Cranfield Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 A friend of mine in the US sent me this picture and I have added an extract from the accompanying email. "This rifle, made by the young fellow holding it-a very good friend of mine named Billy Harkins-is a duplicate of my own squirrel rifle. He had my rifle on the bench in front of him when he made this one so he could take accurate measurements from it. My rifle was carefully duplicated from an original 1780ish flintlock Southern Mountain Rifle that was made and used in the area between Spartanburg, SC and Franklin,NC which is close to Billy's and my home in the North Georgia Mountains. Billy made this rifle for another very good friend who lives here in Tallahassee. The rifle has a 48 inch swamped barrel, .25cal. The triggers are double-set as were those on the original, and this adds greatly to the accuracy. The stock on both this rifle and mine is tiger striped hard maple and was cut around the Reel Foot Lake area of Tennessee, over where Tenn, Ky, Ark and Mo all come together. The iron buttplate, trigger guard, thimbles etc, forged out by Billy, came from wrought iron discarded from a site dating to the early 1800's. Thought some might be interested in knowing that flintlock rifle building isn't a dead art yet! I strongly suspect that this is going to be one highly accurate little squirrel rifle, and as soon as squirrel season opens at Joe Budd we'll find out. " Now thats what you call a rifle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 3 words I WANT ONE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatingisbest Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Is that thing designed to poke the dreys aswell as shoot them?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staglioni Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 that is beatifull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 3 words I WANT ONE Me too! ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windknot Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 Round ball and 10-15 grains of FFFFg? Damn, I wish UK laws on muzzleloaders were more relaxed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Beautiful gun and i would love to se one of its squizzer victims ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 Jesus i wasnt expecting that when i was reading the post..... What a beautiful piece of engineering, absolutly lovely...... What is it like to shoot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver_fox Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 It's amazing what a one armed man can achieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted July 24, 2008 Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 La Long Carabine! What a nice piece and some workmanship. Cranners, is it actually 'rifled'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilv Posted July 24, 2008 Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 The best thing is that one man made it out of lumps of old iron and a plank of wood. How often is anything ever made like that anymore? A man who can do things like that is a prince among men. Me - I can just about sharpen a stick with a pen knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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