Jaeger Shooters

[Allan Gray]

Bryan that thing is spectacular! :hatsoff:
Can you offer any more details on the maker, etc.?

All fine looking photos of Jaegers. To me they always look better stocked in walnut.

 

[Bryanbrown]

Maker: Me Bryan K. Brown

Purchased brass work from The Rifle Shoppe

Purchased Barreled Action from Leonard Day;
barrels are tapered to help reduce weight and to copy the original that was the inspiration.

Stock was Walnut slab-o-wood

It was completed 1998. I use it for hunting, shooting, and reenacting.

Does that help?

 

[Doug Lykins]

Here's a few pics of the Jaeger I acquired awhile back. Excellent accuracy, a 54 cal Colerain barrel. Built by Birddog. I'm new to flintlocks so I'm having some problems with ignition but I know it's my doing, not the rifle.

 

[Leonredbeard]

Yeah, Hey Grzrob,
You look good holding it. I do hope those folks send you the spring soon. You might contact Hoot Al over at the Campfire. He might get you one made quicker than TRS.
volatpluvia

 

[Bryanbrown]

I finally broke down and bought some spring steel stock (1070) to make him one from scratch. I was just vainly hoping to do all of them at one go. I should get Grizz knocked out before too long.

 

[Ron LaClair]

My Jaeger is a .62 built for me by Jud Brennan in 1979 for a successful moose hunt that year (see avatar). It likes heavy loads, from 110 to 200gr's of 2FF behind a .600 ball. It has a swamped barrel and handles like a 30-30 carbine. It has been my favorite meat gun for many years.

The business end

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

What's the barrel length on yours? I have a pair of swamped 24" Colerain barrels on mine. Leonard built mine several years back and I never tire of firing it. It's especially nice to be able to get off two rapid shots without lowering the rifle from my shoulder!

 

[Bryanbrown]

Russ

28 inches for the barrels. Originally to copy the original Poser rifle as closely as possible. But it also put the balance point of the rifle squarely in the palm of my off hand. She sets there all by herself steady as you please. For lectures I actually balance her on the edge of my hand there to demonstrate just how perfectly it is the balanced.

 

[hawk]

I admit I'm not very knowlegable with these but, did they have to have short barrels to be "jaeger" rifles?

these all look to be short barreled guns

 

[Bryanbrown]

A "common" definition is a Jaeger has a barrel length under 34 inches, a long rifle something over 38. BUT not everyone uses that scale. Some say Jaegers are under 32 and long rifles are over 40. In both models anything in between is generally referred to as "transitional". Historically Jäge rifles tended to be larger bore shorter barrels then long rifles, but many modern reproductions don't quite follow that trend. For instance my .62 cal is in the "carbine ball" range and on the small end for a traditional jaeger rifle. Historically many were in the 75-80 cal well into musket size balls. This was due to Newtons 2cd law "a mass in motion tends to stay in motion....." so bigger heavier round balls (note round balls ONLY) shoot further and straighter then smaller lighter round balls with similar powder charges. It gets more involved then that, with access to lead, and powder also helping to define the evolution of both Jaeger and Long rifles; but I hope that helps.

 

[hawk]

thanks Bry ...all these pictures and talk of jaegers is making me ponder a new build.

now how do I convince the boss...ahh wife .

 

[bingo1952]

The muzzle of that gun looks positively organic.

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

I just noticed there is a nice looking Jaeger rifle for sale in the classifieds!
:thumbsup:

 

[tg]

"I admit I'm not very knowlegable with these but, did they have to have short barrels to be "jaeger" rifles?

these all look to be short barreled guns"

I don't think there is anything locking in a Jaegar to any length of a barrel I believe Jaegar means "hunting gun" if I recall, if I had one I would have a 40" barrel at least for a better sight picture, the "trait" of these German gun havng short barrels tends to ignore the longer barels found on many guns in Germany and other European countries, if building a true German Jaegar the length of the barrel woud not have anything to do with "transitional" if this is meant as a link between the short German guns and the American longrifle there is a lot more envolved than barrel length.

 

[bucktales]

tg,
That's true regarding barrel lengths.
In Wolf's book, Jägers are pictured with barrels from 20-21 inches to 36 inch and over.

 

[cal.43]

I believe Jaegar means "hunting gun"

Jaeger ( Jäger) is just the German word for hunter nothing more. To name a short rifled gun as a jaegerrifle might come from the use of this gear in the europian Jägerregiments and as personal gear from professional hunters ( there had been no legal hunting for the normal people in europe at that time) . Those Regiments had been deployed with professional hunters who carried their own rifle.

 

[Stophel]

"Jaegerbuechse", "Jagdbuechse", or just "Buechse" for rifle. A "Jaeger" is the man who carries it.

"Flinte" is a bird gun, "Gewehr" is just generic "gun", "Stutzen" is a very short rifle, generally considered for use in heavy cover areas.

The average German rifle barrel length might be, oh, 28". They can be shorter, or longer. German smoothbore guns are just as long as anywhere else.

Rifles were probably used for target shooting as much as anything, hence the almost universal use of dual range sights and set triggers.

I don't know about the restrictions of hunting. There are a LOT of guns remaining, and there seems to have been at least one gunsmith in every little German hamlet. Too many for hunting to have been totally restricted. I have been told (I don't rember by whom) that large game tended to be restricted, but small game was not. I have yet to find anything really concrete in this area... :hmm:

 

[cal.43]

Jagd im Wandel der Zeit
Expensive and exclusive goods had allways a high survingrate over the time and most Büchsen I have seen in museums were much dekorated no plain working guns another point is that the timeframe for those guns was over 300 Years.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Considering all the wars in Europe and the near destruction of so much of Germany and that area, it's amazing that so many have survived.

 

[Stophel]

There are LOTS of "average grade" german guns, both rifles and smoothbores. Far too many for them to be the exclusive property of the nobility. Also realize that you aren't going to find "plain" guns. Much like with another thread, super plain just didn't exist. When you have things like mass produced locks and hardware, there's no reason to not have a moderate amount of decoration. The average German gun will have carving in all the normal places, and will often have engraving.

I looked through all my books and auction catalogs once and came up with a ratio of German guns. It ran about 60% rifles and 40% smoothbores. In "real life" I see many more smoothbores than rifles.

cal.43, I'll have to sit down sometime to read that website. I read German, but not that well, and I'm pretty out of practice.