A revisit

[Robin]

I noticed that the photo's of A long gun I posted some time ago fell victim to those grubbers over at photo bucket, can't remember which gun it was so I show the one I made for myself. .50, Lehigh Valley style architecture, my favorite.
Robin

 

[Podmonkey]

Fantastic peice of firearms sculpture. What of the total length of that long legged lady?

 

[togmaster]

That's some fine work. Beautiful rifle.

 

[Robin]

Pod, its about 5'4" overall length. About a 13-1/2" pull. The barrel is swamped, so it has a nice weight forward feel and drops down nice for a steady off hand hold. Very consistently accurate rifle and a joy to shoot!
Robin

 

[Acer-m14]

your pushing the edge here on gun porn @Robin .. hate to see you get banned

what flint are you using in that beast .. i hope some local found stuff .. that would be the cherry on the cupcake

 

[Robin]

Acer, the local stuff isn't very good, not a true flint I'm told. The flint in the gun is an English flint, best flint there is. I have made them from old arrow heads.
Robin

 

[Twogunwilly]

Stunning, an absolute piece of art.

 

[Robin]

I meant to put this in the long gun picture gallery. Could one of the Mod's move it?
Robin

 

[gun_slinger_boy]

I would love to show up at a fighting rifle class with that thing.

 

[thegatman]

Very nice Robin. An excellent piece of workmanship.

 

[Duke]

I'd like to see more....Your are a craftsman

 

[Robin]

Thank you all for the nice compliments, very humbling. Duke, I got a ton of them I have made over the years but i'm a bit self-scions about looking like some kind of show off. It is a labor of love for me, and I deeply appreciate it when someone likes what I do. I don't go to shows and things like that and about the only people that see them are family, friends, and the few people that stop by now and again.
Robin

 

[Podmonkey]

Thank you all for the nice compliments, very humbling. Duke, I got a ton of them I have made over the years but i'm a bit self-scions about looking like some kind of show off. It is a labor of love for me, and I deeply appreciate it when someone likes what I do. I don't go to shows and things like that and about the only people that see them are family, friends, and the few people that stop by now and again.
Robin

Not at all. Your work is beautiful and worthy of recognition and praise. In particular I enjoy the heritage behind a rifle like this. The "Kentucky Rifle" and the frontiersman that wielded them are central to this country's early history. It is the tool of legends.
You actually shoot this thing? What's it like?

 

[Podmonkey]

Since you referenced "Lehigh Valley" perhaps I should call it by the other colloquial term "Pennsylvania Rifle"?
Speaking of which what does the Lehigh Valley architecture refer too? Which particulat features of this rifle a characteristic?

 

[Robin]

The Lehigh's to me are the greyhounds of the long rifle, sleek and graceful. The most prominent feature is hard to see in my picture, but the comb is what is called a roman nose in its graceful arch, a matching arch from the toe to the front of the trigger guard rear mount, then another arch that flows into the trigger and the underbelly terminating at the rear ramrod entry pipe. The three arches must come together and , what I call, make sense, or the gun looks clunky or chaotic. The silver figure is mostly unique to Lehigh as well and there is no documentation describing exactly what it is, some say an Indian, some say a whore, me, I believe it is the sons of liberty, complete with liberty cap. While I do not copy directly, this gun with its distinctive carving, patch box and wire inlay would be obvious to people that know these guns as a Herman Rupp, 1790's, not one known to exist, but surely from his shop in the Lehigh Valley. It is thought the American rifle was an evolution of the German gunsmiths combined with exiled French Huguenot gunsmiths that settled in the area.
When I'm at the range, if someone shows interest I always offer to let them shoot it, You should see the smile on a kids face after touching one of these off, heck I Loaded it up for an eighty-five year old man who had never seen one up close before, his grin was every bit as big as the kids.
Pod, you ever get up this way give me a heads up and you can shoot all you want.
Robin

 

[Podmonkey]

The Lehigh's to me are the greyhounds of the long rifle, sleek and graceful. The most prominent feature is hard to see in my picture, but the comb is what is called a roman nose in its graceful arch, a matching arch from the toe to the front of the trigger guard rear mount, then another arch that flows into the trigger and the underbelly terminating at the rear ramrod entry pipe. The three arches must come together and , what I call, make sense, or the gun looks clunky or chaotic. The silver figure is mostly unique to Lehigh as well and there is no documentation describing exactly what it is, some say an Indian, some say a whore, me, I believe it is the sons of liberty, complete with liberty cap. While I do not copy directly, this gun with its distinctive carving, patch box and wire inlay would be obvious to people that know these guns as a Herman Rupp, 1790's, not one known to exist, but surely from his shop in the Lehigh Valley. It is thought the American rifle was an evolution of the German gunsmiths combined with exiled French Huguenot gunsmiths that settled in the area.
When I'm at the range, if someone shows interest I always offer to let them shoot it, You should see the smile on a kids face after touching one of these off, heck I Loaded it up for an eighty-five year old man who had never seen one up close before, his grin was every bit as big as the kids.
Pod, you ever get up this way give me a heads up and you can shoot all you want.
Robin

Thank you for all that info. I am a student of history and I am fascinated by all its trappings.
This rifle is a unique part of American culture so I am very interested. While it's not likely I will ever be in a position to see this beautiful rifle in person, should I ever find myself in the area I would love to have a closer look.