Only 3 years to go...

Back in Feb, I finally got my place in the queue for a custom long rifle.

I ordered from Allen Martin...found here- http://www.allenmartinrifles.net/

If you go to his gallery of guns tab, then check out the Colonial SE PA, the Schreit, and the Ghost rifles. Those are most similar to what I am getting.

I ordered it in 62-cal with fine curly maple, no carvings, and a sliding wooden patchbox. Oh, and a glorious 46" barrel!

3 years wait, lots of money to save till then, too, but boy, oh, boy will it be a beaut when it's done!

I may change it to 58-caliber, I haven't decided yet. Been back and forth, and he won't order the barrel for quite some time yet. When I ordered, I was #42 on the list!

Martin's guns are truly amazing firearms....I can't wait to see my rifle come to life!

I figured I'd post this because our latest troll claims no one here can hunt well enough to hunt with a muzzleloader. Well, Harvey, I know you'll tell me 100 reasons why my custom longrifle is silly or bad or some other crap you will come up with....but buddy, this is what muzzleloader hunters used in the colonial, revolutionary, and Federalist periods. This is how they hunted....with a long barrel and a flint in their lock, not a hammer.

I think it sounds pretty cool, Tom. I'm certain it will be a load of fun.

Thanks, DrMike. It sure will be.......basically, it will approximate a 20ga slug gun with a foster-style slug. Not a long range shooter for hunting purposes, but it's heaving a big ol' chunk of lead down-range!

When I get the rifle in-hand, he will have regulated it so that no drifting of the sights is required to adjust the windage, AND the sights will be centered on the barrel, not skewed at all. From there, I will probably look for his guidance on zeroing the elevation. The front sight is going to be polished brass. I've seen his front sights. They are polished enough that you can literally see your reflection in them. They show up unbelievably well in even poor light.

Part of my family heritage is Pennsylvania German, and the rifle is patterned after what the German settlers of this area where I live would likely have been making around the time just preceding the American Revolution.

Never have owned one but a Pennsylvania rifle of true, although modern, provence like the one that you will get. The Martin's from what little I know, are truly a family heirloom to be treasured and hung onto. I hope that it is everything that you hope it will be Tom. Very nice classic rifle to have as a centerpiece of your collection. It is worth the wait.

Oldtrader3":ziyrm0ci said:

Never have owned one but a Pennsylvania rifle of true, although modern, provence like the one that you will get. The Martin's from what little I know, are truly a family heirloom to be treasured and hung onto. I hope that it is everyting that you hope it will be Tom. Very nice classic rifle to have as a centerpiece of your collection. It is worth the wait.

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Thanks, Charlie! I know it will be a fine rifle. Hopefully my girls will keep it and either use it or pass it to the next generation of my family (many, many, many years from now!) and someone will hunt with it when I no longer can.

I've talked to Allen in person and on the phone a few times. One heck of a nice guy, and one needs about 30 seconds with him to know these rifles are a passion of his.

I've given thought to doing more research into these rifles....might be something for me to do when I retire in a mere 20+ years...build long rifles.

Sounds like a sweet rig Tom. Curly maple is one of my top 5 favorite American hardwoods and is just excellent when finished.

Good things are worth the wait. I like the local flavor aspect of it too. They look perfect.

Well, it certainly fills the bill for hunting in PA. It reproduces what was built early in the history of the nation, and that is just cool. I think I could get into shooting those charcoal burners with very little pushing; and those are particularly attractive, Tom.

DrMike":30t82mdf said:

Well, it certainly fills the bill for hunting in PA. It reproduces what was built early in the history of the nation, and that is just cool. I think I could get into shooting those charcoal burners with very little pushing; and those are particularly attractive, Tom.

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So ah Mike... What kind of pushing would it take? :lol:

At ease, Marine. I'm not giving away any weaknesses possessed by this old codger.

DrMike":3e94h0te said:

At ease, Marine. I'm not giving away any weaknesses possessed by this old codger.

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Rgr that.. I am just saying, you hunt pretty close to your quarry anyhow, so a smokepole shouldn't hurt your hunting average at all.. Heck, at least with a rifle that long, you'll have some standoff from the grizzlies when you take the first shot....

Heck, at least with a rifle that long, you'll have some standoff from the grizzlies when you take the first shot....

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Good point. It is true that I hunt by braille. Don't fire 'til you feel fur, boys.

Cool project. Love the curly maple.

My father in law made a stock of curly maple for a M700 in 30-06... by hand. It is a sight to see and from what I hear, he rarely fired it, but his son told me that dad hit a quarter a 200 yards with it. He must have done it right.

SJB358":25zogkqi said:

DrMike":25zogkqi said:

Well, it certainly fills the bill for hunting in PA. It reproduces what was built early in the history of the nation, and that is just cool. I think I could get into shooting those charcoal burners with very little pushing; and those are particularly attractive, Tom.

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So ah Mike... What kind of pushing would it take? :lol:

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Mike, you have no idea what you're missing....... a good flinter beats the snot out of any Weatherby, I can tell you that much! :twisted:

Tom,

That is going to be a beauty for sure. As for caliber, would the .58 be enough for most anything in NA? The .62 cal would be cool but what is the avability for lead in this caliber? BTW, what does a .62 cal round ball weigh?

Either way you go, it is going to ba an awesome musket, congratulations.

JD338

tddeangelo - that should be a terrific rifle!

JD338":3rum3oeg said:

Tom,

That is going to be a beauty for sure. As for caliber, would the .58 be enough for most anything in NA? The .62 cal would be cool but what is the avability for lead in this caliber? BTW, what does a .62 cal round ball weigh?

Either way you go, it is going to ba an awesome musket, congratulations.

JD338

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Depends on the ball diameter I wind up shooting. Usually will be .600 to .610. I think the .610's weight somewhere in the mid-300gr range (340-ish, maybe?).

The .58 would, of course, work just fine. But what fun is that?

Actually, I'm more concerned about recoil, as I've not gone this large before in a muzzleloader. I may split the difference and go with 60, which is what the maker of the rifle shoots in his personal hunting rifle. The thing that helps is that the buttplates on these rifles are 1.5" or more in width. LOTS of surface area to spread out the recoil energy, along with an 8lb. rifle and a looooong barrel, should mitigate it a bit.

With a 62, I should be able to stand behind loads that will retain 700-ish ft.lbs. of energy at 100 yards, but that's based on real preliminary research on my part. Considering a 50-cal round ball will be about half that amount at that distance, it's a nice step up in ability to put a good smack-down on a deer at field hunting distances. I would like to remain effective to 125 yards, which should be doable easily with the 60 or 62.

Tom, as i have told you before I am jealous as heck. That is such a beautiful long rifle and it is well worth the wait. I handled some of his guns in one of his booths once and they were just unbelievable beautiful.

Tom, I think your safe from Harveys harsh criticism and sarcasm on this site, but I do remember his reactions to your buying this type of firearm and it was not pretty, for sure.

I am not as interested in which caliber you chose as I am in how you get a purchase like this past your wife, so that I can use your approach in the future LOL

All kidding aside Tom--It is way to cool--congrats!

Wow, I call the Minnesota socialist lawyer a Saul Alinsky copycat socialist provocateur on the Cabela's site and get banned and blocked for life (no fooling, no language or anything)! Harvey has 15 odorous lives as an obnoxious Troll, dumping on everyone, year after year, and he is still around, just saying! He has been booted at least 49 times over there. Nobody ever said life was fair and I don't miss most of the mindless nonsense from trolls there anyway but it does seem capricious and childish of the teenaged Moderators there!

Oldtrader3":28sskxpc said:

Wow, I call the Minnesota socialist lawyer a Saul Alinsky copycat socialist provocateur on the Cabela's site and get banned and blocked for life (no fooling, no language or anything)! Harvey has 15 odorous lives as an obnoxious Troll, dumping on everyone, year after year, and he is still around, just saying! He has been booted at least 49 times over there. Nobody ever said life was fair and I don't miss most of the mindless nonsense from trolls there anyway but it does seem capricious and childish of the teenaged Moderators there!

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Charlie,

Not to reopen old wounds, but a lot of us got slapped with bans at that forum, myself included.