Don Bruton - Gunmaker
864-360-9889
Boone Gun (ca.1760)
What makes a gun really beautiful.....in my opinion..... is not the add-ons like inlays, patch boxes, decorative
carving or engraving. It's the good lines and proper dimensions and the way everything flows from the breech back to the butt, and from the breech forward to the muzzle. A gun, absolutely devoid of decoration, can be an absolutely stunning thing of beauty.......if properly made. Then and only then can a gun be enhanced with properly applied art and decoration.
Balance is a necessary consideration, especially for hunters & trekkers. A swamped or profiled barrel, either full octagon, octagon-to-round, and in some guns an all-round/tapered barrel, is important.
NOTICE - When possible I will have "spec" guns available in the FOR SALE section of this web site.
These will be guns that are possibly inspired by originals; or guns from a combination of ideas based in speculation. Characteristics might include mixed (iron & brass) mounts, long barrels to 48" or longer (rifled or smooth), fowler or rifle style, signs of wear and hard use to fit a certain persona and time period, moderate to heavy aging, possibly damage & repair, Indian influence, ect. - all accomplished with artistic and believable historic creativity.
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This gun can be made as...a rifle gun with a cheekpiece and normal open sights -
a smooth rifle with a cheekpiece and both sights -
a fowler with both sights -
a fowler with front sight only -
The basic Boone gun has an English flintlock (Caywood, Chambers, L & R, or R.E. Davis), a grade 3 maple stock (50% or more curl) and a 42" full octagon, swamped Colerain barrel with flare tang breechplug. All standard calibers and smoothbore gauges are normally available.
Available with either sand cast brass, or handforged iron mounts...your choice, same price.
Parts include "strap" butt plate, handmade single trigger & plate, trigger guard, (2) upper ramrod thimbles, (2) #8-32 lock screws with 1/2" heads, round or tear drop inlays for side plates, tapered hickory ramrod with iron tip and cleaning jag.
The rear sight is hand forged/handmade. The front sight, also handmade, has an iron base and coin-silver blade made from an old, silver quarter. The rear sight is placed out of the balance point when the gun is carried....typically 11" to 12" from the breech. The front sight (base) centers at 1-1/2" from the muzzle on rifles and smooth rifles and 3" on fowlers.
I work from a stock blank, hand-inlet all parts...including the barrel... and hand-shape the entire gun.
The standard Boone gun is right-handed and has no entry thimble, nose cap, patch box or decorative carving. It does, however, have incised lines along the toe line of the buttstock and along the upper forearm. There is also a "swell" in the lower forearm where the ramrod enters the stock....an English influence from the Brown Bess.
The Boone gun is not only traditional in Southern styling, with North Carolina-Virginia influence that was inspired from many years of restoring originals, but also is a very strong and durable gun for any hunting or period trekking situation. It is also correct for reenactments from the French and Indian War, forward.
Standard pull is 13-1/2", or your preferred choice. Drop at the heel is 3" and the cast-off is 1/4".
The relatively flat butt will measure approximately 4-3/4" to 4-7/8" tall by 2-1/16" to 2-1/8" in width.
Stocks are scraped as part of the shaping and finishing process prior to staining, as were originals. I use aqua fortis (nitric acid) as a stain for the stock, and I also tastefully age all metal, including the lock and barrel.
The stock is sealed and has a hand rubbed oil finish. My standard wood finish is aged in "color and contrast", but is smooth, and otherwise new, as far as the texture of the wood.
Options Add
* Wood "pivoting" patch box - Pivots up to open & pivots down against an iron pin to close.......$150.00
* Carving package - Raised moldings along the toe line of the buttstock, along the upper
forearm, on the face of the cheek piece, plus a plain "beavertail around the breech plug tang.....175.00
* Curly maple, grades #4 and up......or American black walnut in several grades............................100.00/up
Additional "parts and barrel" options available on special order. Call for details. If no answer leave a message and the best time to return your call.
Prices vary from $1800.00 to $4000.00 + shipping and insurance via Priority Mail to the lower 48.
A deposit (non-refundable) is required to place your order and will vary according to parts and option choices; minimum $500.00.
Delivery is minimum 6 months and I will not take any order that I cannot deliver within 18 months.
Payments accepted by Credit Card, US Postal Money Order, Personal Check, Cash.
"I guarantee my guns against defects in materials & workmanship for life and for normal use only. Accident and/or abuse are not covered.
General Information
A "strap" butt plate is made from forged iron or swedged brass sheet. It wraps up and over the heel with a short return (finial) and is held with 2 wood screws. In my opinion these are the simplest and most durable of the butt plates and is standard on Boone guns.
Iron or brass? - Without a doubt, if you could step back in time and walk into a longhunters camp and look at the guns, probably 90% or more would be brass mounted. They probably had their preferences, as we do today, but I wouldn't think a good gun was turned down because of the mounts, especially when considering what might (or might not) have been available on the frontier at any given time.
No entry thimble or nose cap? - Many guns have been made this way down through history, both in the North, but especially in the South. I consider these parts to be "trim" pieces that have been proven to be unnecessary. The entry pipe does absolutely nothing to add strength or durability to that area of the stock. The nose cap serves only one real purpose, and that is to keep the forestock from splitting along the rib, typically at the front in the area of the first ramrod thimble. I try to keep my ribs at about 3/16" for strength and then slightly "flare" the wood at the nose and then round all edges. Many Southern mountain guns, plus early European and American fowlers were made this way and have survived, intact, to this day.
No side plate? - A well inlet flintlock held in place with one or two lock screws with large 1/2" diameter heads, and no side plate, will do the job indefinitely if the screw heads are not compressed into the stock past "snug". Also, the inlet required for some side plates can also reduce the strength of the stock in the lock and wrist area......the weakest area of the gun. A hard, direct blow to the gun that is sustained mainly through the wrist is not necessarily saved from breakage because a side plate is in place. However, when small, individual inlays are inlet under each screw (round, oval, tear drop, ect.), the result is a minimal effect on the strength of the wrist/lock area.
