Joe Harris' Rifle (2004)

In the Fall of 2003, Joe Harris of North Carolina contacted me about building a rifle. After numerous e-mail exchanges, we came to an agreement. Since Joe's ancestor fought at the Battle of King's Mountain during the Revolution, the rifle would be a recreation of a gun that might have been made somewhere in Virginia in the 1770's. Joe and I both like the Adam Haymaker rifle, and the "I Was Free Born" rifles shown in RIFLES OF COLONIAL AMERICA, Vol. II, so his rifle will have elements of both.

I volunteered to send Joe photos of the gun as it progressed, as I usually do for clients, and he suggested that I post them here so you could see his gun being made.

Masonic Rifle (2003)

Having become a Mason, I volunteered to make a Masonic rifle to be raffled off by Rising Son #85, my lodge. They provided money for the parts. I discovered that there were a number of early gunsmiths who were Masons, like George Shreyer, making rifles for fellow Masons. I patterned this rifle after the work of Adam Ernest who worked in York, PA circa 1790-1830. The symbolic decoration is all my own, from my Masonic studies. This is one of the most elaborate rifles I have ever made.

Jacob Dickert (2002)

With the imminent publication of The Gunsmith of Grenville County, my friend Brian Allen suggested we do a companion series of videos, so we did. This is the "video gun", another early Jacob Dickert.

John Phillip Beck ("The Lion Beck", 2001)

Finally, I finished for my younger son, Andrew, a recreation of the famous "lion" Beck, with a .45 calibre octagon to round Getz barrel. He shoots it very well.