JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.
Also, how in the world did colonial gunsmiths build any more than a dozen or two rifles per year? This process seems so long...

EDIT: Now that I'm almost to the end, the movie says that "after 300 hours" the 'smith would have a rifle. Wow, that's a month's work, at least. So I was right thinking a gunsmith could only create a dozen or two rifles a year...
 
Last Edited:
Many 'Smiths bought pre made or imported parts like locks and barrels ... Kinda like buying a "kit-gun" of today.
Also there might be several 'Smiths working on various parts of the gun in shop.
One guy might just be the stockmaker ...Another fitting or making locks... then at the end one guy to fit it all together.
Andy
 
An assembly-line of sorts... That would make sense, in that there are a few very major sets of skills involved in this, from the blacksmithery, the locksmithery, and the wood-working, just to name a few obvious skills.
 
Also, how in the world did colonial gunsmiths build any more than a dozen or two rifles per year? This process seems so long...

EDIT: Now that I'm almost to the end, the movie says that "after 300 hours" the 'smith would have a rifle. Wow, that's a month's work, at least. So I was right thinking a gunsmith could only create a dozen or two rifles a year...

Knowing that, it makes a lot more sense when you hear that a gun in the time period cost a months wages..since you're paying the craftsman for the month he spent on the dang thing :p
 
The Revenant has an entire plot based on seeking revenge while retrieving a rifle that had been stolen. A rifle that had cost him a HUGE sum of money. The movie didn't bother capturing that part of the story since today there is no understanding of the costs represented by a rifle you bought yourself (or made yourself...).
 
Exactly.
Again this is not to say that gunsmiths did not make rifles "Lock , Stock and Barrel" ...
Many did indeed do just that.
As the film stated , you can often tell who made the rifle or at least where it might have come from , just by how the parts were made or the overall styling of the rifle.
A rifle made in Lancaster County has a way different look than one made in Beford county even if both rifle were made in the same year.

At the same time 'Smiths knew the value of the assembly line process and in the end is was business and its hard to make a profit if you have nothing to sell...
Andy
An assembly-line of sorts...
 
The Revenant has an entire plot based on seeking revenge while retrieving a rifle that had been stolen. A rifle that had cost him a HUGE sum of money. The movie didn't bother capturing that part of the story since today there is no understanding of the costs represented by a rifle you bought yourself (or made yourself...).
Don't get me started on just how bad of a movie I think The Revenant is....
Not to say that you or someone can't enjoy it ... but way to much liberty with facts for me...
Andy
 
An understanding of the intense value of hand-made rifles also helps us understand a little bit more how, when the British army marched to Lexington to seize the rifles and powder stored there by the colonists, those people refused, saying the equivalent of, "HELL to the NO!" And fired the shot heard round the world...
 
Okay, this feels a bit like an educational film from my grade school days - made, I'm guessing in the 50's or 60's at Colonial Williamsburg. It shows the process for two of their gunsmiths to make a rifle from scratch (yes, a rifle, not a musket). I had kind of wondered how they used to do it. I imagine it took them a long time to learn this trade well. I came across this while looking for something else and thought a few folks might enjoy it.

I imagine @AndyinEverson might enjoy this, though I also imagine he has this on DVD already ;)

Anyway, if you've got an hour or so to kill and find this stuff interesting, here you go:


Very impressive, thank you for sharing.
 

Upcoming Events

Tillamook Gun & Knife Show
Tillamook, OR
"The Original" Kalispell Gun Show
Kalispell, MT
Teen Rifle 1 Class
Springfield, OR
Kids Firearm Safety 2 Class
Springfield, OR

New Resource Reviews

New Classified Ads

Back Top