• 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

New Kibler/Brooks rifle.

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Sep 18, 2013
Messages
1,846
Reaction score
2,342
Well I finally got around to taking some pictures of my newest rifle. It is a .58cal. Colonial Kibler kit dolled up by Mike brooks. Mike added the set triggers. It weighs in at 8.6lbs. I would say that anything in a smaller caliber would be pretty hefty. This one has good balance, but a .50 could get a bit nose heavy. I didn't really need another rifle, but the opportunity came along and I wanted one of Mike's rifles without the 2-3yr. wait. Due to the heat, I haven't been able to do more than test fire it.
 

Attachments

  • Brooks rifle 002.JPG
    Brooks rifle 002.JPG
    122.2 KB · Views: 369
  • Brooks rifle 003.JPG
    Brooks rifle 003.JPG
    157.2 KB · Views: 379
  • Brooks rifle 001.JPG
    Brooks rifle 001.JPG
    153.5 KB · Views: 370
  • Brooks rifle 004.JPG
    Brooks rifle 004.JPG
    124.1 KB · Views: 368
  • Brooks rifle 007.JPG
    Brooks rifle 007.JPG
    110.1 KB · Views: 366
  • Brooks rifle 009.JPG
    Brooks rifle 009.JPG
    92 KB · Views: 341
  • Brooks rifle 008.JPG
    Brooks rifle 008.JPG
    130.1 KB · Views: 327
Last edited:
Well I finally got around to taking some pictures of my newest rifle. It is a .58cal. Colonial Kibler kit dolled up by Mike brooks. Mike added the set triggers. It weighs in at 8.6lbs. I would say that anything in a smaller caliber would be pretty hefty. This one has good balance, but a .50 could get a bit nose heavy. I didn't really need another rifle, but the opportunity came along and I wanted one of Mike's rifles without the 2-3yr. wait. Due to the heat, I haven't been able to do more than test fire it.
One of the best kits out there with Mike’s artistic skills finishing it up. Hard, if not near impossible to beat.
 
Great looking gun.

The large, circular, sort of a schroll on the butt behind the cheek piece...is there a babe for that design? Is it associated with a certain builder or geography? Time period?

Seems like you see something similar on a lot of rifles.
 
The large, circular, sort of a schroll on the butt behind the cheek piece...is there a babe for that design? Is it associated with a certain builder or geography? Time period?

That's a C-scroll ending in spiral volutes with some stylized acanthus leaves.. Those are elements of rococo design. That form of firearm decoration was brought to the colonies by German, and a few French, gun makers in the first half of the 18th century.

This is RCA #43 that has been attributed to Andreas Albrecht and dates to the 1750s or '60s.
19011206_2_med.jpeg

19011206_9_med.jpeg



The Edward Marshall rifle, also attributed to Andreas Albrecht, has similar carving to #43. This is a copy of it by Jud Brennan.

IMG_9015.JPG


As various regional "schools" developed in Pennsylvania, this early form evolved into variations. The gunsmiths around Lancaster used it often and developed the "double" C-scroll designed such as this from RCA #70, which is also attributed by some to Andreas Albrecht.

img.axd


It became a favorite design for several Lancaster gun makers such as Jacob Dickert in the 1770s through the 1790s.

Rococo design began losing popularity in some parts of Europe by the 1760s and was completely out of fashion in France by 1785. It lasted longer in America. Subsequent generations of American gun makers were rarely taught the fundamentals of rococo design, but rather learned to copy some of its simpler elements in geometric designs.
 
I don't know that Mike had a certain school in mind. A friend bought three kits from Kibler on a clearance sale. He sent one to Mike and just told him to do what he felt like. I asked for first option on it. The beaver tail tang carving is sort of English/Virginia. It is really whatever Mike wanted to do. The chip carving and half circles around the buttplate are Brooksisms.
 
I don't know that Mike had a certain school in mind...It is really whatever Mike wanted to do. The chip carving and half circles around the buttplate are Brooksisms.

I couldn't agree more, especially on the carving around the butt plate. On the other hand, Mike Brooks is familiar with the old masters and rococo carving, and he could have decorated the rifle in a more conventional manner if he wanted.

I wasn't trying to place Mike's rifle in a "school". I was answering brazosland's question about the carving behind the cheekpiece. Here Mike was paying homage to some of the Colonial gun makers of Pennsylvania.
 
Well I finally got around to taking some pictures of my newest rifle. It is a .58cal. Colonial Kibler kit dolled up by Mike brooks. Mike added the set triggers. It weighs in at 8.6lbs. I would say that anything in a smaller caliber would be pretty hefty. This one has good balance, but a .50 could get a bit nose heavy. I didn't really need another rifle, but the opportunity came along and I wanted one of Mike's rifles without the 2-3yr. wait. Due to the heat, I haven't been able to do more than test fire it.
Absolutely beautiful!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top