18th Century English- Style Pistols | Muzzle Blasts Archives March 2020
By Randy Grunkemeyer.
This is an article that appeared first in the March 2020 Issue of Muzzle Blasts Magazine.
Randy Grunkemeyer has been around guns his entire life. His dad was born in 1929 and raised on a farm in the small town of St. Mary’s, Indiana where he learned to shoot from a young age. He continued his interest in shooting and guns and took his sons to the range in his hometown of Batesville, Indiana, where Randy also developed the love of shooting sports. As he spent more time at the range, he became interested in the sport of muzzleloading. He noticed the comradery and friendship of this group of people who took the time to enjoy the history of these firearms, some dating back centuries. As his interest in these firearms grew, so did his desire to build one.
With the background of a tool and die maker, it was easy to look at these pieces and see the mechanical brilliance of their time. In 1999, Randy took up the challenge of building his first rifle. He chose to build a 50-caliber long rifle to take to the range and to the woods for deer hunting. As he worked on his rifle, Randy was fortunate to have the friendship of gunmaker Jack Haugh and his sons. When he would have a question or just feel the need for encouragement along the way, he would stop in at Jack’s shop in Milan, Indiana. Jack would always be brutally honest with his opinions and advice, encouraging Randy to make the best quality piece with as much historical accuracy as possible adding his own style.
Finishing his first piece only made Randy anxious to get started on the next one. After making guns for himself and his two sons, people started to see the beautiful craftsmanship that he was able to accomplish and wanted a build for their own collections. The requests became more and more varied from long rifles to Schuetzen rifles.
Joseph Heylin was listed as a Master Gunmaker in 1777. He is recorded as a gunmaker and stone-bow maker at Cornhill between 1757-1779. He is known for some of the most beautiful and elaborate guns of his time period, building for British members of Parliament’s House of Commons. His beautiful over and under pistols have mounts made entirely of silver, the butt caps being decorated with roses. They bear the date 1760 on the silver marks. These Pistols were of the finest quality. Many of Heylin’s Pieces had furniture, barrels, and lockplates of solid silver. In the middle of the 18th century, these pistols were sometimes known to be used in a gentleman’s traveling coach. Randy had built a beautiful over and under rifle and felt confident that he could master the over and under pistols.
The start of this project for Randy took a considerable amount of research, drawing, and layout before any actual work was performed. The decision was made to start with a set of 60-caliber smoothbore, octagon to round tapered barrels. These octagon to round barrels have engraved and chisel cut wed-ding band borders at the breech and a double wedding band at the transitional area from Octagon to Round. The side panels are finely decorated in a rococo style flowing design, including martial trophies. His signature adorns the upper barrel flats, outlined in a ribbon engraved pattern, as were the inspirational pieces of Joseph Heylin. The ornately engraved tang flows into a beautiful shell carved pattern atop the wrist. Randy stocked these pieces from a figured English walnut blank then finished them with numerous coats of hand-rubbed linseed oil. He further enhanced his pieces with a sterling silver thumbpiece of chiseled shell and flower design. Sterling silver pommel caps, pommel with stirrups up the wrist of the stock, and a sterling silver trig-ger guard also enhance the beauty of the pieces. The sterling silver pommel and cap are chased and engraved in a primrose design and accented checker pattern. Randy chose his primrose design from a native European flower of the English region. The beauty of the pommel stirrups running up the wrist is enhanced and engraved in a beaded design. Each trigger guard is engraved with flowing flowers within knick and dot border. Hickory horn-tipped ramrods are accented with barrel-type ramrod thimbles as an additional embellishment. The lock design of external main and frizzen springs keep the lock panels narrow and aesthetically pleasing.
Dedication to such a project was intense, setting it aside at times for contemplation and continued design work. These pistols added new challenges to the skills Randy had worked hard to develop. Certain features and limited space to work with on these pistols added complexity. Research continually had to be done, jigs had to be made, and other shop projects had to be completed along the way. Since there was no prototype other than photos and articles to work with from these original pieces, Randy spent a great deal of time with drawing and design work. His finished over and under pistols are encased in a beautiful mahogany case in the style of the age. Seeing the finished project on these “work of art” pistols was so rewarding, and a reminder of the great work and talent of the 18th century gun-makers!
If you are interested in your own set of over and under pistols or another custom piece, contact Randy at 812-934-6412 or grunkrsj@frontier.com. Visit his website at www.rggunsmithing.com.
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The NMLRA and Muzzle Blasts have been an authority on muzzleloading since 1933. This article was not sponsored or paid for, we feel it is our job to bring you the most up to date news as possible on the world of Muzzleloading, be it living history, competitive shooting, or hunting