Northwest trade gun with 30″, 20 gauge barrel. Walnut stock.
Grew up in northeast Nebraska and caught the bug in the 1950’s with Disney’s Davy Crockett. The interest went dormant until college when a summer job supervisor in the Colorado Rockies, who had a muzzleloading rifle, introduced me to actual shooting. After graduation from college and my first full-time job (and an income) I discovered Muzzle Blasts, Dixie Gun Works and learned there was a whole subculture of like-minded enthusiasts. Purchased a DGW .40 percussion squirrel rifle kit, finished it during the summer of 1972 (pretty dismal effort) but it shot and I shot it a lot that first year. Wanted a better rifle and knew I could do better so got a Bill Large .50 barrel, a Bud Siler flintlock, a stock blank and built rifle no. 2. Became active with the Nebraska muzzleloading crowd, discovered the Museum of the Fur Trade and no. 3 was a Northwest Gun copied from Charlie Hanson’s book (1975). Knew I could do better and tried it again, this time with a full fledged Bill Large .50 swamped barrel, another Siler lock, some Ken Gross castings, another blank and built a rifle in the style of J.P. Beck in 1977. Still have it and it has had thousands of balls fired through it over the past 40 years. Now, nearing retirement, our place is a small ranch on the eastern edge of Wyoming. I will soon have the time to devote to fabricating items that interest me.