April 2022 Gunmaker’s Hall Report
By Benjaman Quearry
Greetings From Indiana; it’s spring at the Hall and that means it is time to kick off the 2022 NMLRA Gunmaker’s Hall Giveaway. We have two fine flintlock arms this year by Larry Horrigan and Malchiah Pifer, along with some fantastic horn work by Orville Mumma and a really nice shooting bag by Jeff Luke. More prizes will follow.
Every year Gunmaker’s Hall sells tickets for a drawing to raise money for Gunmaker’s Hall and the NMLRA. The drawing includes the Incentive Gun, this is a handmade flintlock long arm typically crafted by a new up and coming gunmaker, this year, Malchiah Pifer. Building this gun gives an opportunity for a new gun maker, of any age, to display their work. The Main Prize for the drawing is a flintlock long arm created by an established master gunmaker. We are fortunate to have Larry Horrigan built this year’s giveaway gun. For many of us, winning one of these guns may be the only chance we ever get to own a gun made by one of today’s premier gun makers. Other prizes include hand crafted shooting bags, horn work, shooting boxes, homemade quilts, Americana, and much more, all hand made by premier long rifle culture artisans and NMLRA members. We are selling tickets to win all these prizes. In September we will have a drawing and some lucky winners will take home these great prizes.
We’ve really got a treat this year. Larry Horrigan made us a gun for the Giveaway. You really need to see this one. He is a premier expert on the French and their arms, from the time they landed on the North American continent through the early 19th century. Larry has access to a number of French guns and artifacts that have been found in his home area of Michigan and the Great Lakes. Many dating from the 1600’s! Larry has been presenting at Gunmaker’s Hall for a number of years. A hard worker that can knock out a fowler in a weekend of strenuous labor, he is also a dedicated researcher and collector of relevant literature. You will be hard pressed to find someone more knowledgeable on the subject of French guns, weather academically or from firsthand experience.
For a pattern on this project, Larry has used an original stock from the 1730’s. This is an important time period for these arms as it is a transitional piece, from one design style to the next. The original gun was made in Saint Etienne France. Once known as “Arms City” the city of Saint Etienne was an entire town dedicated to manufacture swords, knives, and guns. Saint Etienne was in arms manufacturing, producing swords and knives long before black powder arms became popular. Everyone’s occupation was tied to the making of these arms. There were shops of barrel welders, shops of barrel filers, lock forger’s shops, lock filers, trigger makers, ramrod makers, gun stockers and finishers, knife makers and so on. Oh, what a time to be alive in France!
From that original 1730 stock that Larry acquired from Jerry Crawford (thanks Jerry!); he had most of the wood, but nothing else. All the metal was gone. Even lacking the hardware, this stock is still quite useful and a piece worthy of study. Seeing what the wood looks like under the hardware, is a view few get to see on original guns. Along with that, each mortise is a perfect image of the original metal part that was in there. Larry recreated each of the metal pieces on the giveaway gun using the original 1730 stock as a pattern. Using the original stock mortises, as a pattern to make the parts, that is about as near as you can get to the original! The winner of this gun is going to have a functioning, perfect rendition of 1730 era flintlock.
Did I mention that Larry is a stickler for historical accuracy? The stock is English walnut, a wood that was readily available to the French gunmaker. English walnut is a pretty wood, lighter than the more common American black walnut. Larry did the carving and detail work to match the original stock.
This gun has a barrel made by Larry too. How often do you get a chance to own a gun that the gunmaker also made the barrel? Not often, not often at all. A few years ago, Larry was not able to find historically accurate, octagon to round barrels, barrels that didn’t have a wedding band. Larry got the sage advice of his mentor, Dennis Priddy, on barrel making. He then procured a lathe and started the journey to making his own barrels. Larry now makes and sells his own line of custom smooth bore barrels, using originals as patterns. You’ll see his barrels for sale at the Gunmaker’s Hall booth in June. The giveaway gun Larry made has a 48-inch, octagon to round, and .62 caliber smooth bore barrel. This long barrel gives the gun a slim, graceful appearance.
I’m fairly sure that at the time of the original 1730 gun’s manufacture, there were more smooth bores on this continent than rifles. Even in my time period, if you grew up around where I’m from, you had a shotgun to hunt with. Some of us “on the Ridge” where I lived had twenty-two rifles, or old percussion guns, but most everybody hunted everything, with a smooth bore shotgun. You used the same smooth bore gun for everything. What did you hunt deer with? Smooth bore with a slug. Squirrels? Smoothbore. Rabbits. Yeah, you get the idea. If I had to choose one gun, to carry along to provide meat and game, it would be a smooth bore. It would be one of Larry’s smooth bores.
Larry is a skilled craftsman from another century, from a time period when quality handmade work was the only way. The effort of his work on this project represents the output of each of the various trades in an entire 18th century French town. Larry’s gun is an interesting piece, because this is what they actually had in the early 18th century. In every way this is as close as you can get to owning an original gun. Buy some tickets
Malchiah Pifer has made an incentive gun that would be the prize of any collection. Can you imagine getting a rifle built by Herschel House when he was 18? You’ve got that chance now, the chance to own a rifle made by one of today’s best up and coming gunmakers. This flintlock has a Rice barrel and a Jim Chambers lock. It is brass mounted with a sliding wood patch box. Look to next month’s Muzzle Blasts for more on this gun and the fine items made by Orville Mumma and Jeff Luke.
You can win these two guns or any of the other valuable items in the Gunmaker’s Hall Drawing by simply purchasing some tickets for the drawing. The schedule of ticket prices for the drawing will remain the same as last year: one ticket for $5, 3 tickets for $10, eight tickets for $20, and 25 tickets for $50. Those who subscribe to the $50 option will have their tickets held separate and entered first into the drawing for Malchiah’s incentive rifle. After this drawing, all tickets will be brought together for the main drawing featuring Larry Horrigan’s flintlock and the other prizes. You can purchase tickets at Gunmaker’s Hall during the national shoots, in the magazine, and on the NMLRA website nmlra.org. You may copy tickets printed from the magazine and the web, but please make sure the size stays the same. When you cut out the tickets, please trim them to size. When you put your contact information on the ticket, please put your NMLRA member number on there too. Tickets will be printed the month this article appears and each month until the September issue. Send your tickets and money to the NMLRA, PO Box 67, Friendship, IN 47021. You could win one of two custom flintlocks or any of the other handmade items provided to our drawing. We would appreciate your support! This drawing is not valid where prohibited by law.
If you, your company, or someone you know would like to contribute an appropriate prize item for our drawing, or simply make a donation to Gunmaker’s Hall, please contact me at gunmakershall@gmail.com Donations are greatly appreciated by the Gunmaker’s Hall Committee, the NMLRA and me.
I’ll see you at the Hall.
Benjaman Quearry