Custom flintlock rifle makers

Where can one find a list of custom flintlock rifle makers?
Or better yet ,your recommendations and personal experiences. Yes I am looking for that rifle that I don't deserve and shoots better than me.

I went through the same process a while back.
First thing to decide is what kind of rifle you want. Some builders specialize in particular schools.
I wanted a Left-hand flintlock, small caliber Southern Mountain Rifle...and with some help...found Mike Davis, who built a great rifle for me, at very reasonable cost, with a very short wait.
The $3-4,000.00 price quotes, and 1-2 yr wait time I was hearing from some builders simply weren't acceptable for me.
So...FIRST question: what kind of rifle do you want...???

I can recommend Mike Brooks if New Liberty, Iowa. I have a 45 caliber flintlock that Mike put together. There is a couple of pics of it in the Photo section of this site I believe. I also have posted pics here of a Cabin Creek 54 caliber flinter that is nice as well. I recommend either if those. You can also checkout The Contemporary Longrifle Association for their list. Good luck with your search!! Greg.

One more to checkout would be Tip Curtis at his Frontier Shop. Nice rifles. Greg.

Tom. Knight posts on several forums as Gunmaker. He did a great job for me on a flint pistol. He's located in Las Vegas NV.

First off determine what you want and how much you're willing to spend. LRs w/ carving and engraving aren't cheap because it takes a very skilled, artistic hand to do it right.

Lead times vary and those builders w/ long lead times are more in demand for good reasons....they've got excellent reputations for building quality LRs.

The Contemporary Longrifle Assc. {CLA} has a listing of artisans some of whom build LRs.

It'll take some research on your part to determine who will build your LR. The CLA also has new and used LRs for sale as does ALR.

Up and coming builers price their LRs below that of the well known builders, but choosing one of these less experienced builders could result in either a manure shoot or an excellent lower priced buy.

As was said....certain builders specialize in certain styles or "schools" of LRs which denote a geographical part of a state or a state.

As you can see....what you buy will be determined by your research....and not to discourage you, but it will take some time and effort on your part....good luck....Fred

Your age is close to mine. (I faked my age in the profile for security reasons.) My advice is to decide on a budget and style then shop around and buy one. There are plenty of builders if you want to wait for them, but at my age I'm not going to wait 2-4yrs. for a rifle. TOTW has a non-shooting inspection period for their guns. Postage is all it will cost you to handle the rifle. They have all levels of quality. Clay Smith sells rifles. The ALR site has them. The CLA site has them. Or Google "custom flintlock rifles for sale". Parts for any gun are around $700. Then you add labor. I just bought a "used" rifle(estate sale wallhanger, like new) from 1975 that had only been test fired by the builder for $2300. Today's new made price would be near $3500 for that rifle. It can pay to shop around.

Look under Gunmakers in the Contemporary Longrifle Association.
It is best to determine what kind of firearm you want (Lehigh, high art Euro, etc. ) as there are builders known by their peers as exceptional in certain types.
The best recommendations will come from other well known builders recommending their peers IMO.
For best all around art and ability to be exceptional in multiple types, Jim Kibler is at the top of the heap IMO.

One man's "great" is another man's "fair" when it comes to quality. To judge for yourself, you need to go to shows like the CLA and Dixon's where you can meet the makers and see their work in person and discuss what you are looking to buy.

The thing to remember is that any builder with a thriving business is still in business because he builds a quality product; otherwise he wouldn't be in business. There are those who build as sort of a hobby and maybe build 4-5 guns a year, mostly for people they know. Quality can be mediocre to excellent so a long talk, with pics, is needed.

Here's a link to the artisans page of the Contemporary Longrifle Association. Lots of makers there, many with profiles, photos of their work and also preferred eras/styles of rifles.
http://longrifle.com/artisans/artisanlist.asp

This link has a lot of information on exactly what you are asking about. I started the thread a couple of years ago. It has 88 responses and 20,000+ views.

Custom Builders of Flintlocks

I commissioned Mitch Yates a few months ago to make me a flinter. He promised me the rifle mid to late summer of 2016.

So far he has been great to work with. I have the wood selected and was able to buy a barrel I wanted and shipped it too him.

If you are interested in Mitch, just google him up.

Fleener

there's a fella that is putting out CNC kits of souther mtn rifles.....at a price I couldn't touch~ $900 or so!!!!!
over in American long rifles......... http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php

:bow:
marc n tomtom

Fleener,
You will end up with a quality treasure. Mitch will do it right.

Re ad link as first one isn't working. The information is on American Long rifles web site, under Contemporary Long rifle collecting, "Who do modern makers etc admire"

Nathan Stephenson built best rifle that I ever owned. I have owned more expensive and more ornate rifles, but his was best in feel, handling and the architecture was best IMHO. He has decent time on his turn around and I would highly recommend him.

Gary Tucker also built a damn good rifle for me once, but the barrel on it was way too heavy for what I wanted...very historically accurate, but I simply did a terrible job on the barrel profiling choices. His waiting list was about 1year out, but he may be worth contacting also.

40 Flint said:

Tom. Knight posts on several forums as Gunmaker. He did a great job for me on a flint pistol. He's located in Las Vegas NV.

Click to expand...

Tom Knight built me this fine squirrel rifle:

I'll give another vote for Nathan Stephenson. He is currently building a rifle for me, and has been great to deal with.

I have a Don Bruton iron mounted southern rifle I deer hunt with. I have a Joe Schell flint pistol that goes as a companion to the Bruton rifle being both shoot the same ball. Both gunsmiths produce very strong well made guns and both have always been a pleasure to deal with. I will suggest Mike Brooks too but that gun wont be here for a couple more weeks but Mike has been great to do business with. All have a waiting period as any decent builder will. You could not go wrong with any 3 of them