These items are no longer available as they have been sold, but they do give you a good look at what Doc does and the quality of the goods that he designs, makes and sells. Some are worth looking at just for the sake of the art and the inventiveness. Enjoy!
Mosquette d’infantrie, French model 1728. This gun started with a trade-in stock that had a big defect in the forestock. It was not repairable so I had to amputate. It worked just right, the 32″ 73 caliber smoothbore barrel mimicing a cut down originally 44″ long barrel. The lock is a copy of an original and was made from a kit from the Rifle Shoppe and is a great sparker.
This gun was reputedly used by a French Canadien militiaman in the raid on the American frontier settlements during the F&I War. He must have been quite a French patriot, viz- the self-inletted Flor- de- Lei thumbpeice.
#810- PROTOTYPE WHITE SPORTING RIFLE, 504 CALIBER-
I designed and built quite a number of prototype sporting rifles. All sported the same barrel, same as the M98 Elite Hunter, but with many variations. Finally decided on this model, with traditional Manton breech-plug, Henry sidelock, single trigger and Henry forearm.
The White Co. was absolutely uninterested in a production gun, but did offer it breifly as a custom arm. I built every one of them ever made. If you have a White Sporting rifle, I built it. DOC
#809 The birth of a Dutch inspired 12 bore wheelock musket.
Above seen in the white, ready to shoot but without final finish. The client wanted to finish it himself.
The lock is amazingly quick, the trigger pull soft and easy. The lock cocks with a spanner, turn it 3/4’s of a turn clockwise, prime the pan, close the pan cover, pull the cock back onto the cover and you are ready to fire. For safe, just push the cock away from the pan.
#799- Here is a grown-up Henry style English Sporting Rifle for 54 caliber patched round ball. Brand new barrel by Kelly who makes excellent custom barrels, deep grooves, slow 1-72 twist for high velocity yet accurate hunting loads, screw adjustable rear sight, Globe front with inserts, 3/8th inch ramrod tapped for accessories, sling swivels fore and aft, (oops-rear one not installed yet), all iron furniture, double set trigger, 4A maple half-stock with wide English butt, with dark Aqua Fortis stain and soaked-in-oil then varnish finish. It is a functionally elegant hunting rifle. It could also serve the British re-enactor, playing Sir Whatshisname Drummond touring the West during the fur trade days. It’s fun to play the British dude when everyone else is scruffy and dirty.
The rifle is very accurate with 60 gr FFg and a .530 ball with .025 thou patch. It’s been shot just enough to prove its accuracy, about 30 shots.
It is a very stout rifle, British fashion, better than a Hawken. You can’t see it, but it features a tang-to-trigger bar screw, the percussion bolster is the stoutest in the world, designed by the great gunmaker Manton, the lock is surmounted by a drip bar instead of weak wood, the trigger guard screws to the DST plate at the front and is fastened with two screw at the rear. The forearm key is surrounded by supporting roundels, all in all, a very strong, yet elegant set-up.
You get a hint here that the checkering wraps up and around the wrist. Note the drip bar just in front of the solid patent breech and above the forefront of the lock- an attractive feature that neatly solves the problem of the weak wood above the lock. The trigger guard, below, screws into the DST plate, which in turn is bolted to the tang- a very strong set-up.
The black ebony forearm tip is Henry’s style, which matches the Henry percussion lock. The checkering at the wrist is done in the earlier British style. Too bad the great tiger striping in the maple does not show as well as it should. The figure is quite muted by the Aqua Fortis dark finish. The barrel is browned, the rest of the furniture is antique hot rust blued. The contrast is right handsome. The Globe front sight comes with several inserts.
This grand British style of the 1820-60’s was muted, never flamboyant, yet functionally elegant and extremely stout. The almost flat iron buttplate is nearly 2inches wide to reduce felt recoil, the wide butt meaning a cheekpeice is not needed to fit the shooter’s face. The trigger guard is screwed into the double set trigger plate, then tied down with two screws at the rear, the trigger plate is in turn bolted through to the tang, which holds the very strong Manton style hooked breech. There is far more metal in this breech set up than in any Hawken. Also note that there is no wood above the lock, a ‘drip bar’ filling in that weak space.
#788 And let there be- a GENTLEMAN’S RIFLE with English brass furniture, a Colerain 38″ octagon to round barrel in 58 caliber, an elegant English Queene Anne flintlock, a single trigger and a silver escutcheon at the wrist. The rifle has been restocked in America with aqua fortis stained AAAA maple. It remains decorated in the English under-stated way. The original would have had a walnut stock.
The rifle has kept the classic British conformation. The trigger guard is a French model, much admired and much used by the English. The elegant Chambers English lock is carefully placed for best ignition. The maple figure extends all the way thru the stock, end to end, both sides. Note: there is a cheek-piece. There is a brass front sight soldered to the barrel, but the rear is a two leaf folding sight in a dovetail. Most of the furniture is brass. The barrel has a 16 sided treatment to the front of the octagon section and is held to the stock with 4 stout pins.
The wrist eschutcheon is real silver, held to the wrist by a screw from underneath. Both the trigger guard and sidelock are nicely engraved, the butt plate return sports an engraved stand of arms. The lock and trigger are finished with an antique hot rust blue. The screws are hot fire blued.
There is just a bit of raised carving behind the tang, in the understated British fashion. The wrist eschuteon, though , is deeply chisled. Not really chisled, although we speak of it that way, but carved in wax, then investment cast in pure silver. That technique has existed since the time of the Greeks. It is held to the wrist by a screw extending from under the trigger guard extension.
Almost all the furniture on the rifle was investment cast. You do have to clean up the dross and finish the casting, so it’s not all that easy. The butt plate return is hand engraved with a stand of arms, a common motif on British hunting guns, matching the trigger guard and side-plate cast-in engraving at least on style and venue. The maple has been finished dark with heated Aqua-Fortis. The ramrod is iron, with a tapered brass tip. There is also a wooden cleaning rod with tip tapped for accessories, which can be substituted for the heavier iron rod if wanted.
This is as functionally elegant as flintlock rifles get. Sort of plain, but your hands will never lose their way on it. Just right for sneaking around in the whitetail woods.
#781- The gestation of this K. James rifled fusil is about complete English style, with French influence. Queene Anne flintlock, all iron furniture. Note the barrel band at the muzzle. The tip of the stock has been cut back to fit a bayonet, this cut off the front key as well, thus the band to holt the stock in place.
All furniture and fittings are iron. The barrel is browned, the furniture is antique rust blued. The contrast is quite handsome.
The front barrel band has a stud for a ring, like on early French muskets and fusils. The rear lock screw is destined to be replaced by a stud for ring as well. Looks like this English fusil was captured by a Frenchman and converted for military use. The miitary iron ramrod is likely a replacement too, the original wood too fragile for war.
791- You are visualizing the adventure of a Triple Wender, a three barreled percussion rollover combination with a 12 bore shotgun, a 62 caliber rifle and a 50 caliber rifle, both rifles for patch and round ball. Barrels are 26″ long and roll around a central axis, with a spring-loaded lock just to the front of the trigger guard. Each barrel has its own ramrod. All barrels have rifle front sights, both rifle barrels have fixed rear sights but the shotgun does not. There is an interchangable choke in the shotgun barrel. The lock is back action with all iron furniture except a German silver sideplate opposite the lock..
This was meant to be a hunting gun. As such it wasn’t supposed to be fancy, just functionally elegant. Well. Maybe. I had intended to use a piece of plain walnut to match the plain hunting gun concept, but this short chunk of elegant walnut fell into my hands. Now I’m going to have to match the gun to the wood. Oh dear! Such a challenge. What I’ll do for the art of it.
Here it is in final form. I took this charming combination ‘wender’ (means ‘winder’ in German) turkey hunting end of April 2014, just could not resist getting some photos of it into the website despite its not being totally finished. As you can see, the screws are not yet blued in the photos (they are polished and fire blued now) and the rifle ramrods are missing their caliber specific cleaning jags.
You can see the locking latch that fits just to the front of the trigger guard. A short pull rearward on the latch then hand rotate to the barrel you want and the latch will automatically catch when it’s in the correct position. The trigger is a single set but I’ve set it up as an assisted trigger, a bit of spring loading helps pull it off. Makes for a light touch without being finicky.
The cap box is an original I’ve had around for years, just right for this gun, especially as there was a defect in the wood underneath it. The screws are now fire blued like the ones on the checkered buttplate
The trigger bar is double bolted to the upper tang and hooks into the face plate that rotates against the barrels. It is very sturdy. You can see the three barrels ends above, 50 caliber and 62 caliber for round ball and a 12 gauge shotgun with their caliber specific cleaning jags. The shotgun barrel will fit one of my Super Turkey chokes, the choke you see in the barrel is open for shooting ball. Both rifle barrels are accurate, the 50 shoots thumb tip groups at 25 yards and the 62 bullets all touch at 50 yards. The rear sights will need final adjusting for your eyes. It has been shot just enough to make sure the barrels are good.
There is a nice cheek-piece for a right handed shooter, the iron buttplate is deeply checkered, the drums and nipples each hold a blast guard in place, the silver side decoration is lightly engraved in the muted later percussion fashion, my signature, ‘G B White’, is engraved in script on one rear barrel flat, ‘Roosevelt’ is on another and ‘Utah Territory’ is scroll engraved on the third.
It looks bulky but that is deceptive. It’s a near 10 Lb. gun but handles much better than you would think due to the short barrels. The weight is somewhat of an advantage with near 2 ounce shot loads in the shotgun and loads of 200 grains of Black Powder with a 340 grain round ball in the 62 caliber rifle. With a choice of three barrels, any critter that shows up is in danger.
Here is what the triple wender is capable of doing. I called this bird into 40 yards. 1 7/8th ounces of #7 nickel plated shot and 100 grains of powder did the rest. This was my birthday present for 2014. 78 years and counting. It’s amazing.
#787 Here comes a late flintlock era iron-mounted flintlock Mountain rifle by Peter Gonter, with AAA maple stock, Siler Premium flintlock, Colerain 50 caliber 38″ swamped barrel, single trigger and iron patchbox and furniture, stained dark, all iron browned.
Now we have grown up. We see elegant raised carving behind the cheekpeice, modest incised carving around the tang and wrist. The engraving on the patch box is shown ‘in the white’, so you can see it clearly, it will be browned once final finished. The patch box lid is held down with a spring loaded clip and pops open with a spring once released. Since it is an all iron gun, it deserves the dark finish with Aqua Fortis and heat. No shine in the woods that way. They called them, ‘black rifles’ in the South.
The Gonter famliy made guns from the Revolutionary period right up through the days of the fur trade. Some early ones were fancy, later ones were often quite plain. This one falls in the middle, probably made about 1815 and likely carried into the mountains of the far West for trade or treaty.
The flintlock is a Siler by Chambers, none better, the stainless touch-hole is sun-setted correctly, the screws are fire blued. The trigger is single, lets off at about 4 lbs.
The ‘flint’ in the jaws of the lock is wood, so the frizzen is not scarred. The silver decoration fits over a defect in the wood. They say the best gunsmith is the one that can fix his own goofs the best.
This a light, nice handling, 50 caliber hunting rifle, just right for sneaking through the woods, seeking whitetail, Indian, or Redcoat.
#667- Dutch Officer’s Fusil in 16 gauge (67 caliber) with unique chisled brass furniture, very nice walnut with slight underbelly and forearm swell, chisled flintlock, octagon-round barrel by Colerain 40 inches long
The walnut is beautifully grained, tight and strong and finished wonderfully well. Weight is about 8.5 lbs. The lock is a copy of the original, as is all the brass furniture, The lock is a strong sparker, with single trigger. Note the gargoyle face on the buttplate return.
There is a modest amount of carving in the Dutch derived style, typical of the period. The original is not carved at all, being meant for military use. This one likely had the carving added later, once the conflict was over and it reverted to sporting use.
The brass furniture is absolutely elegant, there is a charming grotesque on the buttplate, the other furniture continues the theme. The pierced sideplate and thumbpiece are ELEGANT.
This military arm is a copy of one made just before the Revolutionary War. It will be the perfect longarm for an American patriot of Dutch descent going up against the British. No shooting ’til you can see the white’s of their eyes!!
Here is a repro English double flintlock fowler by Hale, 20 X 20 bore, light and handy.
Side by side flintlock double by Sutton in the later British style. Functional elegance all the way.
4 bore flintlock fowler (sorry, forgot the trigger-got so excited about getting photos)
Browned barrel, antique rust blued furniture including the lock. Ebony fore-end tip. Very solid walnut to put up with enormous recoil. Can you imagine 4 oz. of shot and 200 grains of black powder. No wonder it weighes 12 lbs.
45/70 double rifle built on a 20 gauge German double lug action. Piucked up the original gun in the 70’s, finally got it finished and regulated for a 405 grain bullet with 70 grain black powder or equibalent. Should be a great gun in a tree stand.
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Now, this is an elegant Super Safari. It’s a brand new never fired custom White super 91 in original 451 caliber with 1-20 twist and shallow grooves, in a bell and carlson professionally camo decorated super safari stock. The barreled action and furniture are protected by a black ice teflon baked on finish, blackly beautiful and tough, there is a bold trigger as original, plus an elegant 2.5-10 variable power scope by Sightron in Warne quick lever mounts.
#591 doc built never fired douglas barreled 338 magnum on a highly modified winchester-made enfield p-17 action. The rearaction bridge has been cut down and curved bolt handle added that will clear scope. The magazine has been straightened but left big enough for 4 cartridges. It has a fancy custom trigger and warne scope mounts, plus barrel bands for sling and front sight. The recoil pad is a decelerator. There’s even a thumb cut-out on the left side of the action a’ la mauser. Pull is 14″, weight is 9 lbs.
the rear sight is a folder to get out of the way of a scope. Warne mounts are already in place, ready for your scope. Warne one inch rings to match the mounts are included in the package.
This rifle was a back up gun for my many bear hunts but never fired it or used it, not even once
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Most Enfeild rear bridges are pretty ugly, you can see that his one is quite attractive. Thumb safety is still the same, very convenient and quicK.
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The magazine has been straightened, but left deep enough to hold 4 cartridges. Trigger pull is adjustable, about 4 lbs. now. The action cocks on closing, actually faster on repeat shots than one that cocks on opening. This rifle is set up for dangerous game.
#763- winchester model 1895 lever action rebarreled to 25 krag a long time ago, now needs new wood and a recoil pad. Here it is, just ready to start work. Should i re-finish the action or leave as is, there’s no original finish left. It sports the original sights. It has never been fired.
Watch for more photos as the project develops. Pull will be 14 inches. The walnut is plain but strong, it should finish up nicely with modern epoxy finish. The stuff is waterproof and very sturdy. 25 krag is a wildcat caliber
#778 Here is one for the books, the adventure of a Danish seal gun, with a 1600’s style Baltic Snapplock, short octagon swamped GRRW .40 caliber barrel, nice wood, most of which will disappear as the gun finds its final shape. There will not be a buttstock, these light rifles were shot from the cheek, of your face, that is.
These were simple guns, made for hard use in the sealing business. They were expected to be accurate, shots to the head were the rule, a hit anywhere else left the seal to swim off and become shark bait. Buttplates and trigger guards were plain strap iron or brass, a pinned trigger was sufficient with a single ferrule for the ramrod. They were decorated, however, often painted and carved. The Snapplock has a horizontal sear, much like the wheelock, snaphaunces or early English locks. They look terribly odd, but they throw sparks and light fires.
Left above- the snapplock is safe, with pan cover closed and frizzen up, or back, if you wish. Right above- the snapplock is cocked and dangerous, with pan cover open (you open it manually), frizzen down (or forward) and cock back, or up, you might say. Note the mainspring on the outside of the lock, it bears on the tail of the cock, which also bears on the sear, which is horizontal. Amazingly, this snapplock sparks like mad, unbelievably good, showers of sparks dripping on your shoes. There are also fewer parts inside the lock, which leaves more wood in the lock area, making is stronger than later, ‘parts-inside-the-lockplate’ locks.
ABOVE- the Seal Gun is assembled, with barrel in place, lock inletted and butt partially shaped. Buttplate and pipes await installation. The lock below now sports a dog safety, dog meaning a catch, locking the cock up off the frizzon. The buttstock is short simply because it does not fit against the shoulder but is fired with the butt against the face, supported only by the hands.
There is no sideplate, at least at present. My artistic juices are boiling however and a brass dragon reminiscent of Viking times just might appear. Most seal guns were pretty plain, but some few were carved and/or inlaid or painted. We’ll on this one. I need to get out and shoot it next. The lock is a fantastic sparker, clumsy as it looks, and the trigger pull is quite nice.
Now we inlet a patchbox, put on a buttplate and do some carving
Then we finish the gun with many coats of oil and rubbing with abrasive cloth.
The brown is deep and looks old. The carving is simple and very traditional for guns made in the North countries..
Now all we need is a herd of fur seals.
#715 The ADVENTURE of an Austrian Wheel-lock with fancy (and expensive) chunk of European walnut, Colerain swamped octagon barrel in 54 caliber 38 inches long, elegant chisled brass furniture, elegant yet functional Germanic style wheel-lock, double-leaf rear sight. The adventure of making it is shown in ‘Doc’s Latest Adventures’
IT TOOK ABOUT 2 YEARS TO GET THIS RIFLE DONE, MOSTLY WAITING ON INSPIRATION FROM ABOVE BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE ART WORK. IF I PUSH TOO HARD, I ALWAYS SCREW IT UP, ONCE INSPIRED, THE WORK GOES SMOOTHLY AND ALMOST EFFORTLESSLY.
#812- Lightweight 50 caliber sporting wheelock from the Low Country. Cherry stock, 50 cal. swamped Colerain barrel, brass furniture, bright finish.
Barrel is 38″ long, swamped B size, by Colerain, The wheelock originated in Europe but need extensive work with replacement of the chain with tempered steel parts and hardening/tempering of the wheel and springs. It is quite a good sparker now.
The advantage of a wheelock is that the priming powder and the wheel are in close contact, so the sparks can be small and still set off the prime. Ignition is very prompt, better than any flintlock.
The rifle weighs only a little more than 7 lbs and is very handy. The trigger pull is soft and easy, as in all wheelocks. My wife loves the graceful lines. I’m going to have a hard time letting it go, but then I’m going to have to, so I can build another.
#579- Very fancy Jaeger rifle by DOC, the brass furniture is from an elegant one by Paul Poser, 31 inch swamped 58 caliber barrel by Colerain, Elegant chisled flintlock, handmade by DOC, elegant AAAA European walnut, DST, chisled brass furniture including brass insert in the patchbox lid, elegant carving and engraving. This is a beauty!!
The rifle is incise carved from one end to the other, in the Baroque-Georgian-Rococco style popular in the 1750’s in Europe. The flintlock is an elegant thing, deeply chisled with game scenes, actuated by a double set trigger.
The ramrod pipes are beautifully designed and executed. I just love that gargoyle on the rear pipe. The side-lock casting shows French influence. The French were the leaders in arms design at this time. Their work was greatly admired and widely copied. The brass castings are exquisitely done, the best quality that I’ve ever dealt with. Their design is elegant, more than matching the carving and engraving. If you look close, you’ll see the French influence here , too. 
The barrel is heavily engraved up past the rear sight and around the front sight, in the same elegant Baroque-Georgian- Roccoco mix as the castings.
The stock is oil finished. European walnut is known for the elegant black streaking and consistent grain formation. It is very strong yet elegant. The barrel is heavily engraved at the breech up past the rear sight and at the muzzle with roccoco scrolling and my signature- quite elegant. The barrel is browned. The lock is antique rust blued. Rubbing successive coats of oil into the lovely stock has produced a lovely sheen.
Jaeger’s have a reputation of being thick, heavy and clumsy, but this rifle is the antithesis of that statement. It is probably the most functionally elegant flintlock rifle that I’ve ever built. Not only is it beautiful, but it handles like a dream: quick to the shoulder, the eye right on the sights, the flintlock drips sparks and the touch-hole is properly sunsetted for fastest ignition.
#709 Jaeger percussion conversion from flintlock, then converted back again to flintlock. I traded into this stock because it was cheap- full of wormholes.
I plugged the holes and you can hardly see them. I had planned on it being a plain gun, but the artsy juices got boiling and it turned out quite well. Originally it was converted to persuccion because the first flintlock I used sparked very poorly. So I converted the flint to percussion
Later, after shooting a few matches, I lucked into a similar lock only a terrific sparker, so I converted the drum and nipple conversion back to flint.
Now you can use it any way you want, percussion or flint.
As usual with my Jaegers, lots of decoration, lots of fun making them beautiful.
#796- White Bison with a new barrel by Kelly in .500 caliber, shallow .035 grooves and 1-24 twist, with custom pistol grip stock. This was an attempt to make the Bison a bit more elegant. We had found that the heavy barrel produced wonderful accuracy, and wanted to come out with a model with a little more pizzaz. It turned out to be too difficult to finish so died an early death.
The action on the Bison is the same G-Series as the White Whitetail, with the
cocking handle on the left, same as on modern sub-machine guns.
The .500 caliber barrel will handle slip-fit bullets sized to .499-.500 and
most all factory 50 caliber saboted bullets. Kelly’s barrels have proven to be
super-accurate, He has decades of experience and
is a master of the craft.
The gun sports a new 1″ thick recoil pad. The stock has been refinished in sparkly Black Dura-Coat. The
long rail on the barrel is 1″ diameter for Weaver style mounts, the rings are 30mm, for a forward
mounted scope, which I find very useful on an inline muzzeloader, by far the
best way to mount a fast scope.
#795- You looking at a less expensive prototype sidelock Sporting Rifle rifle in
.500 caliber for long White slip-fit bullets.
The drum and nipple may seem primitive but it has proven to be very durable, easy to clean and maintain and
especially to repair if something screws up on a hunt. The trigger fires set or un-set. The rear sight is a Marble adjustable, the front a red bead.
The stock is maple, with a lot of fiberglass thrown in. Prototpes are like that: they go through several iterations before finally
settling on the final one.
This rifle was meant to be a prototype of a less expensive sporting rifle, meant to
appeal to that segment of the market that wanted both the traditional look and
yet have the performance advantage of White elongated slip-fit bullets. Great
concept except the White Co. was not interested. 
#794- White Bison customized by DOC. The original barrel has been replaced with a .540 barrel with 1-28 twist and shallow
.035 grooves by Kelly. The action, stock and accutrements are original. .540 caliber Bisons are rare, indeed. Only a single batch was ever made. I used one to kill a big whitetail once. The fat 430 grain White .540 caliber bullet knocked the buck
flat and was very accurate.
The rail on the barrel is 1/2″ steel and holds a Burris 1.5X scope, just right for close muzzleloading ranges and quick shooting. It never gets dirty because of the forward position and is very quick to the eye.
White barreled H&R single shot
action, 209 primer. uses white bullets with White accuracy.
Here it is ready to ship. Both the wood and the metal are Dura-Coated black. It’s a tough and durable finish, better than blue. The barrel is stainless, by the way. The ramrod is Delrin, brass tipped on both ends with a built in cleaning jag. You don’t need to turn the ramrod around to use it. And, yes, it is meant to stick out past the end of the barrel: it is much easier to get hold of that way when you are re-loading, especially when re-loading fast.
#611- J S Pauley traditional inline pistol by DOC. Pauley invented the in-line percussion action just 4 years after Forsyth invented the percussion system. This gun is based on the White inline action in 50 cal with a swamped barrel in 1-24 twist rifling for patched round ball or bullet. Brass furniture, Doc designed side lock safety mounted where the frizzen used to be, second safety on the hammer handle itself (rotates up into a lock notch, false hammer cocks the inline hammer. AAAA maple full-stock. Front sight is a blade, rear sight is screw adjustable for elevation. Marked Pauley-London’ on lock plate. Uses a #11 cap.
There are three English style ferrules for the ramrod, the trigger guard is also very English. The barrel is 8 inches long, swamped in 504 caliber with 1-20 twist, just right for patched round ball in a pistol.
The balance in the extended hand is pretty good, probably due to the swamped barrel. The trigger pull is light and quite soft and is adjustable. The rear sight is low and adjustable, the front blade is soldered on, as original. White .504 cal barrels have proven to be very accurate with 20-30 gr FFFg and a 490-495 ball with .010-.015 patch.
The brass sideplate is engraved with a rampant dragon.
#688- Here is a slim Lancaster style rifle by Melchoir Fordney. AAAA Maple stock, all traditional hardware and flintlock. Barrel is a lightweight Colerain 13/16″ octagon X 40 caliber. Fordney was the master of incised carving. I attempted to duplicate his expertise.
The engraving on the patchbox and sidelock panel shown above.
For all his artistry, Fordney was murdered with an axe by a man named Fogarty. Fogarty was hung the next day. He destroyed a magnificent talent.
#697 Doc built English Sporting rifle for elongated Whitworth/White .451
bullet, the ‘smallbore’ of the late percussion long range shooting days,
shooting up to a 520 grain high BC lubricated slip-fit bullet. It has a 1-18 twist with shallow .035 rifling.
Also a super-strong Manton style breech with Henry lock and drip bar. There is a
simulated leather covered recoil pad, (a late feature), an iron trigger guard, single
trigger, long range sights (in this case a Malcolm type 3X scope), round knob pistol grip,
Alex HENRY fore-end treatment (much like the fore-end on a Ruger SS#1) and iron under-rib and
ferrules plus German silver key roundels and side plate. The rifle is very
conservative but functionally elegant. It should be a hummer at 1000 yards.
This rifle is VERY accurate MOA so far with loads duplicating the 45-70
I had a whitetail hunt in Kansas this fall. I TOOK THIS RIFLE as ranges can be
quite long there. I used a 435 grain White style slip-fit bullet with a deep drilled hollow point, in the style of Gould, who famously wrote for Field and Stream way back in the late 1800’s. THE ADVANTAGE OF THE DEEP HOLLOW POINT
IN A LONG, HEAVY BULLET IS THAT THE HOLLOW POINT PROVIDES FAST EXPANSION
AND TERRIFIC SHOCK EFFECT WHILE THE HEAVY BASE PLOWS ON THROUGH THE ANIMAL, SORT
OF EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE TO WHAT THE SHORT , FAT, SHALLOW HOLLOW POINT BULLETS SO
POPULAR NOW ARE CAPABLE OF.
#699- DOC-built Christensen English Sporting-Target Mid-Range Rifle in .368 caliber for
300 grain elongated high BC lubricated slip-fit bullet. Has a Wind River gain
twist barrel, Manton style English breech with short tang. Mid-range barrel
mounted rear ladder open and front windage adjustable Globe sight are shown with ladder down. A classic Henry percussion lock with drip bar is installed, as is a single set trigger and an iron cap box. Fore-end tip is contrasting ebony. There is a
Prince Henry pistol grip . Key roundels and side-plate are German silver. The walnut is plain but with good grain structure.
The fore-end piece is traditional ebony. The front sight is an
adjustable-for-windage globe: a screw moves the sight left or right. The
rear sight is the classic mid-range sight, can be used with the graduated
incline, or erected upright for longer range shooting.
This is the same caliber and bullet used by the WhiteRifles team when they
blasted the competition at the 2009 National Manufacturer’s Championship,
setting a new and never beaten record. It scared everyone so bad
that the match was discontinued. This should likewise make a wonderful rifle for
mid-range competition as well as an excellent hunting rifle for whitetail sized
game, as it betters the performance of the much respected 38-55.
# 775 Here is a copy of a D. Becker English Sporting rifle, classic in every way, .500 caliber fast
1-24″ twist shallow .035″ grooves for long slip fit or saboted bullets, strong percussion
hooked patent breech in the Manton style, Henry Lock with drip bar, , deeply
bent pistol grip-like trigger guard with generous bow, DST, long tang with tall
rear sight, iron fore-end tip, single key with silver roundels, iron buttplae on
wide butt, no cheekpeice British style, but very comfortable to shoot.
The barrel is a deep, rich brown, the other iron fittings are
antique hot blued. The ramrod is 7/16 ” diameter to withstand rough use.
The straight grip is checkered in the 1850’s fashion, there is
a Double Set Trigger. The rear tang screw also holds down the rear of the peep
sight mount. There is an additional threaded hole so the peep can be moved
forward if wanted.
The rifle is shown without the peep mounted. It would normally be used for target with the front globe sight shown mounted on the barrel. The peep would be folded out of the way or taken off when hunting. The .50 cal fast twist barrel is meant for longer range shooting with elongated slip-fit bullets weighing up to 600 grains.
The most accurate slip fit bullets are sized to 1/2 thou
larger than the land to land diameter of the barrel, in .500 caliber that would
be .5005, cleaning between shots. For hunting, I like to size the bullet a full
thou smaller, (.499 in a .500 barrel), then I don’t need to clean for the first
3-4 shots, which is plenty. Accuracy suffers a touch, but is still plenty good
enuff for deer sized game at 200 yards.
#742- Here comes a reproduction of a famous rifle dating back to the French
and Indian War. Barrel is by Rayl, 1 3/16th inches at the britch, swamped down
to an inch then muzzle swells to 1 1/8th inches and 44 inches long in 62
caliber with progressive 1-90 down to 1-48 twist, deep grooves for patched
round ball. The stock is AAAA maple, none better, with palm swell, cheek piece
and wood patch box cover.
Furniture is all brass with mixed provnance, English fowler buttplate, Dutch
influenced trigger guard and side plate, French ferrules and a
really elegant French flintlock. It’s long and heavy, made for use off a rest,
probably used for fortification defense- ie for long range sniping over the
walls of your frontier fort when the Shawnee run rampant.
The sights fore and aft are high on purpose to avoid heat
waves, three ferrules hold the ramrod, and a small amount of incised and raised decoration. It would
make a great over-the-log rifle.
There are French influenced pipes and a stand of arms on the buttplate return. You can see the patch box latch on the buttplate. Lift and pull and the cover slides off.
Note the Dutch influenced trigger guard and the most elegant French flintlock there
is. Not the most decorative, but the most functionally elegant. Very tasteful,
now antique blued. All screws are fire blued. All the brass furniture is hand polished to avoid
the glossy modern sheen seen on non-traditional arms.
A photo of the original can be found in ‘Provincals” along with lots of
elegant early stuff.
#818- Custom Rifle by Doc with G-series Whitetail action modified with big square recoil lug, Criterion 504 caliber 22″ taper barrel, 1-14 twist, shallow grooves, same as that used on the White M97, Marble adjustable open rear ramp sight with red fiber-optik front, Timney trigger, Delrin ramrod with cleaning jag, Weaver scope bases and Weaver forward 1″ scope rings. The stock is lovely tiger maple finished with pebbled clear epoxy.
The front and rear sights and the peep can be adjusted separately. The scope mounts stay on the rifle with the peep, which has been carefully modified to accomodate both, but the peep slide will have to be removed to mount a scope.
#710 FRENCH FOWLER- here is a French Fowler with 38 inch
Colerain tapered octagon-round barrel in 20 gauge.
The furniture is chisled high relief mixed browned/blued iron and mixed German silver
and brass. The walnut is plain but has good
grain structure. The lock has a nice banana shape, typical of earlier
French design, the lock is antique hot blued. The sideplate is a pierced brass early hunting scene. The
French were leading in arms design when this style of fusil came about. Everyone
copied them. Mixed iron, brass and silver decoration was often
seen. It has killed 4 Texas and Kansas toms.
This gun is designed to represent the less expensive French production,
elegantly functional as it is. It went on several turkey hunts this past April-May 2013, so has the best trigger pull, 14 inch reach to fit me, a sunsetted and counter-bored stainless touch-hole for fastest ignition and a Colonial
inter-changeble screw-in and out Doc-modified .560 super-full turkey choke.
It can use 12 gauge magnum size loads of 1 7/8 oz. shot. The patterns are TIGHT. There
is both a wooden ramrod/cleaning rod and an iron one, both are tipped with brass
The screws are fire blued now, the sheen is back on the German silver
furniture- I had dulled it up some so the sheen didn’t blind the turkeys.
This gun is meant for turkey, so sports my super tight
choke. It can be fired with patched ball as well, using a .620 bore diameter choke tube.
Experience has shown me that the choke tube does not bother the accuracy at all.
If you want, you can get a rifled choke tube from Colonial to enhance accuracy. They work quite
well, cutting groups in half. The thumb-piece at the wrist is a pewter French Flor-de-leis.
The iron parts other than the barrel have been polished then antique hot blued. This includes the trigger and plate and lock. The butt-plate and trigger guard are German Silver. The barrel
is browned so as not to scare the turkeys. Originals were
sometimes left bright. The detail on the Butt Plate, Trigger Guard, Sideplate
and pipes is fascinating. ]
This is the type of less expensive gun traded on the
Eastern American Frontier by the French in the pre- French and Indian War days. It is
nicely detailed, very functional, light and handy with an excellent barrel.
Experience shows that they are quick to re-load and reasonably accurate if you
take the time to patch the ball. And, they shoot shot as well, very much an
all-around gun. It’s no wonder they traded so well and were so useful.
#783- WHITE Whitetail rifle, re-barreled to 451 with 1-20 twist, shallow .035
grooves, by Kelly who males great barrels. Barrel is tapered, 26 inches long
with a steel ferrule with sling swivel, set up to take scope with Warne 1/2 inch
mounts and rings in stainless steel. Ramrod is Delrin, brass on boTh ends,
drilled and tapped on both ends for accessories, cleaning jag on muzzle end
with bullet puller underneath.
The stock is a factory B&C fiber-composite with checkering, Bold trigger,
rubber recoil pad. The stainless mounts and rings are by Warne.
The non-stainless metal parts ARE finished with black Dura-Coat.
Baker Forager- #777- This baby was really in trouble, came near aborting but managed to rescue it. I had traded for an old India Made Baker rifle, but turned out to be a smoothbore. It was a bit frayed around the edges, with a smoothbore barrel instead of rifled, a fat teak wood stock with an ugly brown painted finish, the lock sparked but the internals were soft and I could see that it would not hold up, some parts were too straight without the proper taper, some were too flat, or wide or narrow, inletting had been crudely done with a chisel, and it was dated ’79.
I stripped the wood cleaned up the metal and rasped it to proper shape and hardened the internal lock parts. To my surprise , the wood was sturdy and tough (I afterwards discovered that it was the preferred wood for WWll aircraft carrier decks) with straight grain but contrasting dark and light color. Once stained with aqua fortis and heated dark, it resembled expensive European walnut but more open grained.
The barrel was smooth and obviously honed, no sign of ever being fired, but the breech had been crudely hacksawed, so I replaced it with a flint hooked breech and put in a counter-bored touch-hole in the proper sunset position. Also surprising, the lock sparked flawlessly once the frizzen and internals were hardened.
The project has turned out pretty well. I proofed the barrel with a ten gauge load, (110 grains Black Powder, 2 oz. shot), tied to a tire, but used a smaller 12 gauge load on turkey. (1 1/2 oz. #7 Italian nickle plated shot, 80 grains FFg Black Powder fired through one of my super turkey .560 chokes.)
#773- JAVELINA two handed pistol by DOC, one of his original designs. Basic
G-Series action and trigger with 14 inch 504 caliber barrel for heavy White
bullets. Uses rifle sized loads.
I like to use mine with a red dot scope mounted forward and a sling both for carrying and bracing against the body for recoil control. . Ramrod still needs finishing, otherwise it is ready to shoot
The best load I developed for this big pistol was 80 Gr. PyroP and a 440 Gr Power-Punch bullet, a near 1200 FPS load, equal to any of the big modern magnum pistols.
#765- The White Bison was conceived a long time ago, in the 1990’s,
this Bison came out damaged, but instead of aborting it, we put on a new barrel
24 inch by Kelly in 500 caliber with 1-24 twist, grooves .035 deep . just as on
the originals.
As with all my guns, this one had an accuracy job,
which in this case means modifying the front recoil lug to a big square
block, adding a rear recoil lug and another action screw, so there are two
rather than just the one of the original Bison, then glass bedding both lugs and
the rear of the barrel. The bore was lapped to enhance accuracy as well.
Sights and trigger are as original, ramrod with double brass ends
threaded and tapped for accessories, a better rod than the Bison’s original
single ended rod. The stock is plain but tough Birch, black DuraCoated, the trigger
guard is steel, an original feature. The action is drilled and
tapped for side mounted peep and for scope as well. All
in all, a better rifle than the original Bison ever was.
#734- The adventure of a Pannabecker flintlock, slim and curved. AA maple which
doesn’t show well in the photo. New old stock Sharon 50 cal barrel 7/8th by 42 or so. Siler
flintlock, brass furniture, single trigger.
The brass has that antiquey sheen to it because of the hand work. You could
polish it on a muslin wheel and get it brighter, but lose that old time look.
Rub it with a handful of green grass and it will tarnish up quick. No shine in
the woods that way.
The photos hardly show how that mythical beast jumps out of the wood at you, but it does when you have it in hand. It is said that the beast kills just by looking at you. A great motif for a rifle maybe used in the incessant frontier wars of the 1700’s.
#722- Here we show a T. Ross English Sporting Rifle in 451
caliber for 520 grain bullet. The stock is AAAA flame grain maple. There
is a single key with German silver roundels and a rosewood fore-end
and grip cap stained dark with AquaFortis. These Sporting Rifles are not exceptionally fancy, but they are functionally elegant,
shoot like a 45-110 and are fantastic long range hunting rifles.
The rifle sports super-strong Manton style hooked breeching
with a drip bar in place of wood above the lock. The butt plate is antique
blued iron and the trigger plate and trigger guard are also blued. (Antique blue
sometimes comes out with a tinge of brown) The long tang and the trigger
guard are bolted together with a long screw to strengthen the wrist. This is the major part of the construction, has to be just
right, each part carefully fitted, one at a time and in the correct order.
,
Left- the long tang fits a tall ladder sight nicely, The
long screw from tang to trigger guard goes through the far
right end of the tang. The trigger guard has two short screws at
either end and the long screw fixing it to the tang in between.
The trigger guard is adapted from one made for a straight grip rifle, cut down
and re-shaped, really forged.
Below is the finished rifle, showing the gorgeous quilted
maple and the tall peep rotated to rest position on the tang. The idea is to use
the open sights for 100-150 yard shots, the tall peep for 200 plus yard
shooting. A common load would be 80 grains of FFFg Black Powder and a 500-520
grain bullet loaded slip-fit over the powder. Accuracy can be superb with
carefully selected bullets and careful loading.
#718- C’mon, you Sesesh! Here’s a Palmetto percussion musket, same features as the US 1842 but made in the Palmetto
factory in the South with mostly brass fittings, 69 caliber smooth-bore, marked
CSA on the butt-plate, widely used by
the Southern forces during the Civil War, finishing up just in time for the
150th celebration at Gettysburg. A load of buck and ball is a deadly combo close
up, then charge with cold steel and the rebel yell!.
. All parts are brass except the
sidelock plate which is iron. Mixed parts were common in early production, later
muskets were all brass after the pre-war supply of iron parts was used up. CSA
marked. You Southrons should love this one. The lock is properly marked and has
had a polish job (not shown) and the
trigger guard got its swivel (also not shown), the gun is near done and ready to take to
war.
#695- The ENDings of a 62 caliber Baker Infantry Rifle, all parts copied from the
original. The finest flintlock Infantry Rifle ever devised and a terrific
hunting rifle. The Baker is essentially a Jaeger Rifle, obviously derived from
the famous German hunting rifle.
The rifle is finished and ready to shoot. The barrel hooks into a separate tang. The tang and the
thumb-piece on the top wrist both double screw into the trigger guard, which holds the
trigger plate in place. It’s a neat arrangement and very strong..
The lock is complete and sparks really well, and the sights and
bayonet lug are mounted. The two ramrod pipes and muzzle end-piece are in place as is the
patch-box and latch. The lock has been blued, the barrel browned and the stock finished in military oil.
It’s a nice chunk of wood with good grain and color.
There are fore and aft sling swivels, mounted on the rear on the front
bow of the trigger guard and just in front of the front thimble. The
sling screw also serves to hold the barrel in place along with the two keys. You
can see how elegant the wood is.
#694- Here is a reproduction of a Lehigh rifle maybe by famous maker
Dubbs, but previously attributed to Haines by Kindig. There is a C
weight Colerain 44″ swamped barrel in 50 caliber in a AAA maple stock,
lots of color! the flintlock is a Chambers, the trigger single as were
most Lehigh Valley rifles, the patch box is a side opener with a spring loaded
button in the middle of an engraved flower on the buttplate return. The chevron
muzzle cap and the floral trigger are both nice touches. Sorry you can’t see the
patchbox engraving.
Completely finished, incise carved,
engraved and ready to display or shoot. The photos below show the detail
of the incised carving and
engraving on the brass furniture.
The carving and engraving patterns was taken from an early Lehigh rifle, similar to what
Dubbs would have done, indeed if not done by him. The original rifle is fitted with
similar imported brass furniture as found on another signed Dubbs rifle.
The flintlock is Chamber’s best, a terrific sparker. The rifle has never been
fired, the lock snapped just once to prove that it works. You can see that the
touch-hole is correctly placed on the barrel, wuth a stainless insert. Ignition
is instantaneous when barrel, touch-hole and lock are correctly alined in this
fashion.
The muzzle cap is a cast chevron, beautifully done. The sideplate matches the
buttplate and trigger guard. They were imported as a set in the old days, just
as they are now.
There’s lots of good looking cast-in engraving on the brass furniture.
The brass patch-box is likewise engraved, matching the elegance
The tiger striping in the maple really stands out once the gun was finally
of the cast-in engraving, and the screws fire blued. It’s a fine, light rifle.
stained, oil and varnish finished and hand rubbed. It’s a handsome rifle. It
went to Bridger with me this year.
#656- Volunteer Baker Infantry Rifle, 62 caliber Colerain barrel 36 inches
long as seen in British Military Flintlock Rifles. Original Tower marked lock, single trigger, Baker furniture with bayonet lug. The walnut is beautiful. The rifle is a bit larger and bulkier than the Baker issue
rifle, with a 36″ instead of 30″ barrel and a fancier stock with lots of color. The
walnut is also dense, heavy and hard. The iron ramrod is capped with a brass
trumpet, there are three instead of two brass thimbles, the fore two with
trumpet motif, thumb piece, two leaf long range sights and patch box.
The best photo showing the original color left on the lock is directly above.
These photos show the beauty of the wood, far better than any issue Baker
rifle. Some few of the Volunteer Bakers were right fancy and a few sported leather covered cheekpeices. I just
couldn’t resist showing off the wood so left off the leather and cheekpeice. It came out better than expected.
Below late original British military flintlock, dated 1835. Designed for use on a short Cavalry rifle but widely sold for
use by para-military units who supplied their own arms at their own expense.
Note the absence of an outside frizzen spring. Spring loading of the frizzen is
supplied by mainspring pressure through a transfer bar inside the plate. I have not messed
with the finish on it, left it as is, a bit of the original blue remains.
This original flintlock is a real sparker, the best I have ever seen. The size
of the sparks is impressive with a shower like I have never seen on any other
lock, and I have seen a lot. The lock itself is probably worth more than
the rest of the rifle but I could not resist the artistic challenge of
recreation. The two photos look faded but that is due to my very inexpert photo technique.
The thimbles hark back to the German Jaeger, as does the step wrist of the
stock.
Note the bayonet lug on the right side of the muzzle. The issue item was a
short sword bayonet- it could be used as either sword or bayonet and gave the
volunteer a bit of extra length against cavalry..
The patch-box, thumb plate, muzzle cap and trigger guard match issue items,
but the sideplate is a bit fanciful, with a custom tail. This is a
wonderful rifle for your British Volunteer Rifle Unit persona, even though you
lose the Battle of New Orleans.
#723- Marlin Pre-safety 1894 in 44 Magnum, all Indianed up
with Browned metal and tacks. Doesn’t make it shoot any better but the work on
the action helps a little. The bore is good and the wood is clean without major
dings.
#760- A DOC DESIGNED AND
BUILT ‘JAVELINA’ TWO- HAND PISTOL IN 504 CALIBER-
THIS BIG PISTOL IS REALLY A WHITETAIL ACTION AND BARREL CUT
DOWN TO A 10 INCH BARREL IN A TWO HAND STOCK. IT IS DESIGNED TO BE USED WITH A
SLING AROUND THE BODY, WHICH MAKES SHOOTING VERY STABLE. IT USES THE SAME LOADS
ANY FULL SIZE WHITETAIL RIFLE WOULD USE.
#689- Doc built repro of early wide-butted Lehigh Valley rifle
in the style of Peter Neihardt. The barrel is a swamped ‘B’ weight Colerain in 50 caliber, 44″ long. The maple is
tigered from one end to the other. The flintlock is a Chambers. single trigger, domed side opening patchbox, sports extensive carving, traditional in this style rifle.
The buttplate is 2 inches wide not including the built in lip for the patch
box. The trigger guard is early classic Lehigh, wide and just fitting a
single curled trigger. The sideplate has that classic arrow at its rear end,
almost a signature of a Lehigh rifle. There is a considerable amount of carving and
engraving. The early Lehigh guns tended to be plainer than the later ones. This
an exception to the rule.
N
Some of the pics were taken before , and some after, engraving. The
cheek-piece decorations above are not yet engraved. The engraving is shown below. Same
with the patch box cover, above. Engraved, below.
N
Lehigh makers often used an arrow-like configuration at the rear of their sidelock plates.
Here the side opening patchbox is open. Note the lip on the buttplate. The lid
is spring loaded and pops open when you twitch the button on the butt.
The incised carving is found on a famous Neihardt rifle illustrated in Kindig’s
big book on Kentucky rifles in their golden age. The trigger guard is classic Lehigh.
This is an outstanding, beautiful rifle. It will enhance anyone’s shooting
and draw attention like flies to honey.
Andrew Vernor flintlock rifle with Green Mountain 50 cal 7/8ths octagon barrel, with
classic Vernor incised carving, side opening patchbox and engraving. Vernor did a lot of incised carving and was very
imaginative in how he applied it. This rifle sports some of his early designs.
This rifle has morphed into a repro of the famous rifle once owned by John
Fries, the leader of Fries Rebellion, which protested a tax on windows. Sort of
tax the rich. Sounds modern. The rifle is finished, carved and engraved and is
ready to shoot. The incised carving is shown below:
The flintlock is a Chambers, sports excellent sparks, Double Set
trigger fires set or unset as it should. The touch-hole is sun-setted just right
with a stainless liner. The combination is very fast.
The patchbox sports some light engraving and ‘John Fries Gun’ in script
as did the original. He must have been proud of it.
#657-J P Beck flintlock, reproduction of classic Beck Rifle, very slim and light. Barrel is a 50 caliber 44 ” swamped ‘C’ size Colerain, flintlock is by Chambers, Maple is AA. The carving is done and engraving are done. There is a wooden patch box cover with latch on the buttplate. It is exceptionally light and handy. I love Beck’s work, it’s a real pleasure to have him as a mentor.
The nice figure in the wood doesn’t show in these photos. Photography was never my strong suite. The rifle is long but handles supremely well. Balance for offhand shooting is perfect. The single trigger has a three lb. let-off.
The lock has been antique hot rust blued, and the ramrod finished in the same manner as the stock. The toeplate and sideplate are engraved as per the original. The wrist medallion, or thumbpeice, is not yet engraved. Usually it was eventually engraved with the buyer’s initials.
This is the quintessential Beck flintlock. It is famous for its simple beauty.
It is pictured in many books on the longrifle, Kindig among them bless him.
The wooden patch box cover opens by lifting the latch on the buttplate and
sliding the cover aft.
This will give you an idea of the simple beauty of the finished rifle. The carving includes matching designs at the tang and behind the rear ferrule. This is a copy of one of Beck’s plainer rifles. but it is a classic, simple yet elegant.
#663- Over-Under percussion double 20 gauge (on top), 50 caliber (bottom) rifle for round ball, tough but plain maple stock, original back action locks, double triggers in scroll guard, upper barrel rib with folding low rear sight, patent breech,
rubber recoil pad meant to mimic an early leather covered pad, otherwise all iron mountings, regulated so ball from either barrel will center at 50 yards with same 90 grain powder charge. The pull is 14 1/2 inches to the front trigger, barrels are 28 inches long, the right/front trigger and hammer fires the top 20 gauge barrel, the left/rear trigger and hammer fires the bottom 50 caliber rifle barrel.
There is a ramrod on both sides, one with a 20 bore cleaning jag, the other with a 50 caliber jag. The front sight is a red fiber- optik for fast acquisition on close targets- like a Tom’s head. This versatile rifle- shotgun uses up to 1 1/2 oz. shot over 90 gr FFFg black powder in the 20 gauge smooth barrel, and a .490-.495 round ball and patch over 90 grains fffG in the rifle. Should be a very versitle rifle -shotgun. So it proved to be on two turkeys Spring 2012, 35 yard shots with easy kills.
The hammers do not have a half cock- (half cock is not a safety anyway)- it is safer to carry the gun without a cap on the nipple
until ready to fire, a perfect set-up for turkey, then if you have to, carry the double hand-controlled with hammers down on caps on nipples, ready to fire, once game is in sight.
You can see the Colonial brand interchangable screw-in choke installed in the upper 20 gauge barrel (right)- use open or
cylander bore tube with .595 or .600 patched ball, use DOC’s super-turkey full choke tube for tight patterns on turkey. Both chokes come with the gun. Very British in style.
The percussion hammers and percussion nipples have been fitted to massive steel block bolsters, with blow-out/clean-out screws on each side. The fore-stock is secured to the barrel by a screw-lock. The triangular blocks fitted to the front of the patent breeches are there, along with a hooked breech, so that the barrels lift easily out of the stock.. The maple is stained dark with hot Aqua Fortis and oil finished.
#696-Repro of Lancaster style rifle by Peter Gonter, 50 caliber with a ‘C’ size Colerain octagon, swamped 38 inch barrel. Chambers best flintlock, single trigger, as were all Gonters. Pull is near 13 3/4 inches, beautifully carved and engraved in traditional style. The rifle is fitted up and ready to shoot. The AAA maple is gorgeous.
Gonter was a great maker, master of all the skills needed to produce classic
guns. The swamped 38 inch barrel on this rifle makes it especially nice
handling. You can see the original of this rifle in Kindig’s big book on the
‘Kentucky Rifle in its Golden Age’.
#758- White M97 WHITETAIL HUNTER, PREVIOUSLY OWNED BUT NOW ACCURIZED AND
RE-FURBISHED BY doc TO NEAR NEW.
#756 WHITE FULLSTOCK SUPER SAFARI IN 504 CALIBER,
SERIAL #3XX, USED BUT ACCURIZED AND REFURBISHED BY DOC. SHOOTS GREAT. TASCO 4X
SCOPE IN WEAVER MOUNTS.
755- an unusual find. A Green River Rifle Works Leman Trade Rifle in 54
caliber, built 1976-ish by Bill McKay and marked with his cipher at the breech.
Excellent condition throughout, very accurate, I shot it at the recent 2012 RMNR
, see the photos of the RMNR in ‘Doc’s Latest Adventure’.
I designed the GRRW Leman Trade Rifle in 1972 when we opened GRRW for
business. It was the first model that GRRW produced. It was meant to approximate
the heavier half stock plains rifle that Leman produced in many variations for
use in the West. There were about 1700 of them made during the 8 years of GRRW’s
life. Most had single triggers, but many were customized with a DST, as is the
example above. They are right hard to find, most of them having fallen into
strong hands, folks who keep them forever.
The maple is AAA, the brass is aged, but the brown and stock finish are in
excellent shape. The bore is likewise excellent, after a thorough cleaning
showed that what I originally thought was rust turned out to be just dust and
debris. The barrel is a 7 groove GRRW in 54 caliber.
It’ went to the 2012 Bridger Rendezvous with me for exercise on the shooting line. I shot a load with a cast 490 round ball in a
ticking patch over 70 grains Goex FFFg black powder. I shot a 92/100 for a fourth place, bested by two 93’s and a 95, with the sun at my back. I could see the sights really well. This got me all exited. The afternoon shoot put the sun to my left,. My old eyes could not see the sights at all, my shooting went to Hell.
#686 – Doc built lightweight Sporting Rifle in 451 caliber with 1-20 twist, shallow
.035 grooves for White/Whitworth elongated, multi-channelured slip-fit bullets,
same as the modern in-line White 451 rifles shoot.. Barrel is 7/8th inch
octagon, 30 inches long with Manton Breech and drip bar so typical of English
Sporting-Target rifles. Good looking walnut, all steel furniture except the
silver key surrounds. Barrel is browned, all other steel antique blued. Weighs 7
lbs., just right for a sheep hunt
A good load is going to be 70 grains equivalent Black Powder and a 460 grain
White multi-channelured .450 slip-fit bullet, which duplicates a full 45-70 load
at about 1200 FPS. There were lots of big animals killed with that load back in
the old days.
The Manton style Breech-block with drip-bar is a massive chunk of steel, far
and away the strongest percussion system ever developed. The drip bar replaces
the thin, weak wood that normally lies just above the forward end of the
lock-plate.
A single key with German silver surrounds holds the barrel to the stock, the rear
sight is a semi-miltary ladder type with elevation out to 700 yards with
the 1200 FPS 45/70-like load quoted above.
#687- Here is a Doc-built Ausbruck Military Jaeger in
the original 62 caliber, the model that was brought over by the Hessians during the American Revolution.
The barrel is 28.5 inches long and swamped, by Colerain. The lock is the traditional German design, all the brass furniture is copied from an original and construction details are original as well. It will be the perfect rifle for your Hessian persona, marvelously effective in the trenches at Yorktown, even more effective here as the twist in this
barrel is far slower than the fast twist used by the Austrian makers originally. It will be accurate
with larger loads than originally used. Should make a great hunting rifle.
The wrist medallion is a true copy of an original military medallion, as is
all the furniture. The rear sight has two leaves for, 100 and 200 yard shooting.
The wooden patch box cover unlocks with a button at the butt
end of the patchbox. The muzzle photo above does not show the front sling swivel
while the full length photo up top does. The sling swivel is attached to the
barrel for strength. Same with the sling button on the butt stock in the middle
photo above- you can see it in the top photo. Note the brass end on the IRON ramrod, as original.
The originals mostly had
single triggers for the bigger part but his one has a DST. Must have been
special ordered by an officer or sergeant. It should be a great
hunting rifle. Jaeger does mean ‘hunter’ and German military rifles, as well the
English who later copied the Germans, started out as hunting rifles imported
into military service. .
The trumpet shape of the pipes eases ramrod entry when hurried. The screws are fire blued.
Finish on the walnut is plain deep soaked military oil, the lock is antique rust blued and the barrel browned with the brass polished military bright. This rifle is as plain as a yard of pumpwater, but it is elegantly functional. It makes up for what it lacks in decoration with the way it handles.
#743- Classic NorthWest gun, flintlock, in 20
bore with walnut fullstock, trade lock and dragon sideplate. The barrel is
by Colerain, smoothbore, of course, octagon to round, 32 inches long, with
stainless counterbored touch-hole in the correct sunset position. The lock is
L&R’s big trade lock. The sparks are fantastic, the turkey is dead when the
trigger trips. It is very fast.
This one is meant for hunting turkey, so metal is browned rather than bright. It has a
Colonial brand removable full choke installed. If you want to shoot ball at a whitetail, then change the choke tube to a cylander bore tube. Both tubes come with the gun. This gun accounted for 3 Toms in April of 2012
The buttplate is brass, the trigger guard iron, just as in the originals. The
lock is a large English Trade Lock, again, very traditional. The sideplate
is a cast brass dragon typical of the genre.The screws were eventually blued.
This gun went turkey hunting with me this year. (2012) I used 90 grains FFFg, 2 fiber over powder wads, a tapered plastic shotcup filled with 1 1/2 oz. of Italian #7 nickel plated shot then a card top wad. It was a fantastic load, all three birds instantly down.
There are 2 forward ferrules for ramrod and a silver oblong with chief’s head at the wrist. The traditional oversize trigger is mounted in the wood. Screws hold the buttplate and trigger guard. The gun is light and handy. No wonder the Indians and frontiersmen loved it.
659- Baker Ordnance Carbine with a round tapered Colerain barrel in 62
caliber with separate hooked breech and tang, 33 inches long, a mix of brass Baker and Long Land pattern carbine
furniture and a flat faced Baker flintlock. It is pictured in ‘British Military Flintlock Rifles.’ A very interesting traditional variation on the Baker theme. Only a few were made originally.
The photo below shows the socket bayonet in place. The angle of the photo
makes the bayonet look crooked on the barrel but it is not. The socket fits
around the front sight and locks on with a dogleg sort of arrangement. The rear sight
is a double bladed folder for 100 and 200 yard shooting, the front an iron combination sight and bayonet lug. The
bayonet is polished bright. The Baker Infantry Rifle used a sword bayonet with big lug on the right side of the muzzle. This is an
attempt by British Ordnance to standardize bayonet types and sizes. This bayonet also fits the Officers Musket.
The rifle above shows the brass nose cap and front sling swivel, the rear
sling swivel is found at the front of the trigger guard on some models and on the buttstock on others.
Evidently, both locations were tried. I decided where to put it on the
buttstock this rifle as the trigger guard is awfully thin where the swivel screw is supposed to
fit, so it got a rear button, Jaeger fashion. The Baker line is
obviously descended from the Jaeger, so a rear button fits right in.
I really like the fit and feel of this military ‘carbine’. It handles
beautifully, should make a great hunter as well as serve with His Majesty’s
troops in any Light Infantry/Rfleman unit in any part of the Empire from
Waterloo on. The heavy caliber has become my favorite for big game, which goes
down suddenly with a good hit. Few elk run off wounded when smacked by this big
62 caliber.
A BIT OF HISTORY
The Ordnance Carbine came along later than the Baker (then called just ‘the
Infantry Rifle). It was designed with a Long Land pattern stock, much like the
Brown Bess, but used a mix of brass furniture that resembled the original Baker
and the Long Land muskets in various ways. The lock was a flat faced Baker, the side-plate
similar to the Long Land pattern but fancier, the trigger guard looked like a
Baker but fitted closer to the wrist, and the trigger and plate were Baker all
the way, as was the nose-cap. The trumpet shaped ramrod pipes resemble the Baker but there were
three rather than just two. The double tapered ramrod was brass tipped iron with
not just the Baker’s forward bulge that kept it from rattling in the pipes but a
double bulge for the same reason. The big Baker bayonet lug for the sword
bayonet was omitted and the rifle was fitted with a front sight that acted as a
bayonet lug for an ordinary Officer’s Musket socket bayonet. There is no patch box. The front
under-barrel key is also omitted, the sling swivel screw also acting as a barrel
keeper. The original Baker rifle had both. Obviously, this was an attempt to cut
costs. It appears the effort was not successful. as only a few of these
exist.
#594 English Heavy 8 Bore (83 cal) Sporting Rifle by DOC, tapered
octagon to round barrel by Rayl 36 inches long, slow twist and deep
grooves for patched round ball, heavy figured walnut especially selected for strength of grain through
wrist, checkered wrist, broad iron buttplate, English butt with low cheekpiece,
Henry percussion flat spring lock with drip bar, single trigger, double ramrod
ferrules on iron under-rib, 2 leaf rear sight, all iron furniture, weight about
12 lbs. Meant for Big Stuff.
The barrel is keyed with double German silver roundels
and flat keys. The ebony fore-end tip complements the half stock., the ramrod is
7/16th inches diameter with a brass end threaded to fit jags and such, the rear
sight sight has a folding double leaf, the lock is the traditional flat spring
Henry style lock with drip bar, the trigger is single with a 4-5 lb. pull and trigger guard and buttplate are
classic English. . Boy, is that walnut hard and dense. This
will be a great rifle for that occasional tiger and gaur encountered on a stroll
with the Raj in India, 1870. The ball weighs near 2 oz., falls only 2 inches at
100 yards with a 270 grain charge of FFg black powder.
As usual on these heavy guns, there is a “blow-out plug”, really a
pressure relief valve, in the massive Manton style breech. The opening
appears quite large but tapers to .035 thousandths inside. Forsyth, who traveled
and hunted India in the 1870’s, writes about using 10 drams of ‘fine’ powder,
which in modern equivalents is 275 grains, and mentions that recoil was not
excessive. Well, maybe not on an elephant or tiger, when the adreneline is
running high, but I’ll bet he didn’t shoot target with it.
The buttplate is 2 1/4″ wide to soak up recoil. The front sight is
sweated on, it will be shaped by the buyer to fit his eye. The single sidelock
bolt is classically simple, very understated English.
This rifle was sold ‘in the white’, that means polished to 600 grit on
the metal with a bead blaster and to 220 on the wood. The buyer will do the
final finish work, with usually a browned barrel and blued or cased breech
fittings, trigger guard, buttplate and oil/varnish finish on the wood.etc. . I would anticipate that
this big gun will eventually end up engraved and checkered and hopefully used as it once would
have been, as a superb weapon for truly heavy game. Bill Large once told me that
with a caliber this big, you could let the bear run up the bore, trap him in
there with a thumb and have him right where you wanted him.
708 – Jaeger Percussion Conversion, New World made with unusual AAAA tigered
maple stock, 31″ Rice swamped barrel with round groove rifling in 50
caliber, lock has been percussed by removing the frizzen and frizzen spring and
cutting the pan for a screw-in drum and nipple. Furniture is all brass
with thumbnail decorations on most pieces, adjustable rear sight, DST,
7/16th” wood ramrod and contrasting walnut patch box cover. Engraved and carved lightly. This
is going to be my Target /Rendezvous rifle for summer 2011.
The maple stock is tightly tiger striped and is quite
elegant. All the iron is browned. The rifle can be easily converted to flintlock
and if you want, be shootable as either flint or percussion, your choice of the
day, with separate locks for the two functions..
European Baroque incised carving decorates the rifle, lightly done, at least
in comparison to some Jaeger rifles.
The lock has been percussed. Really, I purchased it that way. Looks
authentic. The sideplate needs a stand of arms engraved on it. I’ll get to that
over the summer.
The DST works very nicely. It’s not crowded at all in that Jaeger
trigger guard. Note that the finials of the trigger guard and the rear thimble
match. I sighted in the rifle and ran the gongs at the annual ‘Stone Cliff’
Rendezvous near Cedar City UT, in April 2011. The Rice barrel is really
impressive- very, very accurate with 60 grains fffG Swiss and .490 ball with 20
thou patch. It shot exactly to where I held it, so much so that I could call the
hits with the trip of the trigger. Trouble was that we had a gusty wind to put
up with and I wasn’t holding the rifle all that well. At least I knew that I
missed when the trigger tripped.
#618- Snaphaunce Lemon Butt 20 bore smoothbore pistol, just the thing for
your 1600’s persona. Miles Standish probably carried one. (or two)
Now at full cock, with frizzen down in ready to fire position, pan cover is
closed. The amazing thing is how well
it points. All iron parts are browned. The stock is oil finished.
Above left: closeup of lock, showing the cock in fired position, pan cover
open and frizzen thrown back. The sear of the lock is horizontal, with the
trigger pinned above the sear, exactly the same as with wheel-locks and
crossbows.
Above right: the forged iron rigger guard and incised carved detail
on the Lemon Butt. The snaphaunce is not a primitive lock but is rather sophisticated. It has the
advantage of having a separate pan cover, which means you can cock the pistol,
keep the pan cover closed, but throw the frizzen forward off the pan, rendering
the pistol safe. Some snaphaunces have trigger safeties. This one does not.
Hammer shown down, fired, frizzen thrown back, pan cover is open. Sidelock
screws are fire blued. There is a little incised carving on the lemon butt,
otherwise the pistol is pretty plain.
590- Here is another DOC-built English Sporting Rifle with rather plain but
strong grained walnut stock, pistol grip and fancy contrasting wood butt plate,
English style. The butt is checkered in the English fashion. It sports a
traditional flat spring Henry percussion sidelock to fit the heavy metal Manton
breech, plus drip bar, which gets rid of the weak wood just in front of the
lock. There is a single fore-end key in silver ovals to complement the Henry
fore-end tip. It has a single set trigger which will fire the rifle set or
un-set, an under-rib with double steel ferrules and adjustable tall Vernier long
range rear sight with Lyman front sight (with interchangable apertures) to match
the Kelley 451 caliber 1-18 twist shallow groove barrel. The grooves are 0.035
thou deep, designed to use 500+ grain White/Whitworth style long lubricated
bullets capable of 1000 yard target as well as closer ranged hunting. All the
superlatives applied to the #580 and #581 Sporting Rifles above also apply to
this one, except for the plainer walnut, and it has the advantage of the Single
Set trigger, which is a nice feature. This is a great combination hunting-target
rifle, exactly what is was designed for.
The
barrel is a lustrous deep brown while the lock, tang, trigger and trigger guard
are a deep hot blue. The walnut has been finished with penetrating oil under
varnish. The wood is not very lovely but it is strong and close grained.
The
vernier rear sight is tall enough for 1000 yard shooting. It folds out of the
way, either forward or backward. It was made by Pedersoli and adjusts in all
directions. The single Set trigger will fire the rifle with a 4 lb. pull if not
set, it can be adjusted down to an ounce if set.
All
screws are fire blued,
#536- Here is a Winchester Model 1901 10 gauge lever action shotgun, designed
by John BROWNING, manufactured by Winchester and shortened by someone for
whatever odd reason. You would think that it got cut for Cowboy Action
Shooting but the cut looks old and matches the patina on the rest of the gun.
The gun is fully functional, very solid and tight, no cracks or repairs, there
are no markings other than Winchester’s cipher. It is at least NRA antique
very good. There is a bit of fine pitting in the breech but not enough to stop
you from shooting it with reasonable loads. It would be great fun at a SASS
match with blackpowder loads.
#738- The birthing of a Javelina two- handed pistol in 50 caliber
#622 Bridger style half stock Hawken rifle in 69 caliber, beautiful 1
1/8 X 1″ , 36″ long taper barrel by Rayl, best quality parts, plainer
AA maple stock purposefully selected with grain running through the wrist for
strength, traditional double bolted long tang and long bar DST, double fore-end
keys, as well as strictly traditional Hawken breeching and lock. Side opener iron patch
box, German silver trim. Long bar Hawken rear adjustable
sight. The rifle is complete and ready to shoot. Very
handsome, modeled on the Bridger Hawken rifle that GRRW had here in town for a
few years back in the 1970’s
Jim Bridger style lock, elegant hammer, long tang with two screws through to
the long bar DST, all traditional Hawken.
b
The patch Box cover is spring loaded, move the latch and it pops open. The DST fires set or unset and can be adjusted for pull.
Two iron keys hold the barrel to the stock with German Silovr surrounds. The
rear thimble and muzzle cap are both iron, antique rust blued, as are all the
iron parts, except the patchbox, which is fire blued.
69 caliber sounds big, but it sure takes buffler down in a hurry, Old
Ephraim, too! I’ve been thankful for big calibers a time or two!.
Please see my article on original Hawken rifles and reproductions “The Truly
Traditional Hawken” under ‘Doc’s Ramblings’, so you
understand just how traditional these reproductions are, or aren’t. I find there
is a lot of poor information out there in the Western Fur Trade world that needs
straightening out. Also, there are some things the modern worker just can’t do.
Best discover what they are before you lay down cash on a ‘traditional’ rifle.
#662- 4 bore flintlock shotgun with tapered octagon-round barrel by Rayl,
lovely walnut with grain just right through the wrist, English Trade flintlock,
all steel furniture, weight will come out near 12 lbs. Meant to shoot 2-4 oz.
shot or a 4 oz. ball, which is what Selous did in Africa on elephant. He had one
very much like this in his early years. He carried a sack of powder on one side
and a sack of balls on the other, most shots at 15 yards or so. He writes of
loading powder by the fistful.
There is a brass tipped 7/16″ ramrod. The fore-end is Ebony. The
barrel is browned with tang, lock and furniture antique rust
blued. There are two keys with G. Silver roundels, and a semi-baroque thumb-piece
which was still popular for limited decoration even in the late flintlock
period. That buttplate is 2 1/4 inches wide, good for soaking up
recoil. Oops, forgot the trigger for the photos.
There is a hooked breech for easy barrel removal and stainless lined
touch-hole. It holds surprisingly well. Might look clumsy, but it’s not. The
buttplate, screws and keys need to be antique rust blued and the ivory front
sight installed. Oddly enouigh, the trickiest thing on the whole gun to do right
is get the front sight into the right place.
You can see a bit of engraving on the tang, barrel rear, sidelock piece and lock, along
with the makers name.
#684- Southern (Tennessee) Mountain rifle. Ultra slim
Ash stock with all iron furniture, DST, 13/16″ 45 caliber Douglas made
Golden Age Arms barrel 40 inches
long, small Manton lock, (Southerners liked British imports) POR OBO
The sights, pipes and sideplate are all iron, in the Southern Virginia
style. I debated about installing a bananna patchbox vs a grease hole. In
the end I did neither. Late Southern Virginia guns were pretty plain, meant for
hard use. So is this one. The stock is stained a deep brown with aqua fortis to match the browned iron furniture. No
reflection wanted while hunting the deep woods.
Below: Note the Lollipop tang ,and small Manton lock. This is one of
the better locks available on the modern market. Both rear and front sights are
iron.
The grain in the ash stock is quite prominent, more so than the photos show.
There is a bit of tiger striping in the fore-stock as well. Pull is 14 inches.
Weight less than 8 lbs. The screws will end up fire blued before we are done
with the project.
#721 Super 91 in 451 caliber with one-of-a-kind non-standard markings,
with Lyman peep mounted on a handsome Gray Laminate stock,
previously owned, accurized. Front sling swivel shifted to rear. A nice
rifle
# – Heavy double rifle 504 caliber for 600 grain
elongated slip-fit bullets over 120-140 grains PyrodexP, actually two Doc
designed actions side by side, basic design follows the G-series protocol, with
cocking handles on each side. This rifle has been to Africa twice and was
recently refurbished with a new stock.
#716 WHITE stainless Whitetail 451 caliber with Weaver scope mounts,
rubber stick-on cheekpeice and fiber-optik sights. 22 inch barrel, Bell &
Carlson fiber-composite stock, the best design for the Whitetail DOC ever came
up with, double safety system, double ended ramrod with brass cleaning jag,
bullet puller, bored for loading pointed bullets, sling swivels.
#717 WHITE Super-91-ll with M-70 style safety, DOC’s initials on it at the
breech showing he had something to do with it, never fired except for accurizing
job, as new, with blue 504 barrel and action, Zytel trigger guard and ramrod
pipes for light weight, Bell & Carlson fiber composite stock with
checkering, ramrod has double brass ends with bullet puller and cleaning jag. A
fine, light rifle. SOLD
#711 Chief’s grade NorthWest Gun in 12 bore, stocked in a nice chunk of
cherry, with a Colerain octagon to round 12 gauge barrel 32 ” long, the
lock is a Twigg and is very snappy, the furniture is all brass including a
fanciful thumb piece. Decoration is sparse but quality high. Chief’s grade
NorthWest guns were really nothing more than traditional English or French fowlers, quite well
made, with sometimes an Indian motif, like the wrist medallion with Indian head
that we are so familiar with. This 12 bore is built in that same tradition.
12 Bore NorthWest guns are rare. I have only
seen two, both in the Virginia City, Mt., museum, together with a couple of
skulls with a neat 50 cal hole right between the eyes and a 4 inch hole in the
back of the skull. Both were found within yards of each other in the early 1900’s.
Both NW guns were cut into short pistol-like blanket guns. The shooter was
obviously deadly. The warriors must have been peeking over a log when he put
them down.
As
you can see, the cherry stock is finished cherry, the barrel is browned and the
lock is antique rust blued. The medallion shows a gruff grotesque, perhaps a
troll, peeking overt the top. Note that the touch-hole is properly sun-setted
and measures 70 thousandths, big enough for sure and instant ignition, important
on a fowler. The lock is very English, but the buttplate and trigger guard show
some French influence. The buttplate is cut down from a Fusil de Chasse design and the
trigger guard clearly shows its French provenance. The front sight is a ‘turtle’
with little legs. I have not polished it. I want it dull for turkey hunting.
I took this gun on my annual turkey trek in Apr.-May this year.. I
try to make at least 3 states during the turkey season and use a new flinter
every year. I never take the same gun twice. This gun sports a Colonial
screw in-out choke with a .660 bore. I use 1 7/8ths oz. #7 nickle
plated shot over 100 grains FFFg Black powder. That’s usually a turkey killing
load with tight patterns at 40 yards. It kicks hard but who feels it when the turkey is strutting out
front. It has already proved itself on gobblers in Texas and Utah. If you want
to shoot patch and ball, just switch the turkey-tight .660 choke for a
choke-bore .730. All the intermediate sizes of chokes are available as well. The
gun comes with a .730 choke, a custom .660 turkey killer choke is available at
extra cost. (I have to custom make them)
The
only bow to the NorthWest gun tradition is the serpent sideplate, rather highly
modified but elegant. The pipes are a common fowling gun style seen throughout
Europe and England. The gun is light and handy, weighs 7 1/2 lbs.
#370- J S Pauley percussion long-rifle by DOC, 54 caliber Getz barrel
for round ball, round bottomed rifling, 1-60 twist, nicely figured walnut full stock,
Lightly engraved English brass trigger guard, butt plate and
thimbles, single trigger, false side hammer with coil spring action firing #11
cap. Doc-designed
action and trigger parts meant to mimic what Pauley might have done. Very
accurate, nice off-hand rifle with good balance. Doc has been having fun with it
taking it to Rendezvous and hurrahing the
traditionalists, few of whom know anything at all about Pauley. It’s a
blast. They don’t know whether to protest or not. A unique traditional
rifle- used only by Doc
Classic long Gentlemen’s Sporting Rifle configuration,
English Style, tapered octagon to round barrel by Getz in 54 caliber with
deep groves and 1-66 twist for patched round ball. The lock plate is signed, ‘J.S.Pauley-London”
in script.
Left: the hammer is in the down, or fired, position, hammer
against nipple. Middle: the cocking handle is pulled up into the safety notch.
Right: the hammer is back in the cocked position, the rifle is ready to fire.
J S Pauley was a Swiss who worked in London on
Gunmaker’s Row. His work is innovative and elegant.
He patented the in-line action in 1812, only 4 years after Forsyth invented the
percussion system, then disappeared in the 1830’s. Like many of us innovators,
he was far-seeing, perceptive and a master with his tools, but was a disaster
with a Dollar( or a Pound).
#531 Doc-built percussion sidehammer 12 smoothbore over with 58 rifled
under, actuated by old original back-action locks with double triggers. Nipples
are located on screw-out drums equipped with clean-out screws. The right trigger fires the shotgun barrel (on top) which is equipped with a screw +in-out Colonial full choke, the rear trigger fires the 58 rifle barrel (on the bottom) Rifle barrel is by GreenRiver RifleWorks. Both the 480 gr .715 patched ball fired out of the smoothbore barrel (with .730 choke) and the 280 grain .570 ball fired from the rifle barrel hit point of aim one inch high at 25 yards, which puts them 3 inches high at 50 yards.
The right drum and nipple is in the usual location but the left is quite low, requiring a long nose on the left side lock.
#701 Bridger Hawken rifle in 62 caliber with tapered barrel by Rayl, all authentic conformation parts, an almost exact copy of the Bridger rifle that GRRW had here in Roosevelt for several yeas back in the 1970’s. The barrel is 36″ long, tapered from 1 1/8th at the breech to 1″ at the muzzle. Twist is 1-72 and grooves are 12+ thou deep for patched round ball and stout loads. All the furniture is traditional iron except the German silver roundels surrounding the keys. The rear sight is a long bar adjustable and the front German silver blade on a brass base. The ramrod is a brass tipped 7/16″ .
That’s a nice piece of maple with good but not great AA figure, you can see
the stripe best in the left butt below, but selected because of the great grain through the wrist. I have come to love the 62 caliber. It knocks elk and other big stuff down for the count. I expect this to be a terrific hunting rifle.
The wood is hard , close-grained and tough and did not take the stain really
well because of that exemplary feature.
The barrel is browned, all the other iron furniture is antique rust blued.
The barrel is marked S Hawken St. Louis in the original style. The GRRW ID and
my own cipher are on the bottom barrel flat.
The roundels are German Silver, the keys and screws are fire blued. The long bar DST and trigger guard are double bolted through the wrist to the tang, in classic
Hawken fashion.
Please see my article on original Hawken rifles and reproductions “The Truly
Traditional Hawken” under ‘ Doc’s Ramblings’, to the upper left, so you
understand just how traditional these reproductions are, or aren’t. I find there
is a lot of poor information out there in the Western Fur Trade World that needs
straightening out. Also, there are some things the modern worker just can’t do.
Best discover what they are before you lay down cash on a ‘traditional’ rifle.
#623 Gemmer-Springfield trapdoor rifle in 40-65 caliber built on 1869 black powder only action with new tapered octagon 40-65 barrel by Kelly. AA grade
Bridger Hawken style walnut stock with iron furniture and silver trim. You can see that the hammer nose is long to clear the action lever and still hit the firing pin. The action has been left its original case hardened color. The colors have faded with the years but it would be a shame to remove that original finish.
After Jake Hawken died of the Cholera and Sam eventually retired, their shop
was purchased by Gemmer, who continued making rifles in the Hawken tradition.
When cartridge guns came to dominate the frontier, he added custom rifles,
like the reproduction illustrated below, with distinctly Hawken features. There
are only a few known. An original will cost you a fortune.
The barrel is browned, the rest of the iron furniture is antique rust blued.
The rear sight is a Hawken long bar adjustable sight and the front is a silver
blade on a brass base. The fore-end cap is blued iron. Some few of the small
parts have been fire-blued. All in all, the effect is very handsome.
The walnut stock has nice color in the butt, with good close tight grain. The
stock has been finished with hand rubbed drying oils, just like the originals. Note that many of the features that we call Hawken are really English- copied from the fancy London made English sporting guns that were brought over by English sportsman and which the Hawken brothers popularized on the western frontier. About the only features that are not English are the deeply curved buttplate and the double set trigger, both of which are distinctly American.
The photo shows classic Hawken conformation: Long bar DST double bolted to
long tang, double fore-stock keys with silver roundels, long decorative
adjustable Hawken rear sight, beavertail cheek-peice for right handed shooter,
double steel pipes on a soldered under-rib,the pipes are silver soldered
to the rib, the rib is silver-lead soldered to the barrel- ( just like the
originals), scroll trigger guard., all with Trapdoor Springfield action added,
with hooked breech for easy take-down. The barrel plus action is 36 inches
long, the octagon barrel tapers to .950 at the muzzle from 1.10 at the breech,
weight is about 9 lbs, pull is 14 inches.
40-65 brass cases are readily available from several sources, as are cast
bullets and loading dies. It’s a very popular Cowboy long range caliber. And
justly so, the combination of a relatively heavy, long, high BC bullet at
moderate velocities with tolerable recoil has proven to be exceptionally accurate and a good killer on even heavy game. Best of all, the relatively light recoil makes
shooting long strings a much more comfortable affair. Since this rifle is made with an original black powder action, it should be fired only with black powder loads. It cannot be trusted with smokeless powder!
#572- Dutch-German light wheel-lock, 40 caliber, rifled for round ball, all
iron mounts and furniture. Functionally elegant and delightful to handle. SOLD
Shown here complete and including combination spanner and powder flask
.
The barrel is a swamped Green Mountain, the wood a nice piece
of walnut, not a lot of figure but with beautiful color. The lock is from The Rifle Shoppe, and
came as
a kit. Its provenance is German, meant for a pistol, but just right for a light
caliber rifle. I could not resist the challenge. Doc’s Latest Adventure is
featuring it as an ongoing project, with lots of photos and brags as the gun
progresses. Click on ‘Doc’s Latest Adventure’ above to follow its progress.
Weighs in at 7 lbs. Holds really
nice offhand. This is a hard one to let go. It’s plain, but very
functionally elegant. Rifles like this one were available in Europe as early as
1575.
#417- Here is a real flight of fancy. I always wondered why some old time
inventor didn’t design a breech loading flintlock that would un-breech with just
a quarter turn of the trigger guard, allowing the shooter to roll in an oversize
ball followed by a charge of powder, then close the breech with a quarter turn
back. So I decided to try it myself. The rifle is a transitional style with
swamped Colerain barrel in 54 caliber, meant to use 570 ball or bullet, AA maple
fullstock,
all iron mountings for strength, semi-military appearance, DST, Baroque/Rococco
incised carving. You
can always muzzleload it with a 530 ball & patch in the usual fashion if
the breech gets locked up. The trigger guard is hooked up and the mechanism
is tested and works. (Works best in the rain and wet) It’s really fun to HooRah the guys at Rendezvous
with this unique rifle.
The
pictures below show the action closed (left) and open (right). Just a quarter
turn to get a ball then powder into the chamber, then a quarter turn to close.
Prime, and you are ready to fire
714- DOC designed and built double rifle using side by side White Whitetail
and White Lightning stainless barreled actions in 504 caliber, cut down to
match. The rifle throws the White 600 grain Power Punch slip fit bullet with 120-140
grins Pyrodex-P or 777 fired by musket caps. It is sighted in at 50 yards. The stock
is good grade walnut with a thick recoil pad. Triggers are modified Bold.
Safeties are in the cocking handles which lock up into a notch for safe. Snap
the handle down to fire.
The rifle is finished with Brownell’s waterproof epoxy varnish inside
and out. The metal finish is green Dura-Coat. This gun has already been to
Africa twice. It’s great for heavy critters at short range.
#713- NIB WHITE M97 WHITETAIL HUNTER rifle, 504 caliber, 22″ barrel, gray laminate stock, Bold
trigger, Fiber-Optik sights (rear green, front red), BRAND NEW, NEVER FIRED,
includes plastic foam lined original shipping case, instructions and
tools. Rare in this condition. Includes a set of Weaver scope mounts.
#712- Used WHITE Super-91 with elegant professionally done camo. Condition is
excellent, only a few scattered tiny use marks denote its’s prior use. It has
obviously been well cared for. One owner well known to me for a dedicated gun
owner. Sling is included.
#610- Springfield 1835 musket- standard military dimensions and finish, 69
caliber smooth-bore, all top quality parts. This fine gun is now at Track Of
The Wolf. Their photography is wonderful! GoTo trackofthewolf.com, click
on ‘guns’, then ‘military guns’ and scroll through the pages to find it.
The barrel came from Colerain, the lock parts and other
castings from the Rifle Shoppe, the wood from Dunlap.
The perfect musket for an early Southern recruit in the first battles of the
Civil War. There were many flint muskets used early on and were favored by many.
They were faster than a percussion musket simply because you didn’t have to fish
out and fit a cap to make it fire. Perfect for the Battle of Bull Run on the Southron side.
It is really quite inexpensive right now. Call Track and make a deal with them.
#580- DOC-built 451 caliber English Sporting rifle with super fancy walnut
halfstock, really an elegant piece of wood. You can see that the breech is a
Manton with Drip Bar over the traditional flat spring lock. There is a pistol
grip and Alexander Henry forearm. The lock is a Henry design too. The Kelly
barrel is tapered octagon 30 inches long in 451 caliber with 1-20 twist and
shallow 0.035 thou deep grooves,meant for long lubricated White (or Whitworth)
type elongated lubricated bullets. These guns are terrific hunting rifles and
are capable of 1000 yard target shooting. All furniture is iron, the buttplate
is checkered wood, an English whim of the 1860’s. There is an under-rib with two
ferrules. The barrel is browned, the other iron furniture blued and the stock
varnished English style. Sights are a Globe front and English style
adjustable ladder rear- looks much like the adjustable ladder rear
Springfield sight that was so popular from the 1850’s on. (Springfield copied it
from the original English Sporting-Target rifle sights)
.
Although this is a beautiful rifle, it was designed to be
used. It is extremely functional and ergonomic, every part of it friendly to
the user. The butt is thick and wide to soak up recoil, it fits shooters
using either hand without alteration, balance is superb for offhand, sights are
adjustable and good for up to 700 yards as is.
Look at all the steel surrounding the nipple. It’s the
strongest system in the world, bar none. The drip bar above the lock just in
front of the bolster gets rid of the weak wood above the lock that you see on
Hawkins and the like. The rear sight is the spring loaded ladder type with a
sliding adjustable notch-on-bar.
The
butt-plate is checkered ebony (wood), The trigger guard comes off by removing
the two screws than turning the trigger guard off the plate. It takes 5 turns
to get it off. The trigger is single and pulls off at 4 lbs.
POR
The lock is held by a single bolt and the barrel by a single
key. The accents are German Silver except for the brass ramrod tip. Weight is
about 8 lbs. The rifle throws up to a 520 grain lubricated bullet with terrific
accuracy and force. Ballistic Coefficients are up at .300 for fantastic
downrange performance. Bullets load slip-fit so second shots are fast yet
accurate. These are the best of the traditional muzzleloading rifles.
These Sporting Rifles are truly extrordinary. The barrels were
originally designed by Whitworth using a long hexagonal bullet and a fast 1-20
twist. That bullet was later modified by various English designers including
Rigby and Medford, then later by myself, becoming the multi-grooved,
round cross section, lubricated bullet used nowadays in Whitworth, RIgby and
White rifles. All are capable of astounding long range accuracy and superior
down range killing power. I can’t claim much in all this- all I did was adapt
the Old Masters ideas to modern production techniques. None-the-less, these are
the finest, quickest and most powerful modern muzzleloading hunting rifles in
the world!
#605B- Doc-designed White Super-91 with unfired Blue action and barrel in 504
caliber, Winchester 70 type safety (no secondary safety), laminated stock with
13.5 inch pull over Limb Saver recoil pad, adjustable trigger. steel trigger
guard. under-rib with double pipes for ramrod, Delrin ramrod with double brass
ends. The stock shows a few chips where the butt was shortened and a new recoil
pad installed. This will be a good rifle for the smaller shorter-armed man or maybe even a woman.
William’s sights not shown but are included.
#612- English influenced Lancaster style traditional flintlock pistol with
fast twist rifled brass barrel by GRRW in 58 caliber. As far as I know, this is the only brass barrel GRRW ever made. AAA
maple stock with brass furniture including grotesque mask butt cap. Round faced English flintlock by L&R, single trigger. acorn trigger guard, low rear and front sights done in the traditional manner, a modest amount of Lancasterish
carving. The barrel rear is heavily engraved with more engraving on the trigger guard.
The carving is similar to that seen on Lancaster rifles. There is a
stand of arms engraved
on the sideplate. My signature is found in script on the top flat of
the barrel.
The detail on the
pistol is decidedly elegant. Note the low rear sight at the front of the
tang. POR OBO
#658- Fusil de Chasse in 16 gauge (67 caliber), smoothbore of course.
AAA maple which the photos don’t show well at all, has fruitwood finish, classic
French brass furniture, early classic flintlock without stirrup. The lock
is antique rust blued, the screws are fire blued (shown still in the white)
and the barrel is browned. Your
Courier de Bois or Eastern Indian persona will be tickled with it. SOLD
The lovely thing about this gun is that it can be used with a 16 bore ball
and patch or a charge of shot, take your pick. It can be expected to groups
shots inside a saucer at 50 yards, loaded with a patch. That’s good enough for
any whitetail from a tree stand.
The wrist medallion is real silver, engraved with a traditional pattern.
Decorations are plain but the lock is a real sparker with a screw-in insert and
a .70 thou touch-hole for QUICK ignition.
The French were the leaders in arms design for 200 years, 1600-1800. This
model fusil was produced and sold by the tens of thousands all over the world by
enterprising French merchants. It is light, handy, loads fast, holds well and is
very versatile, beloved by the Indians in the New World for hunting or war.
#625 Doc designed and built in-line Double Rifle, 504 caliber,
regulated for 600 grain Slip-Fit bullets, previously owned, has been to Africa
twice, has taken the bigger plains game and buffalo. Actions are in-line, very
similar to the Doc-designed Whitetail and M97 rifles. Sights are on the money at
50 yards with bullets from both barrels grouping together. Best load is 120 gr
PyorodexP with 600 grain White or No Excuse slip-fit bullet.
The ugly green Camo finish is Dura-Coat, a baked on epoxy finish that is
absolutely weather proof. The metal underneath is stainless for double
protection. Safeties
are built into the in-line action. Pull the cocking handles back to full-cock
then rotate them up into the safety notches. Knock them down to fire. In the
left hand photo (immediately to the left) the left handed cocking handle is in
the firing position and the right handed handle is up, locked into the safety
position. In the right hand photo, both handles are locked up into the safety
position. It uses the musket cap for sure ignition on dangerous game.
The
barrels dismount from the stock by removing the 1/4 X 28 screw from the front of
the trigger guard extension. There are two sets of recoil logs, both are glass
bedded. The triggers come out with the barreled action. Sights are Marble fiber-optik
red front and two dot green rear. The recoil pad is an inch thick. Pull is about
14.5 inches to the front trigger and the gun weighs about 10 lbs. It’s a great
rifle for close-up heavy game taking.
#641A- DOC designed WHITE Super-91-II Blue in 504 caliber with B&C
checkered black fiber-composite stock, single M70 type safety and Delrin
ramrod. The barrel is 24 inches, twist 1-24 with shallow .035 grooves,
meant to use heavy slip-fit bullets available from WhiteRifles.com or No
Excuse Bullets. Shoots the heavier 300 grain sabots well, too. The
sights are Williams adjustable with a brass bead front. It’s already
tapped and drilled for peep or scope. The ramrod is Delrin with double
brass ends, a cleaning jag and a bullet puller under the jag. Pull is 14
inches and includes a heavy rubber recoil pad.
It’s one of the last four that I have left. You can read all about the Super-91 by clicking on the Super-91 tab at
the left.
#658- Fusil de Chasse in 16 gauge (67 caliber), smoothbore of course.
AAA maple which the photos don’t show well at all, has fruitwood finish, classic
French brass furniture, early classic flintlock without stirrup. The lock
is antique rust blued, the screws are fire blued (shown still in the white)
and the barrel is browned. Your
Courier de Bois or Eastern Indian persona will be tickled with it.
The lovely thing about this gun is that it can be used with a 16 bore ball
and patch or a charge of shot, take your pick. It can be expected to groups
shots inside a saucer at 50 yards, loaded with a patch. That’s good enough for
any whitetail from a tree stand.
The wrist medallion is real silver, engraved with a traditional pattern.
Decorations are plain but the lock is a real sparker with a screw-in insert and
a .70 thou touch-hole for QUICK ignition.
The photo shows the trigger guard file finished , it has been polished since
this photo was taken. I run brass through filing, then 80, 150, 220, 350, 400
then 600 paper, then polish with 0000 steel wool. this technique provides the
best antique finish. If you want to dull it quick for hunting, rub it briskly
with some fresh cut grass. It will go dull overnight.
The French were the leaders in arms design for 200 years, 1600-1800. This
model fusil was produced and sold by the tens of thousands all over the world by
enterprising French merchants. It is light, handy, loads fast, holds well and is
very versatile, beloved by the Indians in the New World for hunting or war.
#671- Early English doglock fowler by Cookson in 12 gauge, ca. 1700 or so. Tapered octagon-round
barrel by Colerain, Dutch influenced brass furniture and stock design, nice close grained
walnut with a little striping and great grain structure, many early features.
This is a great turkey gun, it was designed to be a hunting gun, so has a
Colonial brand inter-changable thin-wall choke installed, so you can shoot either tight shot patterns or
solid ball by changing the choke tube. I like a .690 extra-full for turkey and
use a .725 open choke tube for solid ball. Thought I had it sold but the
buyer didn’t come through so it’s back on the market
You’re going to get this one used by the way. It went turkey hunting with me in
April and has already tasted blood. It holds like a trap gun, indeed modeled the
drop of the stock off my favorite Winchester 101 Trap. Put the tip of the front
sight just under the Tom’s chin. 75% first shot patterns with my recommended
load of 100 gr. ffg black powder and #7 shot. If you use a .660 choke, which I
can supply you with, you can get 85-90% pattterns.
The ‘dog’ or safety catch, is located right behind the cock. It provides an
additional safety measure with this lock as it has a safety catch cut into
the tumbler. Most doglocks do not, so this one is likely a johnney- come-
lately. Note the lack of bridles for the tumbler inside the lock and for the
frizzen on the outside. Both are early features, very early in the 1700’s.
The pic on the right above shows what I mean by ‘turkey gun’, killed 4-11-2010
in Texas.
This is what the lock looks
like in the gun. One thing about these big locks- they spark really well. Note the three big headed screws that hold the lock in
place over the dragon sideplate, which I haven’t engraved yet. Use your imagination a little:
reduce the size and caliber of the gun, deepen the trigger guard so you can get
a mitten into it during the winter and make it out of sheet iron to reduce
costs, keep the dragon sideplate, modernize the lock a touch and you have a
Northwest trade gun. It is thought that this early fowler was indeed the
predecessor of those handy lightweight hunting guns that were so popular in the
northern American forests.
The front of the trigger guard is pinned, the rear is screwed
down, neither end is inletted, just like the original. The lock is shown
above in the ‘dogged’ position. This position is halfway between the notched
‘safety’ and the fully cocked position, which takes the weight of the 3/4 cocked
‘cock’ or hammer off the ‘safety’ notch. When the ‘cock’ is cycled to the rear
to the fully cocked position, the ‘cock’ knocks the ‘dog’ out of the way so it
doesn’t interfere with the fall of the ‘cock’
#598 Lighter Hawken percussion half stock rifle by DOC. Plain Plus walnut
stock, nothing fancy.
Green Mountain barrel in 50 caliber, (so marked on oblique flat of barrel) 1″ diameter, 32″ long, 1-66 twist for
patched round ball. Conformation traditional in every way. 14 inch pull. All iron
furniture with G. Silver trim. All the Hawken features you have come to expect, like double bolted
wrist, long bar DST which fires set or unset, long tang, double keys in silver
surrounds, stout 7/16th inch ramrod, double ferrules on soldered rib, silver
nose cap. Barrel and most furniture antique rust browned, barrel is marked ‘S
Hawken- St. Louis’, my GBW cipher is found
on the rear oblique of the barrel, the GRRW logo, which I have owned since
’72, is located on the bottom flat of the barrel. SOLD
#596- Doc-built 16 bore side by side flintlock fowler, fancy walnut with
correct grain in the wrist and fancy figure in the butt, classic proportions,
Egg flintlocks, double hooked breech, lock panels tapered to the rear, steel
furniture, silver trim, checkered grip, regulated to shoot patched ball as well
as shot.
The double fowler is now finished, checkered in the eatrly wide fashion,
wrist eschutcheon in place (it is fastened to the rear of the trigger
plate.)
The locks and breeching as well as the trigger guard and buttplate are
antique rust blued. The barrels are browned.
The buttplate return, tang and fore-end eschutcheon are engraved. My
signature can be found on the top rib.
The flints are the originals that I used to regulate the barrels. I never had
a single misfire while doing the regulation and there are still many shots left
in them. This is a testimoney to the good design of the Egg locks.
It might seem odd, but a plain appearing double like this one, with barrels
properly regulated, takes every bit as much time and artistic effort to
construct as a fancy carved, engraved and inlaid Penn-Kentucky Rifle or Jaeger.
Thats why they cost as much as they do. Note that the basic design of this
elegant fowler is no different than a modern side by side except for the
ignition system and breeching. This fowler mimics one made in the 1820’s.
582- Dutch inspired Wheelock with authentic lock kit from the Rifle Shoppe
and swamped 42 inch barrel in 54 caliber from Colerain. The walnut fullstock is
pretty plain but has great grain structure especially through the wrist. Pull is
14″. All furniture is iron with a forged trigger guard,
double ferrules holding the ramrod and plain fore-end tip. There are two bolts holding the lock in place.
The lock is cased a gray-blue and it has front and rear
sights. It is amazing how well balanced this rifle
is and how well it holds. Manufacturing
a wheel-lock from scratch is quite a project.
#546- Pauley 504 caliber in line Sporting Rifle with false left hand lock and
side lock safety.
The English made many sporting
rifles with the sidelock on the left side, but meant for use by a right hander.
They had noted that the right hander’s thumb lies in perfect position to cock a
left sided hammer . This rifle, made by DOC, is made in that style. It’s fully
useful for both right and left hander. It is 504 caliber, with White 1-24 twist
rifling, made for the same Power Punch and Power Star bullets that shoot so
well in White designed rifles. The lock and hammer are false, as were all of
Pauley’s designs, pulling back on the hammer cocks the in-line mechanism so you
can cap it ready for the shot. There is also a Side Lock Safety, designed by
DOC, that locks the trigger in SAFE when straight up, and releases it for FIRE
when horizontal. It is located on the right side. The folding rear sight is
mounted on a quarter rib. The tang is long, and will accomodate a tall Vernier
rear sight if wanted. SOLD
The stock is walnut with nice grain running correctly through the wrist, the pistol
grip is capped by rosewood. Both are stained English Red, then varnished with
Brownell’s fantastic waterproof epoxy varnish. The metal is finished with bright
blue Dura-Coat, a better and more durable finish than any ordinary brown or
blue.
The
Side Lock Safety is seen here at the rear of the sidelock panel in a very
ergonomic position. (PHOTO LEFT) It locks the trigger, which locks the hammer, when upright
on SAFE. Push it forward for FIRE. The trigger is single, with a 2 lb. letoff. It is adjustable.
The left sided cocking handle, seen above in the middle and right photos, is actuated by a braided wire, which
means you can cock the hammer (seen on the right above) then push it forward out of battery for the shot
(see below, left) That way there is no weight on the inline hammer.
Also, the hammer cocking
handle can be rotated into the up-lifting safety notch for a second and very
secure SAFE when the rifle is cocked. (photo left, above) The
quarter rib and folding rear sight can be seen in the photo right, above. The front sight is
a fiber-optic red bead on a ramp. The ramrod rides on an under-rib and is held
by two ferrules. The long tang will take a Vernier rear sight if you want, The
fore-end is styled after Henry. There is a rubber recoil pad, which does not
look at all out of place. The English originated leather covered rubber pads at
about the time this rifle was designed in 1812. J S Pauley London is engraved on the
lockplate. The rifle has been accurized, shoots into three inches at 100 yards
with the open sights and my old eyes and it is right on the money at that range
with 80 gr fffG 777 and a 500 grain No Excuse bullet.
#603- French Fusil C grade, 20 bore with 40 inch Colerain octagon
to round barrel, gorgeous AAA maple stock with fierce tiger stripe , all fancy
brass furniture. Made for shooting ball but can handle shot as well. Very
graceful, well balanced and quick in the hand, much lighter than you would
think. The French were in the forefront of arms design as early as the late
1600’s. This design surfaced in the 1700’s and was imported by the shipload. It
was a favorite on the Eastern frontier.
This hunting gun is equipped with an interchangable Colonial brand choke, the
one in it now is a super-full, but it comes with a choke bore insert as
well, so you can shoot ball if you want, or shoot tight patterns at turkeys like
I did with it. When the 2009 turkey season loomed, I got a bee in my bonnet
(Scotch ancestry) and threw this gun together, didn’t get the metal completely
browned nor the maple past the stain stage, did finish the lock, (which is blued
and a fantastic sparker). I fired two shots at a turkey target for pattern
purposes. getting 9-12 head and neck hits at 30 yards with 1 1/2 oz #7
nickel plated shot over 90 gr Swiss fffg, the next four shots killed toms
from 25 to 44 yards. I called one tom within three feet, then jumped up and
killed him on the run at 33 yards as he tried to escape. The brag is not in the
good shooting but in how fast the gun was to the shoulder, light and quick. It’s
a fine hunting gun. It’s no wonder the Eastern Indian liked it so much, to the
delight of the French traders and the agony of the British. After the season, I
finished the gun, it’s ready to complete your Eastern Indian or French Voyager
persona, or take turkey hunting next spring.
#599 Sporty Hawken rifle by Doc in 54 caliber with fancy AAAA tiger striped maple stock,
Green Mountain barrel 1″ diameter X 32″ long, 1-66 twist for
patched round ball. Iron furniture with silver trim, trigger guard has the
occasionally seen spur. 14 inch pull. Hawken features like double bolted
wrist, long bar DST which fires set or unset, long tang, double keys in silver
surrounds, stout 7/16th inch ramrod, double ferrules on soldered rib, silver
nose cap. Barrel, lock and most furniture is browned, barrel is marked S
Hawken- St. Louis on the top flat. My GBW cipher is found
on the bottom of the barrel along with GRRW markings. Absolutely traditional in every way. For sale as is, or finished, later.
Classic Hawken features throughout. SOLD
You can see the quality of the maple, the tiger stripe goes pretty well from
end to end. The maple was liberally soaked in a drying oil, then finished with
multiple coats of tough Bivin’s varnish.
The more stain, the better the tiger stripe shows up. There are multiple
coats of Laurel Mountain Forge stain here. I experiment with color as the
sanding process goes forward, applying stain, evaluating, then sanding off the
stain using progressively finer grades of paper. Sometimes I can get it right if
I try hard.
You will note that the screws and silver furniture are not yet finished. It’s
because I got excited about taking pictures of the fancy wood and forgot. The
screws will all end up polished then fire blued, the silver accents will be
polished bright.
The conformation of this Hawken is typical of the lighter ones seen, mostly
originally sold for local use in the Missouri woods rather than the heavy use
seen in the plains and mountains of the far West. In 54 caliber, it will be
plenty useful for anything up to elk size with adequate loads.
#600 Bridger Hawken 58 caliber by DOC, AAA maple stock, tapered Kelly
barrel 32 inches long with 1-72 twist for patched round ball , Classic
Bridger Hawken
conformation with all the minor details exactly right, copies the Hawken that belonged to Bridger now in the collection
of the Montana State Historical Society, and which GRRW had in a local Bank’s
safe for several years while they copied it for production. Doc designed the master for the stock
carving during his GRRW years. All iron furniture including fore-end cap, silver trim, adjustable step
rear sight, long bar DST double bolted to tang, this is an as-close-as-you
-can-get-copy of the
original Bridger rifle, none finer available. This should be a superb
hunting rifle, none better.
The top barrel flat is marked, ‘S Hawken St. Louis” in one line
just like the original. The bottom of the barrel is stamped with GreenRiver
RifleWorks, Roosevelt, Utah and Doc’s GBW stamp in there too.
The original GRRW stamps are in DOC’s possession and contrary to what many
think, DOC never sold the full Green River RifleWorks name.
87- DOC White made half stock flintlock rifle prototype never brought to
production, black finish on built up laminate stock, Egg lock, Getz 54 cal barrel,
1-66 twist for round ball, DST, Pad, Steel furniture, Hook Breech, Browning
style adjustable rear sight, won two of the 5 matches offered at
the ’02 Bridger Rendezvous, a 4th place at the ’06 shindig and a first and
an eighth in 2007. Recently refurbished, quite accurate-
Late
English Flintlock English Sporting Rifles sometimes sported leather covered recoil
pads. The Pachmeyer on this rifle is meant to mimic that style.
The barrel is held by a single key surrounded by German silver roundels, the
forearm cap is also German silver.
Late English rifles often sported adjustable sights. This one is by Browning.
The gun is nicely sighted to shoot one inch high at 25 yards with a .530 ball and 60 grains
FFFg Black Powder.
#624 Doc built English Sporting Rifle 504 caliber, used but in great
condition. White 504 barrel in perfect condition, mounted in Red English
finished laminate straight gripped stock with inch thick butt pad.
Traditional flat springed percussion lock with heavy but handsome Manton style
percussion breech. Very accurate, capable of long range shooting. DST can be
finely tuned. Best load is 70 grains Pyrodex-P and a 460 grain White or No
Excuse slip-fit bullet. I watched this rifle take down a good sized sheep at 125
yards one day. The critter went over like a tree and hardly wiggled. This is a
great hunting rifle capable of target work.
This
rifle started life years ago as a prototype for White Systems, but never was
accepted so never came into production. As such, it is one of a kind. It came
back into my hands through a trade up to a more expensive fancy rifle.
There
is a long tang for mounting a tall Vernier sight if wanted. The black finish is
Black Ice Teflon, perfectly waterproof. The finish on the wood is a clear two
part epoxy which is likewise waterproof and very scratch resistant.
#691- Here is a lovely Maryland rifle, much in the John Armstrong tradition
but left handed. It is 50 caliber with a ‘B’ sized swamped barrel 44 inches
long. It was taken in on trade.
The iron of the barrel and lock is finished a lovely antique bluish-brown-
polished and smooth. The carving is delicately and finely done. The maker was
obviously a superb craftsman. It is not signed.
The finish on the wood harkens back to old times. The brass is perfectly
antiqued. You can almost smell the wood smoke and sweat. The lock is a Chambers
left handed. It sparks with enthusiasm.
There’s not much engraving, but the quality matches that of the carving. It
might be sparse, but it is delightfully traditional. Too bad we’re not all left
handed.
There is a patch box release in the toe plate. You can see it right in the
middle of the engraved flower. Push it and the patch box lid pops up. The
trigger is single, correctly so, too.
There
is a grand harmony to this gun seen but in few others.
#690 Green River RifleWorks Leman Trade Rifle in 45 caliber. Originally built
by Bill Mckay of GRRW, later refurbished by DOC. His ‘GBW’ cipher is found at the
rear of the barrel. McKays ‘Mc’ is found in pencil in the barrel channel near the
pewter tip. There is a GRRW barrel with 7 deep grooves, 1-66 twist, it appears
pristine, looks to have been fired very little if at all. The maple stock is
plain as a yard of pumpwater, as were many of the Leman trade guns. The lock is
by Kern (used only on the first 1000 of this series rifle by GRRW), single
trigger with very nice pull-off, all sand cast brass furniture typical of the
early GRRW production, graceful pewter fore-end tip.
There are a few scuff marks from long storage that can barely be seen
on stock and barrel. You have to look close to find them. There is a tiny
fracture line that does not penetrate the wood near the left fore-arm oval and
another on the left side of the tang that does. That one has been repaired with
two-tube pine pitch (epoxy). It appears to be quite solid.
DOC has done a beautiful job refurbishing the rifle. It appears almost new.
It was originally made in 1974.
This is a pretty plain rifle, but the barrel is as new, the refurbish job
masterful and the conformation perfect. I guess it should be. DOC designed the
rifle and built the first 60 of them by hand in 1972.
#677-Sporting Rifle with White round tapered barrel in 504 caliber, quilted
maple stock, ‘Prince of Wales” style round knob grip, classic
Manton breech with long tang, under-rib with two ferrules, steel furniture with
black GunKote finish,
sling swivels, red rubber recoil pad and rose-wood tipped Henry style fore-arm, a solid gun meant for the dedicated
hunter. The maple is stained English Red and varnished in the classic
style. The stainless steel is finished with gloss black GunKote. This a is a
good example of a Sporting Rifle meant for serious hunting.
SPORTING RIFLE, 24″ White barrel, 504 caliber, black GunKote finish,
Williams sights, Manton sidelock.
There are still a few screws to blue and silver to polish but could not help
putting the photos up, that maple is soooo handsome.
#670- Snaphaunce fowler in 12 gauge in the style of the Forbes fowler that
came over on the Mayflower. All iron furniture, forged trigger guard, unique
safety included on the lock.
Here is something you just can’t do with an ordinary flintlock: see below
The hammer (cock) is full cocked and the frizzen (steel) in the firing position
with the sliding pan cover closed. The thig-a-ma-gig on the lockplate just above the trigger
is a safety. It is shown pulled back and up so it locks the sear and the gun will not
fire. Push it forward and down to release the trigger. An additional safety is
built into the design of the lock: you can cock it, close the sliding pan cover
with priming in place, then lift the steel (frizzen) off the cover and throw it
forward out of the way of the cock. To shoot, snap the steel back into
place on the pan cover and pull the trigger. The falling cock knocks the pan
cover forward and uncovers the priming. Note the horizontal sear nose sticking
out of the lockplate just behind and under the tail of the cock min the photo on
the right below.
Above is a view of the internals of the lock. It looks complicated and it is.
It needs that fat mainspring to make it operate. Right above is the lock in the
fired position.
I had a few flintlocks to repair and assemble, just could not resist
putting this big snaphaunce together. As you can see, it is much more
complicated than a classic flintlock, but is far easier to tune than a wheel-lock. The
snaphaunce shares some of the features of a wheel-lock, mainly the horizontal
sear & trigger
mechanism and the sliding pan cover. It also features the two separate
safety systems illustrated above.
#621 Early Fullstock Percussion Hawken rifle, 50 caliber,
one inch octagon GreenMountain barrel 40 inches long, great-grained but plainer
walnut fullstock, traditional engraved flat spring lock signed
S Hawken, double-bolted long tang,
Hawken percussion breech with flat-to-the-wrist trigger guard mounted on long
DST bar. Traditional in every sense of the word.
The furniture is iron except the German silver key surrounds. There are
three flat keys. The DST fires set or unset. The sights are a Modena style
rear and G. silver blade front on a brass base. There is an iron Modena style
patchbox. This
will make a superb hunting rifle.
The top flat of the barrel is marked S Hawken St. Louis. My GBW cipher is on
the bottom flat.
#593- Doc-built Mid-Eastern Bench/ Over-the-Log gun, new super-accurate
stored GRRW barrel 58
caliber 1 1/4″ between flats. Barrel is 36″ long, Stock
sports strong grained perch-belly
walnut stock with double keys in silver surrounds, Manton hooked breech with drip
bar for easy cleaning, DST fires set or unset, Blued steel furniture
including checkered iron buttplate. Weighs right on 14 lbs. GRRW barrels have always
been super
accurate. They were because the rifling cutter was also used to shave the lands.
This rifle should be a match winner at any range. SOLD
There is no under-rib or ramrod, since the rifle is obviously meant for
target work.
The
screws will end up polished and blued. The German silver escutcheons will get a
shiny polish. The stock deserves a few more coats of varnish. I like John
Biven’s old stock finish system for later percussion rifles. It pretty well
matches the early finishes.
#597 Doc built lighter LEFT HAND Hawken rifle, plain but extremely strong and
sturdy maple stock, There is a touch of tiger striping in the forearm wood but
not much. Green Mountain 50
caliber octagon barrel one inch across the flats and 32 inches long. rifles with
1-66 twist for patched round ball. All iron
furniture except silver fore-stock ovals and silver nose-cap. There are no known
antique left handed Hawken rifles, but this one is as close A MIRROR IMAGE as you can get with
a repro.
Pull is 14.4 inches, for the taller among you left-handers out there. Weight
a bit heavier than the other two light Hawkens illustrated, because of the solid
wood. All parts are top quality, nothing better available on the market.
102- Doc built Whitworth style small bore target rifle, 451 caliber with 1-18
twist and shallow .035 grooves for tighter fitting multi-grooved
lubricated 520 gr bullet. Barrel is by Douglas, tapered round and browned,
Sights are fancy tight click rear tall peep and wind-gauge front with spirit
level. Trigger is single set with very light touch-off. There is a British style
Decelerator recoil pad, pull is 14 inches, weight about 9 lbs. This set-up is
very accurate, uses 80 gr Swiss ffg Black powder with 520 gr Whitworth style
bullet sized to fit bore at 451, needs to be cleaned between shots for finest
accuracy, shoots MOA on windless days. Best I ever did with it is a 4 inch group
at 600 yards. Has about 400 shots through it, used only by me and that
sparingly. Haven’t shot it for 4-5 years, eyes are not up to the game any more.
It has had meticulous care.
#630- 1814 Common rifle, this one has a 54 cal Colerain barrel, cast
parts by the Rifle Shoppe, excellent walnut for a military grade rifle, with a
cut out on the cheekpeice as was often done with this rifle. There is a beat up,
rusty original on the nearby Ute Reservation with the cut out plus brass tacks,
beads, leather and feathers. I’m thinking of copying it. Maybe if I bury it for
100 years it will come out like the original. No, there are no photos of
the original, family will not allow it
Obviously, the metal and wood are not yet finished sights, barrel bands and
band springs and all small parts are in place. It only awaits finishing. You
can see how handy a light hunting rifle this would make. The fact that a few of
them still exist in the West is testimony to how well they were liked and how
well they endured. There were only 1500 of them to start with.
#530-
Original Green River RifleWorks
Leman Trade Rifle in 45 caliber, GRRW seven groove 33 inch barrel one”
diameter across the flats,
plain maple half-stock stained dark, brass Leman style butt plate and trigger
guard, single trigger actuating the Kern coil spring lock, pewter fore-end tip.
NEVER FIRED. This is an early one, the lock is a Kern rather than the later flat
spring Silers, the trigger guard and buttplate are cruder sand castings, not the
later more sophisticated black sand castings, The tang tip is squared, not
rounded as were the later ones. The pewter tip is not gracefully shaped as were
the later ones, The barrel is not
signed by the gunsmith as they were later on, but the GRRW stamp on the barrel is
plainly legible. This is a prime example of an early GRRW Leman Trade Rifle in unfired
condition. The gentleman who sold it to me claimed that it came out of an office safe where it
had lain since it was built in
the early 1970’s, but it has seen some handling. There are a few very minor
handling marks and there is a crack in the wood to the left of the
tang.
Can
you believe that GRRW sold this rifle for $175 in the fall of 1974. Later ones
demonstrated finer finish and more custom touches. A total of fewer than 3000 of
the Leman Trade Rifle were manufactured before GRRW closed in 1980,
There fewer than 800 of this particular variation with Kern
locks built, (finally ran out of
Kern locks), which makes
this rifle rare indeed..
679 M97 Whitetail Hunter 504 caliber with original plastic foam lined case
and tools plus sample bullets. I don’t think it’s been fired, since the sample
bullets are still in the case. The original instructions are there, too. The gun
appears to be pristine, all the parts are what they are supposed to be:
Bold adjustable trigger, Marble’s fiberoptik sights- green to the rear, orange
in front, aluminum ramrod- perfect for loading saboted bullets, sling swivels
fore and aft, Delrin trigger guard and ramrod ferrule. 8 lbs. Criterion
barrel, easily the best that White ever used.
#577- Wender over-under swivel breech- Lancaster style flintlock over-under
rifle with 3/4 inch diameter Bill Large barrels in 45 cal for round ball (I’ve
been saving those barrels for years). Stock is AA good quality maple, furniture
is brass, the flintlock is back action, the swivel lock mechanism is in the
front bow of the trigger guard, pull on it to swivel the barrels. Dickert style
Lancaster furniture. The lock sparks quite well, no difference either
side.
The
original stock decoration and patchbox engraving can be found on page 85 of
Kindig’s “Kentucky Rifles in their Golden Age”, the original by
Dickert . There is a fancy rendition of G B White on the brass piece opposite
the flintlock. Sorry it’s so hard to see.
#652- White early experimental Model 97 with non-production stock made of a
heavy Delrin-like plastic, only one ever made, has a double palm swell and is
fitted with safety slots on both sides of the action so it could be fitted up
either left or right handed. This one is the only one I know of that has the
cocking handle on the right and the safety on the left (the standard M97 is just
the opposite) Action is stainless, barrel by Criterion (best of all the
barrel makers), it has a custom Warne top scope base and is shown with Warne QD
rings and a Leuopold scope. The base comes with the rifle, the rings are extra,
the scope is just for show.
Ooops- I opposed the photo- it’s backwards.
#654 WHITE WHITETTAIL EARLY NUMBER BLUED STEEL IN 504 CALIBER WITH
BLACK TEFLON FINISH. All standard accutrements except the ramrod is wood
tipped by brass drilled and tapped for accessories. The stock is plain but stout
walnut with a pebbled black finish. Thumb safety is on the right, cocking
handle on the left as on all standard Whitetail rifles. Sights are by Williams
with red bead front and adjustable rear. The recoil pad is a full inch thick.
Already accurized and a proven shooter. Fired 6 times for accuracy.
#620- new, long stored White Thunder percussion 12 gauge shotgun, marked BG
2003. The finest turkey gun in the world. 90-95% first shot patterns with
recommended loads. Based on the BG action, Rifle trigger with safety, secondary
safety on the pull cock, cocks on the left like all modern sub-machine guns so
your strong hand stays in place at grip with aces to trigger and safety.
Straight rifled barrel with ventilated rib and Hastings Xtra-full, Modified and
Improved Cylander chokes and a Bore-B-Dry. Strong American hardwood stock
painted black with set-up for detachable sling. Rubber recoil pad a whole inch
thick. Delrin ramrod with wad puller and cleaning jag. Pull 14 inches. Weighs
5.5 lbs.
#619- new, long stored White Thunder percussion 12 gauge shotgun, marked BG
2003. The finest turkey gun in the world. 90-95% first shot patterns with
recommended loads. Based on the BG action, Rifle trigger with safety, secondary
safety on the pull cock, cocks on the left like all modern sub-machine guns so
your strong hand stays in place at grip with aces to trigger and safety.
Straight rifled barrel with ventilated rib and Hastings Xtra-full, Modified and
Improved Cylander chokes and a Bore-B-Dry. Strong American hardwood stock
painted black with set-up for detachable sling. Rubber recoil pad a whole inch
thick. Delrin ramrod with wad puller and cleaning jag. Pull 14 inches. Weighs
5.5 lbs.
The orange thing is the plastic Bore-B-Dry, it protects the nipple. Load it
with 1 7/8 oz. of shot in a White tapered plastic shot cup with 2 wonder wads
over 100 gr. FFg Black Powder and one over the shot. It will throw the
shot at 1200 FPS and kil turkeys at 50 yards.
#608 US Common Rifle, model of 1814. 54 caliber for round ball. 33 inch long
1/3 octagon, 2/3 round tapered barrel by Colerain. Plain walnut stock (none were
fancy), authentic furniture cast from an original, original style French
influenced flintlock with proper ‘Derringer Phila.’ and ‘U.S.’ markings, even
the internals are strict military dimensions. Sling swivels, trigger, side
opening patch box, band springs, sights and steel trumpet ramrod are all
authentic. This is an utterly charming military rifle. Balance is excellent.
Pull 13 3/4 inches but feels longer .
Weight between 7 and 8 lbs, at a guess. Only 1500 of the originals were ever made. I’ve never seen another reproduction.
#643- WHITE Whitetail #WS5382 in 451 caliber, slightly used and
refurbished by DOC, the bore is excellent and has been glass bedded and
accurized. It has
the late B&C made fibercomposite stock that Doc designed and
that he likes so well, only a few of those produced, 22 inch
barrel with 1-20 twist and shallow grooves like all White rifles.
There is a one inch thick recoil pad, adjustable trigger and adjustable
sights with a Delrin ramrod with brass end including cleaning jag. It is equipped with a 3 X 9
Simmons scope, set up with a custom extended front base that fits Warne
QD mounts.
#641- WHITE Super-91-II Blue #SB745 in 504 caliber with B&C
checkered black fiber-composite stock, single M70 type safety and Delrin
ramrod. The barrel is 24 inches, twist 1-24 with shallow .035 grooves,
meant to use heavy slip-fit bullets available from WhiteRifles.com or No
Excuse Bullets. Shoots the heavier 300 grain sabots well, too. The
sights are Williams adjustable with a brass bead front. It’s already
tapped and drilled for peep or scope. The ramrod is Delrin with double
brass ends, a cleaning jag and a bullet puller under the jag. Pull is 14
inches and includes a heavy rubber recoil pad. You can read all about the Super-91 by clicking on the Super-91 tab at
the top of the page
#574 Doc-built repro of Classic early FlintLock rifle by Dickert, slim
and light with 7/8″ octagon 40″ barrel in 50 cal by Rayl, nice AA
piece of maple, Chambers best flintlock, early single trigger, brass furniture,
Dickert’s early engraved patchbox and carving. Pull is 14′, weight 7 lbs and
light for a long rifle. The carving is classic Dickert as is the
engraving.
The original patchbox is a famous one. It’s not on a rifle, as the original
rifle was destroyed. Many of Dickerts patch boxes resemble it, but this one is
the fanciest. Dickert’s stuff can be found in all the major picture books. Some
of the best are in Kindig’s big book on ‘the Kentucky Rifle in its Golden Age’.
#581- English Pistol Gripped Sporting rifle with super fancy walnut
halfstock, most of the details same as #580 above, except the wood is
different but just as elegant and the trigger guard, which is stainless steel,
now black tefloned (shown in stainless). The only significant differences are
the wood and the shape and material of the trigger guard.
#651- White early experimental M97 Whitetail Hunter with 22 inch barrel in
504 caliber mounted in B&C double palm swell fibercomposite stock,
which was one of Doc’s better designs. Fitted with single piece scope
mount which takes Warne 1/2 inch QD mounts. The shape of the mount deflects
dirty powder gases away from the scope. Criterion barrels were the best of all.
Double ended ramrod with cleaning jag and bullet puller. Steel trigger guard.
Double safety with one on the trigger and another on the pull-cock. Cocking
lever is on the left, as in all good modern assault rifles and trigger safety is
on the right, easy to the thumb.
#648- Super 91-II #SB782, once belonging to the White shooting team, finely
tuned, very accurate, in need of re-furbishing. More pics as it gets done. It
will get new action parts, a refinished stock, new ramrod and sights. Ramrod
hole needs to be re-drilled as the forestock is filled with weights for fancy
offhand shooting. The barrel is floated. It can be fitted with scope mounts if
you want.
#646- White Super-91-II with thumbhole stock. The 504 caliber blued
barreled action is new but stored lo these many years. Glass bedded and
accurized.
The gun has all internal parts, with Williams adjustable rear and brass bead
front sights, trigger guard is steel, curved super Decelerator recoil pad,
M70 style safety, double ended ramrod with cleaning jag and bullet puller, but
still awaits sling swivels fore and aft. There is a pebbled black finish on the stock.
The laminate wood is painted because it is particularly ugly. It came to me with
a few cracks and dings that needed repairing. Epoxy, pegs and body putty work wonders.
#636- WHITE Whitetail # WS5654 stainless in 410 caliber with
Black painted American Hardwood stock (a euphemism for beech). it has the usual
Williams adjustable sights with a red front bead, the trigger is adjustable
with safety on the right, handy to your thumb, the ramrod is Delrin with a
threaded brass tip. The trigger guard is blued steel. Pull is 14 inches over an
inch thick recoil pad. It is yet to be fitted with sling swivels. It has been Accurized and
is accurate. 410’s always are. Shoots a 400 grain slip-fit bullet over 50-60
grains powder, with 200 yard ballistics every bit as good as a 451.
#581- English Pistol Gripped Sporting rifle with super fancy walnut
halfstock, most of the details same as #580 above, except the wood is
different but just as elegant and the trigger guard, which is stainless steel,
now black tefloned (shown in stainless). The only significant differences are
the wood and the shape and material of the trigger guard.
This rifle is shown with screw on elegant English style Springfield-like adjustable sight.
You can add a Vernier stand
up adjustable ladder rear sight mounted on the wrist. The cost of the
rear sight, if chosen will be added to the base cost of the rifle.
When I aquired this paticular trigger guard it appeared to be
rusty, but it was just discloration from years of lying about. It turned
out to be stainless, didn’t discover that until it was inletted in the gun. It
now has a coat of black teflon to match the deep blue of the lock
and breeching.
These Sporting Rifles are truly
extrordinary. The barrels were
originally designed by Whitworth using a long hexagonal bullet and a fast 1-20
twist. That bullet was later modified by various English designers including
Rigby and Medford, then later by myself, becoming the multi-grooved,
round cross section, lubricated bullet used nowadays in Whitworth, RIgby and
White rifles. All are capable of astounding long range accuracy and superior
down range killing power. I can’t claim much in all this- all I did was adapt
the Old Masters ideas to modern production techniques. None-the-less, these are
the finest, quickest and most powerful modern muzzleloading hunting rifles in
the world! This rifle will be a touch less expensive than #580, simply because of the
trigger guard.
#566- A brand new never fired Virginia-North Carolina infuenced 58 caliber
smoothbore “Black Rifle’ with dark-stained smooth-grained cherry stock and
all iron mounts, including iron patchbox cover, finished dark in the old
style for hard use in the deep woods. Barrel is a 44” swamped Colerain in
58 smoothbore for patched round ball. It sports low rifle sights, lock is a
Chambers English Trade lock, the touch-hole is a stainless insert and is
properly SunSetted for fastest ignition.. Like all Chamber’s locks, this one is
a fine sparker. If your persona is a southern deep woods hunter, this is the gun
for you.
This ‘smooth rifle’ should be a real killer in the
woods with either ball or shot. Showing a lot of mixed early German and a few English features,
note the very German features in the carving to the rear of the cheek-piece, It could
have been used by the Militia at Cowpens. Tarleton’s English are still running.
The
patchbox opens with a latch actuated from the buttstock. The latch is hidden
behind the patchbox lid and is spring loaded. There is a large storage area
under the lid, big enough for not only patches but also cleaning tools, grease
and oil.
While
the lock and the sidelock piece are English, the buttstock shows carved
decoration very much in the German style. The stepped wrist is also German. Both
details are often seen on Jaegers.
Several
pictures of this gun can be found in several longrifle picture books. It’s quite
a famous piece. The best are on p.83 of ‘Rifles of Virginia’, by Whisker
#644- WHITE Super-91-II, #SB848, blued steel in a glass bedded gray
laminate stock, 24 inch barrel in 504 caliber with a fine quality
Leuopold scope mounted in Warne QD mounts. Delrin ramrod with double
brass ends including cleaning jag and bullet puller. Trigger is
adjustable with M70 style safety on the pullcock and a second trigger
safety on the left. Set-up for #11 cap. Barrel and action are old stored
but brand new, the stock is refurbished and the scope is used but in
fine shape.
#608 US Common Rifle, model of 1814. 54 caliber for round ball. 33 inch long
1/3 octagon, 2/3 round tapered barrel by Colerain. Plain walnut stock (none were
fancy), authentic furniture cast from an original, original style French
influenced flintlock with proper ‘Derringer Phila.’ and ‘U.S.’ markings, even
the internals are strict military dimensions. Sling swivels, trigger, side
opening patch box, band springs, sights and steel trumpet ramrod are all
authentic. This is an utterly charming military rifle. Balance is excellent.
Pull 13 3/4 inches but feels longer .
Weight between 7 and 8 lbs, at a guess. Only 1500 of the originals were ever made. I’ve never seen another reproduction.
#645- White M97 Whitetail Hunter, NIB, early 9700215EA serial number,
that makes it the 215th M97 made. The gun is New In Box, with
tools and paperwork, but the outer cardboard shipping carton is a bit
beat up, the plastic gun-case is in fine shape. The gun shows no
handling marks, has the early 22 inch barrel ( they were available later
with 24 and 26 inch barrels too), stock is gray laminate with two bolts
holding the action to the stock, trigger is adjustable, sights are the
early Marbles folding rear and red bead front. (later ones sported
FIRELIGHT fiber-optik sights)
642- WHITE M97 Ultra Mag in 504 caliber with black plastic case and
tools , the gun is nearly new. It’s an unusual one, strangely with
no serial number , has the later 26 inch barrel. The
Doc-designed stock is web
finished fiber-composite by B&C, the handsomest stock style, and the
most functionally elegant, they ever did for White, with recoil
pad, trigger is adjustable, made by Bold. The sights are Marble
adjustable FIRELIGHT with green rear and red front. This one does not
have a seriaL number, very unusual, makes it a collector’s dream. All of
them were supposed to have a serial #.
#638- WHITE Super 91-II Blue in 504 caliber with 3-9 power Traditions
scope in Weaver extended mounts, Adjustable trigger, side safety on the
right, secondary safety on the pullcock, steel trigger guard, plain
Delrin ramrod. B&C black fiber-compositie stock with checkering.
Accurized with glass bedding and bore lapping. The rifle would usually
sell for $500, plus $50 for the scope mounts plus the scope in
addition. I would take $625 for the set-up OBO. SOLD
#568- Brand new never fired Dimmick St Louis half stock Plains Rifle with
Kelly one inch diameter X 32 inch long octagon barrel in 50 caliber for round
ball, brass mounts, shows English influence, with Manton style heavy hooked
patent breech and drip bar percussion sidelock, a far better setup than any
Hawken. The lock is an original Golcher, restored to it’s former glory. Trigger
is single, housed in a brass trigger guard with obvious English features,
buttplate is American St Louis style all the way, There are the usual open
plains rifle sights, two keys mounted in brass ovals with brass nose cap and
ferrule. Ferrules on the under-rib are steel for 3/8th inch ramrod. Kelly
barrels have proven to be very accurate.
#614- White M97 Whitetail in 504 Caliber, the original prototype of
the Odessy series of Christiansen carbon-fiber barreled rifles that
were produced. Very lightweight, about 5.5 lbs. This one has been well
used, has a few pits in the barrel but has been re-accurized and shoots
pretty well, well enough that any deer or elk at 200 yards should be
meat. You can shoot it once you get tit and if
it doesn’t perform I will take it back. It does best with saboted
bullets. I can get 4 inch groups at 100 yards with 100 gr 777 and a
435 grain saboted PowerStar bullet. POR- OBO, you will find it
surprisingly cheap. Make an offer.
The rifle is furnished with Warne QD scope mounts and rings and ramrod. It is guaranteed to please
after you shoot it, or money back. You will have two weeks to prove it
meets your satisfaction. You shoot it, you get to clean it, if you don’t
it will cost you $25 off the money I return to you.
#602- Kurkowski Wolverine in 54 caliber, the very first production
muzzleloading rifle to use a 209 primer, made about 1984, only a few produced.
Barrel is a Douglas, 54 caliber, rifled 1-48 with 8 thou deep grooves so can use
either round ball with patch, short bullet or sabot. Walnut stock, Excellent
condition, bore perfect, operating bolt handle is on the right, aluminum ramrod.
A real collectable-SOLD
#609- Springfield 1840 Flintlock Musket repro- the last FlintLock musket
produced by the US. Used well into the War Between the States. 69 caliber,
smoothbore of course, wonderful lock, throws tremendous sparks. Great plain but
exceptionally sturdy walnut with oil finish as were the originals. Brass
mountings, U.S. marked. Bright finish as they were the originally .Shooters
should recognize that a flintlock musket like this beauty can be fired faster
than a cap lock by several seconds per cycle- it takes less time to prime the
flintlock than it does to fish out and place a cap.
#592- Jaeger flintlock rifle as made by Pistor, one of the suppliers for the
German Hessian mercernaries hired by George V for the American War. This repro
sports a plain walnut stock (as were the originals) but with great grain running
through the wrist, a Best Quality 36 inch swamped barrel in 54 caliber by Rayl,
a Best Quality Germanic flintlock by L&R, double leaf rear sight, brass
furniture cast from molds made from original parts by The Rifle Shoppe, it will
have sling swivels but no bayonet lug, (The originals came to America without
them). The wooden patch box slides and latches as did the originals. Thee is
sparse carving and engraving. This rifle is about as traditional as they
come except that most of the original line guns had a single trigger. This
one is obviously made special for a sergeant or officer as it comes with a DST,
the barrel is a little longer than usual and the caliber a custom 54 rather than
the standard 62. This rifle FEELS wonderful! It holds offhand like it is
built into my shoulder yet is straight enough to comfortably get behind while
sniping over the English trenches at those cussed Yankees and their long rifles
‘fore Yorktown. Still available, unfired (but not for long).
Patch box cover is matching walnut, latches to the rear and functions just fine.
Pull is 14″ from the front trigger.
The ramrod is traditional iron and features a swell on the muzzle end with a
bit of a cup for loading round ball. Iron ramrods are a touch heavy but they
sure don’t break.
All the screws and bolts are fire blued. The ramrod is bright,
as were the originals. The rear sight is two leaf for 100 yard and 200 yard
shooting.
The Hessian Jaegers were greatly respected by the American troops who faced
them. They usually functioned as scirmishers and scouts, with sniping duties
when entrenched. They proved to be deadly at Yorktown, an easy match for the
American longriflemen.
#571 English Percussion 12 Bore (73 caliber) Sporting Rifle for Big Game,
Classic English styling with English Walnut stock, Tapered Octagon to Round
barrel by Rayl, slow twist for high velocity round ball, single trigger, folding
double leaf rear sight, super-strong Manton style breeching with traditional
leaf spring percussion lock and barrel drip bar, can use a musket cap for sure
fire on dangerous game, 2″ wide buttplate to distribute recoil, two keys,
ebony fore-end, weight about 10 lbs. There is early style checkering at the
grip, front sight is soldered in place for stregnth. Barrel is browned,
furniture is blued. So far un-fired but I’m aching to take it to the range and
try it out. Amazingly, for a heavy rifle, it mounts to the shoulder and swings
like a high grade shotgun. Balance is excellent. For the adventurous hunter.
SOLD.
Please
notice the massive yet handsome amount of steel surrounding the nipple. It is
strong beyond belief. By far the best, handsomest and most ergonomic arrangement
ever designed for a percussion gun. Every feature here bespeaks quality. If you
shoot its 580 grain ball at 1800 fps, you will get 4200 ft lbs of energy at the
muzzle. The TKO with that load is 109 where the TKO of a .375 H&H magnum is
51 and an ’06 with 180 bullet is 21+. It is obviously meant for the bigger of
Big Game.
#543- 1842 Percussion musket, rifled 69 caliber barrel,
long range sights, original lock.
460- Doc-built Pauley style half stock sporting rifle in 504
caliber, utilizing a Doc-designed White M97 action and fast-twist barrel. Like all
Pauley’s, this one has a false sidelock with false hammer, action is
in-line with White nipple-breechplug, Barrel is true White 504 caliber with
1-24 twist and is
in perfect condition, and is accurized. I won a stand up match with it not
along ago, takes down with a single fore-arm key and an under-belly
screw, has a hooked breech so comes out of the stock easily, Also has a
long tang so tall Vernier rear sight fits on metal, not wood. Front
sight is Lyman hooded with inserts, Hickory ramrod with brass ends tapped
for accessories. Laminate stock, finished a deep reddish brown to mimic
the old time English style and color. Inch thick recoil pad. Many
English rifles of the period had leather covered recoil pads, this is as
close as I could get. The safety, which locks the hammer, is on the lock
plate. It’s sparsley engraved and finished with Black Ice Teflon so will
be great in wet weather. It’s the perfect rifle for the traditionalist
minded who also wants the best of modern technology.
Note the case hardened safety behind the
false hammer. It holds the hammer at a high half-cock, to take it off
you must cock the hammer first. The single trigger pulls off at about three lbs.
The fore-end tip is dark wood resembing the ebony
that the original maker might have used. Pull is 14 inches over an inch
thick recoil pad. The rifle is exceptionally accurate with light
loads and ball or heavy loads and 460-600 grain bullet.
#589- White M97 Whitetail Hunter in 451 caliber, stainless steel,
fiberoptic sights with 2-dot green rear and red front, #11 cap, B&C
fiber-composite stock with palm swell (the best stock DOC ever designed) with
their elegant grey on black Spider Web finish, Delrin ramrod, scope bases
included, accurized by Doc
604 White Super 91 # SB-758 in 410 caliber, Super nice NEW never
fired (except accuracy job) CUSTOM rifle with Black Ice Teflon finish
and B&C elegant fiber-composite factory camo’d stock, fully glass
bedded, adjustable trigger, primary and secondary safeties as usual,
sling swivels. Warne steel scope mounts installed. Delrin ramrod with brass
cleaning jag and bullet pulling screw. Accurized. Will kill any elk in
the country. Very accurate with 400 grain bullets.
#605- Super-91 #S-3766 stainless steel 451 caliber. Another super
nice NEW never fired (except accuracy job) fully CUSTOM rifle in
stainless steel with elegant B&C fiber-composite camo stock, fully
glass bedded fore and aft, adjustable trigger, primary and secondary
safeties as usual, sling swivels. Warne scope mounts installed. Williams
front and rear adjustable sights. Delrin ramrod with brass cleaning jag
and bullet pulling screw. Accurized. Good for any game in the CONUS.
Very accurate with 460 grain White bullets.
#606- Super-91 #S-3767 NEW Stainless Steel 451 caliber, consecutive
numbers with rifle above. Another never fired (except accuracy job)
super nice fully CUSTOM rifle in stainless steel with elegant B&C
fiber-composite camo stock, fully glass bedded fore and aft, adjustable
trigger, primary and secondary safeties as usual, sling swivels. Warne
scope mounts installed. Delrin ramrod with brass cleaning jag and bullet
pulling screw. Williams adjustable front and rear sights available, $25
extra. Accurized. Good for any game in the CONUS. Bullets available up
to 520 grains. Very accurate with 460 grain White bullets.
#607- Super-91 # S-3716 Stainless Steel 410 caliber. One more super
nice never fired (except accuracy job) CUSTOM rifle in stainless
steel with elegant fiber-composite B&C print-on camo stock, fully
glass bedded fore and aft, adjustable trigger, primary and secondary
safeties as usual, sling swivels. Warne scope mounts installed. Delrin
ramrod with brass cleaning jag and bullet pulling screw. Accurized. A
great Whitetail rifle. Very accurate with 40
588- Original single barreled percussion fowler by William Moore, a
Birmingham maker. Original 16 gauge, nicely checkered and engraved. Never
re-finished. All brown, blue and case hard is gone, has a fine antique patina
(that really means fine rust that has been stopped with oil and care), the
barrel is relined to 20 ga., and the wood and lock
are in very good shape for its age
#547 Classic GR-Series Sporting Rifle in .504 caliber.
The stock
grew on a grey laminate tree, is stained English Red and finished with
Brownell’s epoxy varnish. (Very tough and waterproof). The barrel
is by White, round and tapered, 1 1/10th at the breech, in .504 caliber with 1-24 twist for White Slip Fit and Saboted
bullets. The action is Classic English with heavy Manton style bolster for the nipple,
leaf spring actuated Henry side lock and external hammer. There is a single
trigger that pull’s off at about 4 lbs, a
rubber recoil pad meant to mimic the English leather covered pads of yesterday,
a single fore-stock cross-bolt held in place by German silver roundels and
under-rib with two ferrules for the ramrod.
#553 WHITE SUPER-91-II IN 451 CALIBER- New old stock barreled
action, blued, in 451 caliber, accurized by DOC, Williams adjustable
rear sight, gold bead front, adjustable trigger currently set at about
3 lbs, double safeties as usual. The delrin ramrod is held in place by
two Rhinite ferrules. Stock is a grey alminate, refurbished from prior
use on a ThunderBolt. The notch for the bolt has been filled in with a
matching peice of wood, it’s actually hard to see. The stock is
otherwise in excellent shape with no big dings or digs. There are a
few faint use marks here and there.
#552- WHITE THUNDER SHOTGUN- This shot gun is new but old
stock. It has never been fired. The action and barrel are the same as
the White Tominator with super full Hastings choke and straight rifled
barrel. Back in the 1990’s, White made a small run of what was
destined to be a cheaper shotgun, intending that the full production
run would be done with hardwood stock painted black (instead of grey
laminate) and non-rifled barrel. The full production run never
happened. This is one of that initial run, The stock is beech, painted
black. The barrel is marked WHITE THUNDER. It weighs about 5 lbs but
patterns as well as any Tominator, just carries easier.
#549- Scarce and desirable White Bison in 504 caliber. Bison’s
never come back for service. Blued 22 inch Bull barrel with White’s
shallow groove 1-24 twist rifling, adjustable trigger with right hand
safety, secondary safety on cocking handle. Williams adjustable leaf
rear sight mounted in dovetail, gold bead front also in dovetail.
Delrin ramrod with brass ends tapped for accessories, Delrin trigger
guard. Sling swivels. Black Myrtlewood stock, very sturdy and strong,
with inch thick recoil pad.
#548 White Super 91-II in 504 caliber. Blued 24 inch barrel with 1-24
twist, accurized with 209 conversion in place, adjustable trigger with
right sided safety, secondary safety on pull cock. Black checkered
B&C composite stock, aircraft aluminum ramrod, Delrin ferrules and
trigger guard, inch thick recoil pad. Drilled and tapped for scope and
peep. Williams adjustable rear sight with gold bead front on ramp. Sling
swivels. Can of course be converted to #11 cap. Never fired except to
accurize it.
#526- ENGLISH FULLSTOCK FLINT 69 CAL GENTLEMAN’S HUNTING RIFLE. One of
the problems with the usual American round ball gun is the very smallness of
the caliber. Here is a rifle to solve that problem. The GRRW barrel is 69
caliber with deep rifling and a 1-72 pitch for shooting a 480 grain . 690 round ball.
It is 1 1/8th inches in diameter, octagon and 30 inches long. It is secured to
the super-figured tiger-stripe English walnut stock with three steel keys, (the stock
blank by itself cost more than most modern rifles) The rest of the
furniture is steel as well, including a broad checkered buttplate. The wrist is
checkered in triple skip-line fashion with a carved brass thumb piece integral.
The fore-end
is ebony in the English fashion. The hot sparking Chambers flintlock is
English round faced with matching engraved sideplate. The touch-hole is
sunsetted properly, and is actuated by a DST with double levers. You can fire
it set or unset. The rear sight has two leaves and would normally be sighted at
100 and 200 yards. So far it is unfired. there is a single small ding on
the fore-stock where a small piece of the damned curly walnut popped out. I
don’t know how it happened but it’s there. Fixing it would require re-finishing
the whole gun so I left it as is. That’s what I get for using such
curly expensive stuff.
The Double Set Trigger works in any combination you might
want. Trigger without set is about 6 lbs., with set is a few oz. The English
style trigger guard is generous enough for use with gloves. All the furniture is
steel and all of it is browned, with stylish Rococco engraving here and there.
This
rifle is meant for some serious hunting. Not only is the wood absolutely gorgeous, the
gun itself is absolutely deadly, probably on both ends. But the butt is broad
and it weighs close to 10 lbs plus the stock conformation is just excellent,
which should reduce felt recoil a bunch. I have another somewhat like it and
have used as much as 250 grains FFg Black Powder and a .690 ball and patch for
moose, buffalo and big bear. You don’t even notice the recoil when ‘ol Ephraim
is popping his teeth at you.
#828- You are looking in on the conception of a French 20 gauge side by side double fowler by Borsos with fancy brass furniture. French fowlers were s
#532
Sharps model 74 by Shiloh in 45-110. Bore perfect, DST, Axtell
rear vernier sight worth $300 alone, Globe front, includes a dozen cartridges,
previous owner says he shot it fewer than 20 times. It has a few scratches
on the right side of the buttstock from standing in a closet
#547 Classic GR-Series Sporting Rifle in .504 caliber. August- The stock grew on a grey laminate tree, is stained English Red . The barrel is by White, round and tapered, 1 1/10th inches at the breech, in .504 caliber with 1-24 twist for White Slip Fit and Saboted bullets. The action is Classic English with heavy Manton style bolster for the nipple, leaf spring actuated Henry side lock and external hammer. There is a single trigger, a rubber recoil pad meant to mimic the English leather covered pads of yesterday, a single fore-stock cross-bolt held in place by German silver roundels and under-rib with two ferrules for the ramrod.
#550- White M97 Lite (M97L) #XX006. G-series M 97 action
with two action screws and big square recoil lug, lightweight 22
inch barrel in 504 caliber , with Marble steel adjustable fiber-optik
sights, green two dot rear and red single dot front, steel ramrod
ferrule, Aircraft aluminum ramrod with single brass end but both ends drilled and
tapped for accessories, adjustable trigger with right sided safety, gray laminate stock,
accurized and signed GBW by DOC, who designed it. Barrel is stamped White
M97 Lite 504, XXOO6, designating it the #6 design prototype.
( The M97L pictured is the #3 design prototype- the only difference is
the ramrod! ) For the White collector.
#540 Doc built- inline side by side double in 54 caliber. Fires a
slip-fit 750 grain bullet with 1860-200 grains Pyrodex P. With 200
grains, the whole hill moves when you shoot into it. Barrels are 22
inches long, stainless, the in-line actions are same as the Whitetail,
which Doc also designed, but one left, the other right sided cocking
handles. The handles flip up into locking notches for a safety, there is
also a Side Lock Safety that can be switched to either side, The gun
uses White nipple-breechplugs. There are two recoil lugs, the rear one
with a 1/4 X 28 stock screw, the front with a transverse key. Both are
welded on. The stock is solid walnut selected for strength with a broad
butt and an elastomeric buttpad. There are double triggers, the front
firing the right barrel and the rear the left. The sights are open iron,
and group right on the sights in a inch and a half group at 30 yards,
shot off elbows over the hood of my Suberban. It weighs 12 lbs but
handles easily. The metal is tefloned and the wood is finished
with Brownell’s epoxy Acra-Coat. already gone to Africa.
# 535- White Whitetail 410 cal in stainless steel, Wenig walnut stock with
Brownells AcraCoat semi-gloss finish, 22 inch barrel, 1-16 twist, Williams
rear sight (not shown) red bead front, adjustable trigger with right side
safety, Delrin ramrod, inch thick recoil pad, Zytel trigger guard. The
410 cal is the most accurate of the larger White calibers, yet the 400 grain
bullet will take down an elk with ease. Accurized and marked with Doc’s cipher.
#513 Super Safari, 24 inch barrel in 504 caliber, blued steel
with Black Ice Teflon finish, very waterproof, perfect for wet weather
hunting. Stainless Warne scope bases (Weaver dimensions) Fiber optic green
rear and red front sights. Adjustable trigger with right sided safety.
Secondary safety on pull-cock. Bedded and accurized by Doc and signed by him. 14
inch pull over inch thick recoil pad. Semi-gloss black stock finish, bright
stainless trigger guard and trim. An ergonomic, functionally elegant rifle
#290- Winchester 1897 16 gauge pump shotgun. 28 inch barrel, full
choke, 40% blue, no rust or pitting, 60% varnish without big gouges or
dings but signs of use, bore excellent, locks up tight.
#405- Mississippi Rifle
by Euroarms, #27xxx, 54 caliber for round ball. The
barrel brown is slick and smooth, the furniture is precisely fitted, the lock is
smooth as butter, the walnut is dark, excellent color and very solid, close
grained stuff. The overall appearance is excellent. Best yet, the bore is in
excellent condition and it shoots a patched round ball very well.
#470- WHITE ThunderBolt stainless with custom Christiansen
carbon-fiber barreled rifle in 451 caliber, Brown on light brown
Doc-designed thumbhole stock, steel Warne extended mounts, 24 inch barrel, super
accurate, shoots into less than 2 inches at 100 yards
#480- White M97 Lite (M97L) G-series Model 97 with two action screws and big square recoil lug, lightweight 22
inch barrel in 504 caliber, with steel adjustable fiber-optik
sights, green two dot rear and red single dot front, steel ramrod
ferrule, Delrin ramrod with single brass end but both ends drilled and
tapped for accessories, Bold adjustable trigger, gray laminate stock,
accurized and signed GBW by DOC, who designed it. Barrel is stamped White
M97 Lite 504, XXOO3,
#471- Super-91 stainless Short rifle for treestand or easy carry. 16
inch barrel in 504 caliber, black B&C composite stock, 14 inch pull, weighs less than 6 lbs,
accurized, glass bedded, open adjustable sights by Williams, Bold
adjustable trigger without trigger safety- use the pull-cock secondary
safety instead, stainless steel ramrod ferrule with eye for sling.
#471-
handy and short for long carry, heavy brush or tree-stand hunting. Just
as accurate as any other S-91, but a lot lighter and handier.
266- Doc-built proto double rifle, done with side by side Whitetail
actions and barrels in 504 caliber, adjusted to shoot 600 grain PowerPunch bullet 3
inches high at 100 yards using 150 grains PyroP. It’s a real slammer,
makes the hillside jump. Weight 10 lbs. Already hunted twice in Africa.
plug bayonet is made to fit the barrel but would handle well as a fighting
knife, too. The blade is 14 or so inches long, well made from a dirk. All
fittings are brass.
#499 – SMITH carbine by Fillipeita of Italy. Brand new high quality peice.
Has never been fired. Comes with a handful of brass cartridges. It’s beautifully
made, beautiful colors, great wood, fitting excellent. I am surprised at how
well it has been done.
#508 Doc-built Dimmick St Louis Plains style rifle but for .450 slip-fit
White/Whitworth style elongated bullet, Douglas octagon barrel one inch in diameter signed G B WHITE on top barrel flat. .451 caliber with 1-20 twist and shallow .035 grooves, uses White PowerPunch .450 slip fit bullets (other brands work well, too, as long as they are sized at .450 and weigh at least 400 grains. plain but strong walnut stock in classic configuration.
#476 White 504 caliber ThunderBolt in Monte Carlo style stock.
#481 White Lightning, serial # WL 583, 504 caliber with camo-over-hardwood
stock. 22 inch barrel in 504 caliber.
#459- White M97 Whitetail Hunter in 410 caliber, 26 inch barrel
#380 Doc Made Boys Shotgun- This is the sidelock shotgun the White boys
grew up on.
White ThunderBolt stainless steel rifle in 504 caliber in a SuperSafari
stock
This
rifle is a shooter!!
White Whitetail rifle, XX0051, stainless steel, 22 inch barrel in 504
caliber
Remington break-open single shot M350, modified by DOC into a
muzzleloader with a sleeved Douglas barrel in 451 caliber, 1-20 twist,
Doc built Manton style half-stock flintlock rifle, 32
inch 1/3 octagon-2/3 round Getz barrel in 54 caliber, Durrs Egg flintlock,
English style deep black varnish over laminate half-stock, inch thick pad, (meant to mimic an English leather
covered pad), Single set trigger, open sights, very accurate with excellent
balance for offhand
White M97 Whitetail Hunter by MTI, 22 inch barrel by Clerke in 504 caliber
White M97 Whitetail Hunter, used rifle in 504 caliber with camo ‘d stock by
Bell & Carlson
Doc built Model K 504 caliber, designed and named after Kalishnakov, in
reality an upside down Whitetail stainless barelled action with ramrod on top of
the barrel, maple stock, Side lever safety switchable either side, Doc patent
adjustable trigger, glass bedded, accurized, a unique muzzleloader if there ever
was one.
Javelina two hand pistol prototype, first variation. Rock solid maple stock
with fore-pylon, cut down Whitetail barreled action, barrel is 10 inches long,
451 caliber, shoots a 400 grain bullet with 80 grains PyroP at 1200 FPS,
better than a 44 Magnum. Red dot sight as well as open adjustable pistol sights.
Bold trigger, double safety system, # 11 cap fired. Glass bedded and accurized.
Weighs 3 lbs.
White, early model blued Super 91 in a handsome dark finished walnut stock
with half inch recoil pad, Douglas barrel, 451 caliber, side swing safety like a
model 70 Winchester, Dayton/Traistor trigger, Williiam’s sights, accurized and
not only initialed by Doc but built by him originally (He personally built the
first 300 S-91rifles, serial # from 200-500)
Proto sidelock percussion rifle done by DOC for White, 451 blued Douglas
barrel with rib, gray lam stock finished black, Manton style breech and sidelock
done in traditional style, 
Pistol gripped prototype percussion Sporting Rifle by DOC, 504 caliber blued
barrel by Douglas, Manton breeching
Doc built prototype Sporting Rifle, 451 caliber, teflon finish over
stainless, laminate stock finished black in English style,
White Super Safari Blue, 504 caliber, 24 inch barrel by Wilson, B&C
composite stock
White M98 Elite Hunter modified into Super Safari by DOC.
White M98 Elite Hunter 451 caliber, 25 inch barrel, Doc-designed ambidextrous
laminate thumbhole stock
ThunderBolt prototype, 504 caliber, with 25 inch barrel by Criterion,
G-Series Whitetail rifle in 504 caliber, new old stock Stainless steel, 22
inch barrel
G-Series stainless 504 caliber Whitetail rifle with fancy fake walnut B&C
fiber-composite stock.
M97 Thumbhole Oddesey with Christensen Carbon fiber wrapped barrel, weight
5.5 lbs, 504 caliber
# 1001A – White G-Series Whitetail rifle by DOC, 25 inch tapered new old stored barrel in 504 caliber, fast 1-24 twist, shallow .035 grooves by Criterion, best barrel White ever used. Solid maple stock designed and executed by Doc with inch thick recoil pad, Timney adjustable trigger, sling swivels (not shown)
There is a solid Weaver rail with Weaver forward mount rings and Delrin ramrod with built in cleaning jag. The stock is particularly ergonomic and functionally elegant.
The trigger safety is on the right, the bolt handle with built in secondary safety on the left, like a modern sub-machine gun. White’s doc-designed nipple-breechplug uses a #11 percussion cap. This rifle is very accurate with a Harvester ribbed sabot and Harvester 300 gr. .45 caliber bullet and alsothe old White 45 caliber 360 grain bullet, again in the Harvester ribbed sabot. I have plenty of the 45-360 bullets on hand.
#828- You are looking in on the conception of a French 20 gauge side by side double fowler by Borsos with fancy brass furniture. French fowlers were s
#1235 – New Custom G-Series Rifle by DOC, tapered .451 caliber 26 inch long barrel by Kelley with 1-20 twist, shallow grooves for DOC’s famous long, fast loading bullets. The action has been modified with a big recoil lug, Timney trigger and Weaver scope bases installed. Stock is strong, tough maple with an inch thick recoil pad, the new one by Remington and sling swivels. Ramrod is double brass ended Delrin with cleaning jag, all parts new old stored parts by White. The steel is finished with tough black Dura-Coat, the maple is an attractive lightly pebbled black metallic. Stainless steel trigger guard.
GBW made prototype sporting 12 gauge flint shotgun. Looks like a
Manton late era half stock. It started life as a prototype for the
White Co, who wanted nothing to do with it.
A
turkey killer in flintlock
WHITE Doc built ThunderBolt in 451 caliber with 26 inch long carbon
fiber wrapped barrel and Bell & Carlson fiber-composite stock. Weighs 5
1/2 lbs.
#349-
5 1/2 lbs of superb hunting rifle
Prototype Model 2004 rifle with inter-changable barrel, black on
walnut stock, adjustable White trigger, Williams sights, Superbly accurate
despite no glass bedding. The device that locks the barrel in place
(and releases it) and the front barrel band secure the rear and mid-
barrel well enough that apparently glassing is not needed. Safety is a
lever, up is safe, forward is fire, located convenient to the thumb, and can
be easily switched to either side. Cocking lever can also be switched to
either side. Double safety system, just like an M97. Remove the barrel by
loosening the fore-barrel band and sliding it forward and off, then turn the
rear barrel lock 1/4 turn with a screwdriver, then slide the barrel out of
the action. Stainless White 504 caliber barrel by Clerke, Blued steel
action. Accurized. GBW marked. One of a kind.
Proto
M2004
White 504 caliber Sporting Rifle, custom rifle by Doc, Laminate
stock finished dark in the English style (makes the wood quite handsome),
waterproof epoxy finish on the wood, straight grip with traditional English
trigger guard and rail, inch thick recoil pad, White stainless barrel with
1-24 twist for White ‘s heavy bullets, heavy and handsome Manton
Percussion Breech, flat spring lock with single trigger, Under-rib, hickory ramrod with brass fittings, Williams open sights, Metal has been Black Ice
tefloned. This is the perfect traditional rifle for you wet weather
Washington and Oregon elk hunters.
#401
White Sporting Rifle
White Whitetail 504 cal stainless mounted in varnished Myrtle stock
White M97 Whitetail Hunter, 504 caliber, #1519
White M97 Whitetail Hunter, 451 caliber, 24 inch barrel, stainless,
handsome B&C fiber-composite stock with ‘spider-webbed on black’ finish
Best
looking and handling stock I ever designed for the M97 or any other G-Series
rifle. Dimensions and balance are superb. B&C has done a great job on this
one.
White M97 Whitetail Hunter Boys Rifle #BOYS001, 504 cal, 18 inch
barrel, 12 1/2 inch pull, recoil pad
Whitetail Boys Rifle
Pauley rifle by Doc White. 504 caliber, 22 inch barrel, stainless action and
barrel, brass furniture, blued steel lockparts. Plain maple stock nicely
finished. Pauley invented the in-line
muzzleloading action in 1812. This is a copy of his rifle. Has the lines of a
Kentucky
the rifle
has a modified White Whitetail action and White 504 caliber barrel in stainless
steel, 1-24 twist meant for White’s elongated bullets and sabots. Has already
taken a 9 point Whitetail.
#382- White Super 91 12 gauge shotgun
White Whitetail 504 caliber #XXOO52. I
don’t use target techniques when I accurize these rifles. That way, you know
what the worst group might be, it leaves you to work for the best.
New Super 91 in original box, 504 caliber, looks like it came fresh from the
factory. Stainless rifle with black B&C fiber-composite stock, black White
adjustable sling, Williams sights, Bold trigger, recoil pad. As
original
#431- White Whitetail, 504 caliber, XXOO16
Found a rare one, a DOC-designed MTI M97 Whitetail Hunter in .504 caliber. Pristine bore, laminate stock with recoil pad in great shape, finest quality 22 inch, 7 groove Criterion barrel with DOC-designed truncated rifling, Bold adjustable trigger, aircraft aluminum ramrod with cleaning jag, accurized by DOC.
There is a set of blued steel extended scope mounts by Warne, an adjustable green fiber optik two-dot rear and red-dot front sight by Marble, all 3 original equipment. (see photos below)
The action is a G-Series, same as on the original White Whitetail and Bison rifles, with the cocking handle on the left, just like on modern sub-machine guns and for the same reason. It’s faster to cock with the weak left hand while holding the rifle with strong right hand, finger ready to trigger.
The M97 Whitetail Hunter is a rare find, only a few thousand made.
# 451 – White ThunderBolt, scarce 451 caliber,
nearly brand new, fired only a few times. Taken in on trade for a parcel
of guns.
#348- WHITE M98 Elite Hunter stainless custom Christiansen
carbon-fiber barreled rifle in 410 caliber, Brown on light brown
thumbhole stock
#373- German Hammer double 16 gauge, more modern fluid steel barrels
marked ECO, (not damascus), so can use modern ammo, European walnut
stock in good shape
#445- Doc built Super Safari shotgun,
#462- White Whitetail rifle, with classic White G-series action,
modified into a short barreled rifle with blued 16 inch .451 caliber
barrel, dark stained walnut stock
#472 White SuperSafari 504 caliber, blued metal, stainless accents
#398- M97 Whitetail Hunter, previously owned, # 1910, 504 caliber
Standard
M97 Whitetail Hunter
#457- White Bison, an early one with black finished Beech stock
# 460- White stainless ThunderBolt in 451 caliber
#461- WHITE Super-91-II in 410 caliber
#466- White Whitetail, Blue, 451 caliber, we traded into this well
used barreled action, has a few pits in the breech end of the barrel. I
lapped the barrel and accurized it and it shoots surprisingly well
despite the pitting.
#464- H&R action sleeved with a White barrel
#489 White Whitetail 451 caliber, # WS1986, The Williams sights have been
improved by installing a red fiber-optik bead front and a two green dot
fiber-optik rear. The
rifle has been accurized and will shot a group at 100 yards that will knock
your eye out with 65 grains 777 and a 460 grain PowerPunch bullet. The rifle
weighs 6 lbs.
#368-White 12 gauge blued Tominator with Doc’s folder pistol grip
stock, solid maple finished black, finish looks like old leather,
adjustable trigger, BG action with two silent safeties same as any other
Tominator, 90% patterns or better with White components, greatest turkey
gun in the world.
#495- WHITE THUNDERBOLT IN 504 CALIBER.
#491- White Super -91 .451 caliber, stainless steel # S 835, an early
rifle, re-furbished with new thumbscrew style hammer and hammer body detent, 451
caliber with 24 inch 12 groove barrel with 1-20 twist. Stock is California Claro walnut with 14 inch pull and inch thick recoil
pad
#485- White M97 504 caliber Ultra Mag, especially made just for
Sportsman’s Warehouse.
The
stock is particularly elegant and extremely functional. It not only holds well
for off hand or rest shooting but is also quick to the shoulder and reduces felt
recoil to an amazing degree. It has just a touch of palm swell for either right
or left handed shooter and the drop at he toe and broad butt are perfect .
B&C has done a suberb job with Doc’s basic design.
#479- White Thunder shotgun. This is the same shotgun as the
Tominator. 12 gauge, blued straight rifled barrel 25 inches long with
ventilated rib and Hastings Super Turkey choke
#493- Whitetail #WS 1722 , 504 caliber stainless steel rifle with 22
inch barrel
478- White M97, an early one modified for Browning
back when they were testing the White guns. This particular one
has a trigger modification: instead of the trigger being fastened on
with a single screw, it is strengthened by having two pins passing
transversley through the trigger body. It is a sturdy setup. It has a
milled round hole cut so Browning could see the sear action, which does
not show above the stock. Has hand stamped ‘Browning test’ on the left and White
504 1697 on the other.
Model 97 Whitetail Hunter, 504 caliber, stainless action and 22″ barrel with Bell & Carlson fiber-composite stock with spider-web finish. Handsome, eronomic and accurate.
#347-Doc built custom Super Safari, based on Super 91 action, 410
caliber, black ripple finished walnut fullstock replete with incised roccoco
carvings, brass trigger guard, brass side-plates, brass side opening
patch box, engraved on the patch box with a rattlesnake and the words
“DON’T TREAD ON ME”, signed ‘Gary White- Gunsmiith’ on
side-plate.
#109 Javelina Shotgun, prototype,
the only one ever made by Doc, a prototype that never went anywhere.
12 Gauge cut down Tominator barrel with straight rifling, Colonial
interchangable choke, Bolt trigger, uses the usual loading for the
Tominator. Hunted it with once, took a Tom at 30 yards.
#490- White Whitetail, # WS1629, 504 caliber with 1-24 twist,
stainless steel, welded recoil lug, 209 conversion already done, Bold
Adjustable trigger, Williams adjustable sights, Delrin ramrod with
single brass end but both ends drilled and tapped for accessories.
Figured Myrtle stock with 14 inch pull over inch thick recoil pad,
Lancaster stain and Brownell’s Acra-Coat waterproof epoxy finish.
#505 White Whitetail #XXOO69 “Sabot Shooter”. Stainless
steel whitetail in 504 caliber that shoots sabots so well that I marked it that
way. 80 grains of 777 under a 50/45-435 saboted ShootingStar bullet is
marvelously accurate and very hard hitting. A perfect rifle for Whitetail deer
hunting.
#506 White Whitetail 504 caliber , serial K0046, a
Whitetail kit that was traded back for a higher dollar item, which ended up
finished with Brownell’s Acra Coat epoxy finish. Stainless barreled action, the
usual Bold trigger and Williams sights, recoil pad and sling swivels.
#88 -White GR-series Sporting Rifle prototype, 504 caliber White barrel by Criterion, same barrel as on an M-98 Elite Hunter, traditional sidelock with flat spring, single tuned trigger, handsome hooked Manton style massive percussion breech with #11 nipple, 2 steel forward ramrod thimbles on steel under-rib, Williams rear adjustable sight with blade front which has a contrasting metal strip down its middle to pick up the eye quickly. Single forestock key in silver ovals, inch thick recoil pad, brown laminate stock stained even deeper brown with reddish tint in the English style with pistol grip, tough epoxy varnish finish. Mid-range rear Vernier sight mounted on long tang for those really long shots.
#822- The CHEAPO Sporting Rifle is finally born. I did this one to show you how to build an inexpensive but quality bullet rifle using the White Shooting System, ie- elongated slip fit bullets. Caliber .451 with fast 1-20 twist, shallow grooves for .450 caliber 460-500 grain bullets. With 80 g.r Pyrodex P and a White 460 grain Super Slug I scored consistent hits at 365 yards even with my old eyes.
it’s pretty plain with one inch diameter round bull barrel 32 inches long, black painted finish, rubber recoil pad but all parts quality, including the percussion lock and Williams adjustable sights. But it’s half the price of a fancy one.
#511- Gemmer-Springfeild 45/70, original 1884 trapdoor action,
Wind River tapered barrel in 45/70 caliber, AAA maple stock, all iron mounts,
flat spring lock with fly on the tumbler, long tang for tall sights, slotted
adjustable rear sight, silver blade on brass base front sight, long bar DST
double bolted to long tang, double forearm keys and silver ovals, silver
fore-end tip, steel thimbles on under-rib with ramrod, traditional in every way.
#825- Doc-built early experimental M-90 in .330 caliber for a 275 grain slip fit bullet over 40-60 grains PyrodexP. One of the first ten M-90’s made. Douglas barrel, stainless early action with spring-loaded bolt detent and M-70 like thumb safety.
#820- White prototype M-90 in .451 caliber, # ooo4, hand stamped and signed by DOC
This is a rifle I never thought I would see again. The first model of the S-Series White rifles was the M-90. There were 10 prototypes, each one a little different and 60 production rifles, all of them built by me. They sold in a flash in late 1990. The next model was the famous S-91 of which there are thousands. This is the fourth M-90 prototype, marked x0004. It has a blued .451 Douglas barrel with a 1-20 twist, shallow grooves, 24″ long, with a stainless action, pull cock, early swing safety and early spring-loaded hammer-body detent.
#515- S. HAWKEN FULLSTOCK PERCUSSION RIFLE with GRRW 50 cal
one inch diameter 7 groove barrel 40 inches long in AAA maple fullstock,
percussion Hawken hooked breech with traditional flat spring lock, long bar DST
and flat to the wrist trigger guard.
#824-Doc designed Experimental M-90, #x0006 (sixth out the first ten experimental M90 White R1fles). Walnut stock with pleasant figure, Douglas barrel in .368 caliber for 300 grain slip-fit bullets, 1-16 fast twist, shallow groove, of course. Stainless early action with spring loaded bolt detent, M70-like safety, Dayton-Traister trigger,
1235 – New Custom G-Series Rifle by DOC, tapered .451 caliber 26 inch long barrel by Kelley with 1-20 twist, shallow grooves for DOC’s famous long, fast loading bullets. The action has been modified with a big recoil lug, Timney trigger and Weaver scope bases installed. Stock is strong, tough maple with an inch thick recoil pad, the new one by Remington and sling swivels. Ramrod is double brass ended Delrin with cleaning jag, all parts new old stored parts by White. The steel is finished with tough black Dura-Coat, the maple is an attractive lightly pebbled black metallic. Stainless steel trigger guard.
DOC’s experimental M95 Mauser-bolt action muzzleloader.
