Replica Weapons
Another hobby of mine and one that I have had an abiding interest in for a long time is the field of Replica Weapons. Specially flintlock rifles and pistols. I enjoy learning about these weapons that will not fire but that can be displayed as a hobby. Many of the flintlock pistols and rifles displayed in today’s market are constructed to very exacting standards and can be displayed on walls in your den or office without fear that someone will load them and use them inappropriately. The best ones that I have seen are those which have a high degree of craftsmanship and usually are attached to a wooden frame and some times are under glass.
There are many types and brands of flintlocks in the market and those are many times of fine and highly crafted finishes with the dog-ear that moves back and forth. Those can command a very high price indeed. My tastes may run to these but I cannot afford these particular ones; so I have begun collecting some that look good and display well but are not particularly the best in the field. As time goes on I will add some additional information to these pages with links to these replica weapons and their prices. I collect them along with swords as well.
Several years ago I was fortunate enough to purchase a flintlock rifle from a Mr. Kenneth Arnold from Bedford, Pennsylvania. He had made several rifles to the standards of what was termed the Pennsylvania Long Rifle that were most notably used in the American Revolution and specially during the times of the Indian raids on Bedford and the surrounding area. I will be displaying pictures of the rifle and powder horn as soon as my son can send the pictures to me. Please look out for those if you have never seen a real Pennsylvania Long Rifle.
If you are interested in replica weapons , i invite you to review these pages and share the interest with me as we talk about the different replica-weapons. I will be updating this area soon. This is the first Post to this new website.
This is an update to this Post. Quoting from a history of the Bedford County Rifle by Vaughn Whisker, a noted flintlock historian from Bedford who I had the honor of knowing; he had said that this particular brand of rifle was produced locally by several German gun smiths who had settled there in the early years of the eighteenth century. Bedford was first settled in 1754 -1755. It was primarily used as a staging area for General Braddock to build a road through the wilderness to attack Fort Duquesne later renamed Fort Pitt after the English Prime Minister of that time. There was a large fort built called Fort Bedford with accommodations for up to six thousand men. There were 60 or so gun smiths or gun makers who worked in the Bedford area from 1771 through to the beginning of the percussion cap era in the late 1850’s. Fort Bedford by the way was one of the first English forts that was captured during the Revolutionary War. There were only a few highlanders left at the fort and that made it easy to take it over by the local Committee of Safety. During the war Bedford County contributed 100 flintlock rifles to the five hundred required to be built by Pennsylvania and sent to General Washington.
Read about General Braddock’s defeat in the French and Indian war in The Great Republic by the Master Historians (Vol 1)
