A good friend of mine is an amazingly talented builder of flintlocks, having apprenticed under Steven Dodd Hughes, but he has never done very much work for sale. He primarily makes guns for himself and family.

One reason is that he has a small amount of time to devote to what is primarily a hobby, being focused on his family and job. He also beat a bout of cancer that set him back quite a bit.

Years ago he agreed to build me a .58 caliber Jaeger, with the agreement that I wouldn't bug him about delivery. I have to say, I've kept my end of the bargain, as it has been in the process since before we moved from California to Washington! That move was in March of 2009, btw.

He recently called to say ta-daa, it's froo, tum and det it! Needless to say that came as a bit of a surprise, but it should be a winner. We based it on a super short original depicted in one of Shumway's books. I special ordered the barrel from Getz, the lock was built from a blank plate Siler, so it is a bit larger than usual and has a Germanic look that is earlier in style than your typical Siler.

It is iron mounted, and stocked in a good piece of Oregon harvested English walnut. A bit of simple carving, along with a sliding wood patch box. Not fancy walnut, but quite dark and dense. The idea was to build a stylish work horse, and from what I've seen of it over the years, it should be just that.

The second rifle is about as far removed as is possible from a flintlock Jaeger. I've pre-ordered a new Tikka T1x .22 to use in our recently proposed Gentlemen's Rimfire Benchrest League. Yes, we are aware G.R.B.L. is probably an unfortunate acronym, and a search is on for a more suitable moniker than the Gerbils.

Our proposed game is a 50 yard benchrest shoot for tightest group, shot with your choice of .22 rifle. No classes or restrictions yet, until we see how things shake out.

The idea is that you pick up your offically issued target (12 bulls, 2 for sighters, and 10 for possible record) at the beginning of each month, and toss 5 bucks in the kitty. At some point during the month you fire for your best group, either 3 or 5 shots, we have yet to decide. Your witness should be another Gerbil (sigh) who is also shooting his or her record groups.

At the end of the month, we meet at a local pizza parlor, digital calipers in hand, and owner of the best group wins the kitty. The idea is to promote competition and camaraderie, as well as get our aging butts out of doors on a regular basis.

To that end I've been practicing with my CZ 452 and a Tasco 2.5-10x AO, but the equipment race is already on. I've sold four of the new Ruger Precision Rimfires through the shop recently, and two are already being seasoned with high magnification Vortex variable scopes and Harris bipods. Not to mention a certain bullet caster from Kennewick who has promised to use a Winchester 52C with Unertl scope! (Glen! )

That being the case, it behooved me to upgrade the arrows in my quiver, so the new Tikka will be my hopeful entry. A new scope will accompany it, more than likely a Clearidge Ultra XP 6-20x40. Iffen you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Otony

Color me green!

I've paid for the Jaeger in dribs and drabs over the years, but still have a chunk to finish it off. And that has nothing to do with his delivery time, he really is that sloooow.

And on the Tikka, it is on layaway. It won't be available until late April or early May, so I am paying it off a little at a time.

Still financial impact, but not of the immediate kind!

The entire world your oyster for a t-shirt design in leaving the name exactly as it sits. The best part of your above narrative was the name, every time it came up. Don't ditch a good thing.

You did not mention rifling style, twist, whether for conical or ball, and although patch box and lock suggests ball, no guarantees on that. Width across flats at chamber and muzzle, if left full octogon, recommended powder charges and expected velocities data from maker, front sight, etc etc etc?...

Of the Jaeger when you get an opportunity please?

Round ball twist, but it has been so long I don't recall exactly what it is off the top of my head. Round bottom rifling. The barrel is swamped and flared, but again I don't recall tne dimensions.

This is a fairly accurate recreation of an original Jaeger in one of Shumway's books, so I wouldn't think to build it as anything other than round ball. Not my first flintlock, nor my first Jaeger, so I will do all the load development once it arrives.

All of the components were hand selected by me. In the case of the lock and trigger, both were ordered from Walter Cain, who I imagine is no longer building such things. If he is still alive, he would be quite elderly. He made up the lock with a large blank plate so my friend could shape it into a more traditional Jaeger profile. We did this as I'm left handed, and at the time of conception, no appropriate LH Germanic flint locks were available, plus I prefer the way Cain builds a lock. He uses, or used more likely, well fitted and tuned, hardened parts, as well as screws and pins of his own creation. Superior workmanship of the highest order.

The furniture is the usual reproduction stuff available on the market, but both the guard and buttplate had their finials cut off, and a very clever acquaintance who is an accomplished welder attached blank tabs in their place. These were cut and sculpted to resemble the original rifle we were emulating. The sideplate was cut from flat stock in order to accomplish the same effect.

The pipes are a commercial set, but were subtly reshaped so as to not resemble everybody elses rifle. The rear sight is also a commercial offering, again reshaped a bit so as to stand out from the crowd. The front sight is a German silver blade left blank. I will cut it as needed when load development is completed.

The carving follows the original for the most part, simple incised stuff, with the addition of flutes and an inscribed line along the ramrod channel to give a lighter, more graceful appearance. If I recall correctly, we went with traditional approach, and used horn for the forend tip, but I have the niggling recollection that the end of the stock may well have been simply a flared swelling of the walnut itself. The idea was to create a simple hunting rifle that followed an original pattern, not build a show rifle, so we may have opted in that fashion.

Most commercial swamped and flared Jaeger barrels on the market are 31" in length, although I am aware of a 28" pattern that is offered by a few makers. Many original Jaegers were similar in length, although in this case, the rifle we used as inspiration had an amazingly short barrel of 21". I chose to stretch that out a bit to 24", and requested some dimensions with the educated input of Don Getz using the original measurements as a guideline.

I'm not a builder, but at one time my life hobby very greatly centered around commisioning such toys, and I took great effort to plan and design what I wanted. The majority of my muzzleloaders were built by either Steve Hughes or Ron Scott, and if you are familiar with either of these fellow's work, then you know the quality of the firearms we are discussing. In every instance I did NOT simply leave the details up to them. I studied a wide variety of books, original firearms, and bespoke quality new builds in order to obtain what I desired. No pre-carved stocks here, thank you very much. I credit Kit Ravenshear and Jess Melot with a great deal of my education in such matters, and can well recall with horror the phone bills that resulted from my many, many hours of long distance conversations with them. I dearly miss Kit, there will never be another such as him. They and a few others were my heroes for many years.

My dear friend Brent who has built this latest rifle apprenticed under Steve, but prior to that he made jewelry and oddly enough, dentures and crowns, a trade that is going by the wayside nowadays with the introduction of rapid crown creation technology available to any dentist. He, Steve, and Ron also do exquisite possibles bags and powder horns. When you get a gun of this level, then nothing else will do but to obtain accoutrements of similar quality. It isn't being snobbish or elitist, it is a matter of recognizing that a Thompson-Center Hawken is not an accurate recreation of anything, not even close.

This is not to say that TC won't shoot well, or be a perfectly wonderful hunting rifle. Rather it is to say that if you are going to do "authentic ", go big or don't go at all. If you are happy with a Bivins kit, great, or one of Chambers fine offerings, wonderful. But once you've been to a rendezvous or show and seen half the crowd toting Stepford rifles, it isnt hard to realize that just a bit more time and effort (and yes, money) results in a unique piece that is far more reflective of original artists. Because this is art, never fear.

I think I have one or two similar projects left in me before that candle gutters. There are the bones of an early 18th century British fowler scattered hereabouts, one with French influence as would have been appropriate to the era. And I have one of Kit's takedown fowler patterns left, with the furniture he used to obtain from jolly old England. Back in the day he used to use the L&R Durs Egg lock to build these, so as to not drive the price through the roof building a lock from castings taken from originals. I had Jim Chambers use the Rifle Shoppe patterns (Jess inherited all of Ravenshear's stuff after his death) to cut a stock from Kit's pattern (shh, yes, it is pre-carved) but we left out the lock inlet so it can be built as a lefty with a LH Durs Egg. It is a final nod to a good friend, so I will not turn up my nose at such a smoothbore. Besides, I doubt Kit turned out even a tenth of the numbers of Bivins pattern Lancasters that have been butchered over the years.

It will be my pleasure.....

Otony

...I agree, "gerbils" is an age-appropriate moniker for old roosters.

and so you would also know Zihn's work. With his work, I let him run with a fantasy piece Christian Springs, heavily carved wood, pierced and carved scroll silver, etc. But, in the end, a longer barrelled more ornate version of your new Jaeger. A very good base gun design, and far more modern comfy than most people think of when flintlock mentioned. Mine is .62cal, and no problem getting 1800+ with the slower round groove barrel. And very accurate. Very.
Am looking forward to the photos, you should be one proud papa. Most folk, myself included, lucky to own one such gun, while you have a growing herd.

Is it the Edward Marshall rifle from Shumway's big book by chance?