Click on photos below to view images larger and learn more
I called it my test rifle for the Midnight Lace Project. I built it to see if the cherry wood could except the black stain that I wanted to use. The wood did accept the stain, but it did not carve well at all. As a result, I was disappointed with the carving and went on to another project.
This project started out to be the prototype rifle for a future project which involved five rifles; all the same, very contemporary and numbered one of five, two of five, etc. I wanted to be sure they would look good and the cherry wood would work before I built five of them.
Since that time, I have had other thoughts about it and decided to complete it. I made the following changes: I put together a set of 28″, 54 cal. rifled barrels. The carving was not very sharp, looking more like a worn antique. This made me go with the theme to antique the whole rifle.
There is not much engraving on the rifle but where there is, I decided to mat out the background to make it blend with the Damascus steel better.
The finished weight for the completed rifle is only 7.75 lbs., very light for a double rifle.
The other big change was I built a new lock, frizzen plate, side plate and inlays using Damascus steel. This gave it a different and very contemporary look. Having done that I also made the front sights out of Damascus steel and tipped them with gold.
I’ve built a few, but nothing compares with this. Thanks for sharing.