pics of my smoke poles

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Tascosa Joe,

That is a 7X57 Argentine Mauser ... and it is too bad they won't let me use it or the Wobley with the Wild Bunch ... 'cause they are both real nail drivers ....

[Mogorilla]

Here is my Henry with a few friends
The middle rifle sheath is one I made for a friend and is the most period correct thing I have ever made.  It is lined in red trade wool.  The case itself is braintan white tale deer, and all sewn with buffalo sinew, including the beads.  The bead design is the only out of place item.  It is his high school math team symbol.  But since I am a chemist, far be it from me to pass nerdy judgement.  It is stylized in something an Apache might have made, as I based it off of some Apache saddle bags.  He is a big fan of "The Missing" and is building a Tommy Lee Jones outfit (almost left of jones, and Tommy Lee is not a wester actor!  and we have enough of a motely crew running around here! )


This is the henry alone.  The sheath is elk, normal chrom tanning.  It is considered a light smoke color, someday will make a braintan sheath of its own.   This I based off of Wayne's in the Searchers.

[Tascosa Joe]

Nice work Mo.

WWE:  You could always become a GAF shooter.  That would mean a whole new set of clothes.  I wonder what an 1898 Argentine Soldier would look like?

Joe

[Caleb Hobbs]

Those rifle sheaths look pretty slick, Mo. Did you do your own beading?

[Mogorilla]

On the Henry Sheath, no.  It was one of those beaded cuffs.  I think I bought it local, but similar to what Crazy Crow sells.  I cut it longer than I needed and tied off the ends, then appliqued the whole piece to the end.  For the other rifle sheath, I did do the beading.  I found a great tutorial on line.  (paleo planet web site I believe).  It had the dual aspect of being rewarding and frustrating all at the same time, so more is in my future.

[GunClick Rick]

I want a rifle sheath

[ChuckBurrows]

Here ya go Rick  


The gun is an original Potsdam - see below
The leather is braintan and it has a shoulder strap that you can barely see and yep I do my own beading (lots and lots of it! almost all pre-1860)- for a good how-to on beading see here
http://www.nativetech.org/glasbead/glasbead.html

The pattern was "inspired" by these two originals:




Shoulder straps on such cases are well documented albeit most of my docs are pre-1840 i.e. A. J. Miller and Catlin....

as for my guns:
original 11 bore Potsdam musket - made in 1820, converted to percussion in 1843 - came west to New Mexico in 1846 with the Missouri Brigade and was cut down later and had iron shanked tacks added post circa 1873, when they first show up in the historical data base. I've taken a fair amount of game with it, including 5 big PNW black bear and a couple of elk:


Uberti 51 Navy 2nd Model with square back guard along with an 1850's era Bowie-


Flint Smoothie - 28 bore - along with a Cibolero style Buffalo hunters set


My shot pouch and accoutrements - the main horn is an original with some repairs by me - it has two dates scratched into it 1791 and 1825 and still keeps on ticking...the day horn I made back in '73 and is the only scrim I've ever done






The bag knife is an original cut down/re-purposed case knife with a shear steel blade and cracked bone grips repaired with buffalo rawhide. The cap tin is an original Eley circa 1840's - I use it to keep a couple of spare flints in. Just above and to the left of the knife is an original Englis made smoothbore measurer (marked in drams for powder and ounces for shot) circa 1840's.

Belt knife - 9" English scalper with a blade made from original circa 1850's shear steel  


sheath for it...(actually wound up being re-purposed to another knife)

[Jake MacReedy]

Chuck,

The gear you make just continues to amaze me, sir!  Thanks for posting it all!

Jake

[GunClick Rick]

Good god-o-mighty!!! I think it's about time for another excellent mountain man movie! With Chucks stuff in it.I see there is a reality show comin up called Mountain Man,i wonder if it is going to be a piece of tv trash,i think some of us here know a little about that venue..Probably going to be a bunch of hobos on meth like we have here in Visalia,they get run overe about once a week here now.

Anyway Chuck now that i am having i ain't got one withdrawls,i'm gonna go take a cold shower!!!! That there stuff is purtier than a Sunday cathouse!!!

[BlackHillsScout]

Great work Chuck!
What is your load for the Pottsdam? Are you using a .70 roundball?

[ChuckBurrows]

My bore measures nominally .755" (11 ga is nominally .751") so I used a .730" ball with 90 grains of 3F with a pillow ticking patch with an 8/9 oz leather over wad for easy loading...kicks a might !
(I say used because I finally retired it after many years of use - it's starting to show a bit more fatigue than I like and it was time to put her out to pasture)

and glad ya'll enjoyed the look see........

[Oregon Bill]

Now dang it Chuck, I'll never be happy with any of my stuff ever again after looking at your gorgeous pieces. I think what is amazing is how every detail, so well researched and perfectly executed, builds into a harmonious whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. I think you deserve an endowment or something.

[Tsalagidave]

Fantastic kit Chuck.  You have a reason to be proud of it. If it were mine, I'd show it off too.  I hope to catch up with you at a shoot sometime.  Id love to see this stuff up close. Keep up the good work pard. It looks great.

-Dave

[Tsalagidave]

My shooting bag is a little later (1850-60s) I have a 1770s horn and bag but its nothing compared to what Chuck is showing off. For my Western Expansion, I have an original bag knife, flask and compass. The rest is my bullet bag, tools, measure, capper and tin of spare caps, oiler, tinder box and usually a small bag of sagamite and jerkey or pemmican. (My main rations are packed until I camp.)

-Dave

[GunClick Rick]

Just got me a new powder horn too,and i am workin on my poss bag right now,just personalizing it a tad.

[GunClick Rick]

My hat i just fixed up





Time to dust off the ole rifle