Furthering skills, any books recommended?

[bpflint2007]

As the title says I’m looking for resources to help me figure this stuff out a little better. Eventually I’d like to be doing “professional” grade work on my personal muzzleloaders. I have ten years of experience repairing unmentionables but I’ve never really done anything with muzzleloaders. I’m pretty happy with the work I’ve been doing with my personal collection but I know for a fact there are better/faster/more correct ways of doing what I want to do.

I’ve never been a big fan of videos as an introduction to something either. I’d much rather read a book and then look up videos pertaining to any questions I may have.

To wrap this up: any reading material focused on the technical processes are preferred. No clue what “school” I prefer to read on yet however. I’d like to put an advanced kit gun together before I’m 30 though!

 

[Capt. Jas.]

I would suggest in person classes either top makers. The NMLRA offers classes at Bowling Green KY, Ian Pratt and Ken Gahagan also offer classes in Ohio i believe, Mike Brooks IIRC was doing one on one classes and I'm sure there are more

 

[Kevin Houlihan]

To wrap this up: any reading material focused on the technical processes are preferred. No clue what “school” I prefer to read on yet however. I’d like to put an advanced kit gun together before I’m 30 though!

The Art Of Building The Pennsylvania Longrifle - Chuck Dixon
Recreating The American Longrifle - Buchele, Shumway & Alexander
The Gunsmith of Grenville County: Building the American Longrifle - Alexander
in that order.
Good Luck,
Kevin

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Furthering skills is important and the books Kevin mentioned will help. Also there is John Schipper's book on engraving. Let me add another dimension. The skills are important but just as important is knowing what you are building is supposed to look like. I've seen many well crafted guns posted that show great workmanship but the maker really did not know what the gun was supposed to look like. Probably never handled or studied originals in museums and collections, or even examined contemporary work by those who understand the designs and architecture. I don't know what your objectives are with respect to what kinds of guns you seek to build but if long rifles are in the mix, I urge you to get some of the CDs showing original guns sold by the Kentucky Rifle Foundation (they have online sales) They are extremely helpful because they offer close up viewing and many angles. They will help up your game a lot. Here are some examples of the photography and every image can be zoomed in very closely because the image quality is very high.

dave

 

[bpflint2007]

I’ll look those books up when I get home and those CDs make sense. No point in getting proficient building something that doesn’t look like anything that exists. I also have no clue long term what direction I want to go but pictures will always be good reference material.

Thanks guys!

 

[Bighorserider]

What Dave said is very important. I built my first flinter without ever having handled or even seen up close an original or a good reproduction. It looks great to the untrained eye, but the first time I showed it to someone who actually knew guns he correctly commented that I built it from looking at pictures because it was too flat on the sides.

 

[bpflint2007]

That makes tons of sense. This is a new world to me coming from unmentionables. Good tips from all! I’d love to take a few courses from a builder. Just have to find the free time as I typically work nights.