{"id":20373,"date":"2021-04-01T01:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T06:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/?p=20373"},"modified":"2021-12-14T16:48:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T22:48:18","slug":"rifle-making-and-early-american-firearms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/rifle-making-and-early-american-firearms\/","title":{"rendered":"Rifle Making and Early American Firearms with Steve Boyleston"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t much research on the subject when I started,\u201d Steve Boyleston<\/a> admitted of his meager beginnings in rifle-making. \u201cI mainly turned to a book called\u00a0The Kentucky Rifle\u00a0<\/em>in those days.\u201d Boyleston \u2013 a native of Aiken, South Carolina, with direct family ties to founding families of the Boston area \u2013 has dedicated the better part of fifty years to the recreation, restoration, and collection of early American firearms and related artifacts. \u201cI made my first long rifle in 1969, and to do it, I studied that book over and over.\u201d The book \u2013 along with details of the building processes and builds \u2013 also contained the histories of each gunsmith whose work was found therein. \u201cMy interest just blossomed from there,\u201d Boyleston said, and he went on to join the Kentucky Rifle Association in 1985. \u201cThe more I read and created, the more my interest in both the craft and the history surrounding it continued to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creation of such detailed pieces involves expertise in many skills \u2013 such as Rococo carving techniques, the engraving of sterling silver inlays, and the use of curly, or \u2018fiddle-back\u2019 maple for wooden components with some techniques \u2013 such as the use of nitric acid for staining \u2013 even proving quite dangerous. \u201cThe color you get from nitrate crystals can hold for hundreds of years,\u201d Boyleston said of the process, \u201cbut it can burn your lungs if you\u2019re not careful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Boyleston, one such master of the craft was gun-maker Willy G. Higgins. For years, many collectors and professionals disbelieved that certain levels of detail and skill were possible in southern gun-makers, but over the last 35 years, many artifacts have surfaced with ties to Higgins \u2013 a craftsman from Macon, GA. \u201cHe was the only maker known to put a silver nameplate on top of the barrel of a long-rifle, while all the others put them in flush to the wood \u2013 a detail that marks a gun as one of his.\u201d One of the rifles in Steve\u2019s collection indeed has a similar nameplate engraved with the name Andrew Jackson \u2013 along with more over-the-top features such as silver vines, urns, and other flourishes: \u2018a gun made for a president.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt\u2019s not that strange of a coincidence, really,\u201d said Boyleston of the connection. \u201cIn 1807, during the Creek War, both Jackson and Higgins were in Pensacola \u2013 also joined by Davy Crockett and the Tennessee Volunteers. Willy and Jackson were good friends, and it makes sense that he would be the one to make his presidential long-rifle once he was in office.\u201d In his opinion, the Jackson rifle is one of the rarest in the country, being the only Kentucky rifle with a Damascus twist \u2013 a process where iron and steel ribbons were welded together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another item in Steve\u2019s collection of particular local relevance is a gun from one of the last battles of the American Revolution \u2013 the Siege of Pensacola. The gun \u2013 most likely of Spanish or French origin \u2013 was acquired from a family in Mobile, Alabama, where it had remained for the last 150 years. While not as well-known as the events taking place in New England, much happened along the Gulf Coast during the conflict. The Spanish, intent on taking Western Florida from the British, had already captured Mobile before they pushed the attack in late March 1781. The siege \u2013 lasting around one month \u2013 was finally ended when a howitzer shell struck the magazine at Fort Crescent, prompting a British surrender two days later. \u201cThe gun was probably made in the 1680s, most likely for someone well-to-do,\u201d Boyleston said, noting the pristine wood grain of the curly maple. He also pointed out another remarkable feature: a folding stock \u2013 something not commonly found in firearms of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from weaponry, Boyleston also had a pair of simple leather boots in his collection. The boots, called George Washington boots \u2013 being modeled after the ones the general and later president frequently wore \u2013 were made sometime in the 1770s. \u201cLeather from that time is very rare to come across now,\u201d Boyleston said of the artifact. \u201cThey are hand-stitched, with bottoms made out of wool, and held together with the square nails used at the time. The child who wore these must have been very special for someone to keep such good care of them.\u201d To Boyleston, the history is most important with every piece in his collection or reconstruction of his own making encapsulating a particular element of our nation\u2019s story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it comes to making guns, I don\u2019t like to copy,\u201d the rifle-maker and history buff remarked. \u201cI pick designs and parts from a wide range and design from there \u2013 incorporating many different elements of our shared, American heritage in hopes to preserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t much research on the subject when I started,\u201d Steve Boyleston admitted of his meager beginnings in rifle-making. \u201cI mainly turned to a book called\u00a0The Kentucky Rifle\u00a0in those days.\u201d Boyleston \u2013 a native of Aiken, South Carolina, with direct family ties to founding families of the Boston area \u2013 has dedicated the better part…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":20553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20373"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coastallifestylemagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=20373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}