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Drizzt
Drizzt
Member
Joined:
Dec 24, 2002
Messages:
2,648
Location:
Moscow on the Colorado, TX
Kentucky Rifle Maker Tries To Stay True To 1770s Era
By Jim Becker, KOLD News 13 Reporter
Posted 4-17-06
What do Tucson and Kentucky have in common, other than their nickname the wildcats?
There is a man here in Tucson who makes rifles with the Kentucky namesake.
It's the kind of rifle Daniel Boone had.
So did just about anyone who settled the early American frontier. The Kentucky rifle isn't just a weapon or a tool for survival.
It's artwork, perhaps the earliest true American craftsmanship.
"I enjoy doing it," said Ken Shelton, who has been building Kentucky rifles since his college days. "It's just something I love to do, whether I get paid for it or not. I just love to do it."
He learned from another riflemaker, just as people who made the originals did.
Making one of these rifles isn't something for someone in a hurry.
It takes about 200 hours to make one, just as it did when German immigrants started making the Kentucky rifle in Pennsylvania, around 1750.
It was made famous by the men who tamed what was then the frontier. It is the rifle used by colonists in their struggle for independence from Great Britain.
Shelton says it was the best weapon of its day, better than anything British soldiers used.
"A good marksman could hit a 3-inch circle at a hundred yards, so they were at a great advantage with the Kentucky rifle," explains Shelton. "It was kind of like the AK-47 of 1775. It was so accurate up to 100 yards, and anything else just couldn't compete with it."
Shelton says he builds three or four rifles a year, and each is sold before it's built.
A standard flintlock or percussion sells for roughly $5,000, each made from scratch with tools Shelton has made himself, to stay as true to the original craft as possible.
"To me, that's the most important part. I will not build a rifle that is not true to the era that it was built in. It's just a labor of love. I'm not getting rich doing this. It's just something I love to do and have for 30 years, and I hope to do it for another 30 years."
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=4780757&nav=14RT
Drizzt
Member
Joined:
Dec 24, 2002
Messages:
2,648
Location:
Moscow on the Colorado, TX
Kentucky Rifle Maker Tries To Stay True To 1770s Era
By Jim Becker, KOLD News 13 Reporter
Posted 4-17-06
What do Tucson and Kentucky have in common, other than their nickname the wildcats?
There is a man here in Tucson who makes rifles with the Kentucky namesake.
It's the kind of rifle Daniel Boone had.
So did just about anyone who settled the early American frontier. The Kentucky rifle isn't just a weapon or a tool for survival.
It's artwork, perhaps the earliest true American craftsmanship.
"I enjoy doing it," said Ken Shelton, who has been building Kentucky rifles since his college days. "It's just something I love to do, whether I get paid for it or not. I just love to do it."
He learned from another riflemaker, just as people who made the originals did.
Making one of these rifles isn't something for someone in a hurry.
It takes about 200 hours to make one, just as it did when German immigrants started making the Kentucky rifle in Pennsylvania, around 1750.
It was made famous by the men who tamed what was then the frontier. It is the rifle used by colonists in their struggle for independence from Great Britain.
Shelton says it was the best weapon of its day, better than anything British soldiers used.
"A good marksman could hit a 3-inch circle at a hundred yards, so they were at a great advantage with the Kentucky rifle," explains Shelton. "It was kind of like the AK-47 of 1775. It was so accurate up to 100 yards, and anything else just couldn't compete with it."
Shelton says he builds three or four rifles a year, and each is sold before it's built.
A standard flintlock or percussion sells for roughly $5,000, each made from scratch with tools Shelton has made himself, to stay as true to the original craft as possible.
"To me, that's the most important part. I will not build a rifle that is not true to the era that it was built in. It's just a labor of love. I'm not getting rich doing this. It's just something I love to do and have for 30 years, and I hope to do it for another 30 years."
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=4780757&nav=14RT
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