used with Damascus or stub twist, common on Hawken and English pistols.  I “engraved” a pattern in barrel/breech/rib, etched, cold blued, sanded back, and applied hot brown on top, to get this interesting texture.  The tang and trigger plate were case hardened, with just a little engraving.  Decided to leave lock bright, as most I’ve seen were hardened and then polished back.  Blued the other iron mounts, so there’s lots of color and variety of finishes on one small piece, like the old pocket pistols.

Ca. 1770 pistols

Here are my interpretations of two pistols made at Christian’s Spring before the Rev. War.  The shop stocked English and German locks and barrels, plus completed pistols, and they built in various styles.  Here are a pistol with German style lock and brass mounts in curly maple, and another with English lock, iron mounts, wire and silver in walnut.  The old idea of a gunstocker only making one style needs to go out the window when discussing the Moravian men and boys.

Current Projects

1790 smooth rifle after John Rupp, 46” custom barrel, custom brass mounts and hand-made lock.

1750 rifle – perhaps early work from a European trained gunstocker - just arrived in the colonies.