Clay Smith Guns?

burlesontom · Mar 19, 2019

I was surfing around the other night and came across this guy. He has some unique stuff and some very high dollar dueling pistol sets in the $40,000 range. He has some painted guns that must have been based on historical arms but in all my years of reading about BP rifles I have never seen or ran across them. Anyone know anything about this builder?

I have never seen a blue painted gun but apparently they existed. I wonder why they painted them and who picked that color? Interesting story about them.

https://claysmithguns.com/Blue_Trade_Gun.htm

https://claysmithguns.com/trade_gun_West.htm

I would like to find a sling and swivel set up like this for my full stocked Pedersoli Scout Carbine.

https://claysmithguns.com/jaeger374.htm

Coot · Mar 19, 2019

Clay Smith lives and works as a gunsmith in Williamsburg, Va. He is a Colonial Williamsburg trained gunsmith who retired from the gunsmith shop in Colonial Williamsburg a few years ago when they downsized some of the historic trades. He makes an excellent gun, has sold his own kits (don't know if he still does) and sells muzzleloaders on consignment. He is quite capable of making fancy guns as well as plainer ones. I have bought and sold several guns with him. He will be set up at the up coming colonial market fair this spring at Fort Frederick in Big Pool, MD.

burlesontom · Mar 19, 2019

Thanks Coot. He still shows kits on his website. I had just never heard of him but found his site fascinating. I looked at every single thing on it. I am surprised I have never heard of him or ever seen him mentioned. If you see him tell him he has a new fan.

FishDFly · Mar 19, 2019

I have a couple of his horns, he does excellent work. His work shows up on the CLR at times, last I looked one of his rifles was there for $4,000.

Trot · Mar 19, 2019

I have a plain "barn gun" he made. Great shooting gun. The only issue I had was the frizzen was not fitted to the pan very well and I had to do a little work on it. His painted guns are all based on historical pieces.

Brokennock · Mar 20, 2019

One of his Type G trade guns is on my fantasy wish list. Well documented. The Type G is well designed for a very versatile gun. And Mr. Smith does them right.

Out of my reach though.

Flintleather · Mar 21, 2019

Brokennock said:
One of his Type G trade guns is on my fantasy wish list. Well documented. The Type G is well designed for a very versatile gun. And Mr. Smith does them right.

Out of my reach though.

Check out Cabin Creeks website, they have one for sale. Flintleather

Ranger Boyd · Mar 21, 2019

Brokennock said:
One of his Type G trade guns is on my fantasy wish list. Well documented. The Type G is well designed for a very versatile gun. And Mr. Smith does them right.

Out of my reach though.

I have seen and handled Clay's "Type G" (T.M.Hamilton typology) or "Carolina Gun" (period term). They are nice, but IMHO, overpriced, considering he only offers them in maple (the few surviving ones like the "Bumford gun" in the Williamsburg collection seem to have been beech, which makes more since being English imports). If you want a painted gun, I suppose it doesn't matter much. I ended up getting Mike Brooks' version (one in 20 and one in 28 gauge), which I believe are superior in quality and a couple hundred $ less. Of course, you will have to wait a year or more, unless you are lucky enough to find a used one. There is NO DOUBT that Clay is capable of exceptional work, but I don't personally believe he puts the time or emphasis on his kit guns to warrant the price he is asking for them.

Tommy Bruce · Mar 26, 2019

Ranger Boyd said:
I have seen and handled Clay's "Type G" (T.M.Hamilton typology) or "Carolina Gun" (period term). They are nice, but IMHO, overpriced, considering he only offers them in maple (the few surviving ones like the "Bumford gun" in the Williamsburg collection seem to have been beech, which makes more since being English imports). If you want a painted gun, I suppose it doesn't matter much. I ended up getting Mike Brooks' version (one in 20 and one in 28 gauge), which I believe are superior in quality and a couple hundred $ less. Of course, you will have to wait a year or more, unless you are lucky enough to find a used one. There is NO DOUBT that Clay is capable of exceptional work, but I don't personally believe he puts the time or emphasis on his kit guns to warrant the price he is asking for them.

I just bought a Carolina gun kit from Clay this past fall with the 48" barrel & beech stock. You can get them in Walnut as well. I've had one of Mike's guns as well. Both are amazing craftsmen and do great work. The only reason I sold the Brooks gun is my 51 year old eyes had trouble with the rear sight.

Ranger Boyd · Mar 26, 2019

Tommy Bruce said:
I just bought a Carolina gun kit from Clay this past fall with the 48" barrel & beech stock. You can get them in Walnut as well. I've had one of Mike's guns as well. Both are amazing craftsmen and do great work. The only reason I sold the Brooks gun is my 51 year old eyes had trouble with the rear sight.

Understandable...starting to have the same issue myself!

Tommy Bruce · Mar 26, 2019

Ranger Boyd, everything has gotten so expensive in terms of parts any more. I was on Caywood's site yesterday (I've always wanted on of their Wilson trade guns) and the kit price is now 1375.00 I keep thinking I should get Mike to build me another one. While he isn't cheap, his work is very reasonable.

Ranger Boyd · Mar 26, 2019

Agreed. I am quite happy with mine. I have not picked up a Cayw

Tommy Bruce said:
Ranger Boyd, everything has gotten so expensive in terms of parts any more. I was on Caywood's site yesterday (I've always wanted on of their Wilson trade guns) and the kit price is now 1375.00 I keep thinking I should get Mike to build me another one. While he isn't cheap, his work is very reasonable.

Agreed - I am quite pleased with mine. I have never handled one of Caywood's guns but they sure look pretty in pictures!

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