Red Jacket Muzzleloading' Christian Springs Rifle

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duelist1954

New member
I had an opportunity to shoot a beautiful custom flintlock longrifle from Red Jacket Muzzleloading in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This rifle is made in the Christian Springs school of gun making, so it is an early, 1750 to 1770 style rifle. The 38-inch, .58 caliber, swamped rifle barrel is very accurate and the entire rifle balances beautifully. I thought I'd give you a little taste of how it does at the range in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypqiJCpsCSs

And here are a few pictures for eye candy:














 
Thanks. I didn't know they had the skill to assemble a long rifle, engrave it, relief carve the stock and inlay silver wire.
 
You didn't know that Red Jacket Muzzleloading had the skill?

Or you didn't think the original Christian Springs rifles were embellished?
 
Wow, what a beauty.
I've watched all their shows and don't recall any mention of this.
Thought it was all drama, mounting military ordnance on motorcycles, and blowing things up.
And you did, indeed, hit that long range gong.
If bank shots count in billiards, why not in shooting?
I once won a bet on a difficult archery shot at a 3D deer, hiding behind some trees.
The arrow glanced off one of the trees and hit the 10 ring.
The only thing that counts is the result.
Thanks for the video.
 
Nicely done.

I earn most of my living making muzzleloaders. I can see a lot of skill in this rifle, but there are a few points of building old fashioned American longrifles I could critique.
The lock panels are a bit wider than most of the originals
The rear of the trigger guard should not be mounted “proud” on A Christian Springs rifle. It should be inlet.
The patch-box lid has a thin brass base that leaves a bit of the butt plate mortis showing. The plate should be thick and then filed down to give a flush fit on the butt-plate sole.

But all in all this is a very nice rifle. I should guess the barrel is made by Rice or Colorain, bit it could also be a Getz.
The lock is a Chambers "Early Germanic".
The stock is probably red maple, but it could be sugar maple too. The edges of the carving show a bit of softness which is why I am guessing its red maple.
The metal engraving is excellent. A very skilled hand did it.

The stock is a semi-inlet one, turned by Bob Lepley if I don’t miss my guess. I’d bet it’s one of Jim Chambers kit gun stocks, but it could also be one that Lepley did for Track of the Wolf. Lepley does some of the best panagraphing in the business.

Should be a fun gun to use and own, and probably a very good meat-maker.
:)
 
Fantastic and thank you !!!

Mike, personally this is the most informative and entertaining video you have posted. Then the icing on the cake is this beautiful rifle. I thank you for your post. Did not know you disliked Evil-Roy so much. ..... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
Gary,

Red Jacket Firearms, which is the company featured on the "Sons of Guns" TV show, and Red Jacket Muzzleloading are separate companies, with separate facilities, even though Will Hayden owns them both.

Will has been building flintlock rifles and fusils professionally for 20 years, and it is his main interest. He is very big into 18th century living history.

About three years ago he decided to launch Red Jacket Muzzleloading as a business. It is where Will does most of the actual work, though he has a small team of guys, two full time and three part time, who assist him.

Will personally does all the critical inletting and wood carving on each RJM gun. He is very good with a set of chisels.
 
Mike ,
Is that the rifle Will just finished up some weeks ago ? .
for some reason i thought he was going to stain it dark ?
 
Thanks for sharing! That is a really nice rifle and love the light the color and the maker's love and passion for his craft is evident throughout.

Will pops in over at the ML forum from time to time but if he's reading this, nice work Will!
 
Thank you for the welcome and the kind words :) This is one i did a few years ago . Mike ran the very first ball through it when he did his test fire . I gotta tell you , it's always a very tense , nervy thing for me when I put somthing like this , a piece I've put so much of myself into , up for the world to inspect . I really appreciate ya'll taking the time to look it over . I especially appreciate the critique's , which are the only way possible to grow and improve . I have a few more that are on the rack , if ya'll don't mind I'll try to post a couple up . Will
 
Hello Will. (Red Jacket)
PM me and let's get our heads together.
I have been into making front-stuffers now for 44 years.
I am sure we can have a lot of good dialog and exchange of ideas. It's always nice to find a kindred spirit.
 
Welcome to the forum RedJacket (Will). What gun (or combination of guns) inspired that particular rococo design? I did one but on a 10/22. Mine was inspired by a Virginia rifle featured in a James Whiskers book. Here's a link to the images: http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5838360 BTW, I like sliding wood patchboxes more than brass. I went brass for bragging rights (none of my teachers had seen a handmade patchbox for years at school).
 
Not any one gun in particular Gary . Unless building to customer spec's , I like to work according to school or builder . This one was more a school , time period piece . I wanted it to reflect a Guild trained transplant , of the Barvarian , N.Central Germany school who had landed in east Penn. I spend as much time studying Jeager's from there as i did studying early Christian Spring's rifle's . There's a few aspect's of the architecture as well as the relief work that are straight out of Shumway's book on Jeager's . I wanted a rifle that reflected a man missing his home .
 
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