• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades
  • Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Recent content by plmeek

the hawken shop
L & R
shop deals on amazon
Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. plmeek

    Trade Pistol?

    The software running this forum limits the number of photos in a single post to 10. I had a couple of other pistols I wanted to share pictures of. Sorry for taking so long in adding this additional post. This next pistol is another example of a civilian trade pistol. Again, it is an...
  2. plmeek

    Trade Pistol?

    The Northwest Trade Gun, and possibly the Type D English Pattern Trade Rifle, are unique in that they have no counterpart in civilian guns. The NW Trade Gun, and likely the Type D rifle, were developed specifically to trade to Indians during the fur trade. Other guns traded to the Indians...
  3. plmeek

    MTN ARMS INC. OZARK MO USA

    As I wrote in that 2019 post on ALR, the original company of MOUNTAIN ARMS INC. (there was no OZARK in the company name then) in Ozark, MO was founded by Milt Hudson. At that time he offered both a Hawken rifle and a Dimick rifle (see ad below). This letter to the editor explains how Milt...
  4. plmeek

    Pair of Green River Rifle Works Hawken Rifles

    Nice rifle, Don. Appears to be in good shape. That's one of what I call the "transition" pattern of GRRW Hawken rifles. It still has a Cherry Corners breech & tang, but has a Ron Long lock rather than the William Morgan lock. The "transition" pattern filled the gap between the "first...
  5. plmeek

    Cast steel barrel

    Mike, I agree with much of what you say about "cast steel", especially the interchangeability of the terms "crucible" or "cast" steel. The use of the term "cast steel" in the first half of the 19th century reflected the manner in which it was made. The term had nothing to do with "casting"...
  6. plmeek

    Can you help ID maker of my FdC

    Without a name on the gun it is impossible to say who made it. It appears to have some parts from Larry Zornes' Mold & Gun Shop. The lock, the trigger guard, and the sideplate, match parts in the Mold & Gun Shop catalog I have for the Type D trade gun. The thumb piece matches Zornes' Type C...
  7. plmeek

    English vs American stock styles.

    Great story, Semisane. I wonder how many will appreciate your sense of humor. granth, I assume you are asking about the very end of the butt or the shape of the buttplate and not the whole buttstock. Unfortunately, your comparison is a bit of apples and oranges. The English gun you are...
  8. plmeek

    Can anyone give me some info on this Ron Long percussion lock?

    That was originally one of Ron Long's Hawken flintlocks as you guessed, Trapper1993. Here is an ad from Muzzle Blasts a little after Long introduced the lock. Here are some pictures of one of these locks in its original unaltered state. Note the "hump forward of the hammer with a screw...
  9. plmeek

    The origin of the dragon side plate?

    Nathan, I have a copy of your book and found it to be very informative and enjoyed it immensely. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the decorations on English trade guns as it covers a lot more than just the dragon sideplate. It ties in mythology, religion, heraldic...
  10. plmeek

    Lancaster flintlock

    Frankie, if I understand which rifle (50 caliber Lancaster inspired rifle) and seller (ettoreR) you are asking about, I can't help you much about your question of legitimacy as I don't know the seller. The rifle does look beautiful and the gunmaker is technically skillful. But it still appears...
  11. plmeek

    Two French Fusil Kits

    I'm not sure I fully understand your question, so I'll try answering it in two ways. I'm uncertain as to who you are talking about. If you mean modern day collectors, writers, builders, marketers, and/or hobbyists like ourselves, then yes, "French Trade Guns" is a term used in a general sense...
  12. plmeek

    Two French Fusil Kits

    I agree with you. Most people/companies that sell kits and some professional gun makers don't know that much history about the guns. That or they stretch the history for marketing purposes. Some collectors do the same thing when they write about guns in their collection. Some...
  13. plmeek

    Two French Fusil Kits

    Those are nice kits. The one you got from Clay Smith is better than the Pecatonica, but then that is also reflected in the price for each. I see that Clay Smith has a French Tulle Trade Gun Kit advertised on his website, but that isn't what he sent you. What you got is a Mold & Gun Shop...
  14. plmeek

    Lock Identification question

    I have no information about the name on the lock. If name is the maker and "1960" is the date he made it, then that tells us some about it. In 1960, there weren't very many commercial locks available. Bud Siler first started casting and making his locks about that time. Builders often had to...
  15. plmeek

    I think I just bought a GRRW Leman

    Good. Take them up on their offer. More than likely it was broke because of the the way it was packed. Was the box heavily damaged? If not, the person that packed the rifle was at fault. I can only tell so much from pictures, but that would not be an easy break to repair. I had a rifle...
See more
Back
Top