Book Reviews and Available Knives

While waiting to get the Low Wall project started, I have been doing a bit of reading on the subject of vintage single shots.

The book on top, 100 years of Shooters and Gunmakers of Single Shot Rifles, was written by Gerald Kelver and published in 1975. I believe this is Kelver's second book on the subject. This book covers a broad range of subjects, from the origins of the Creedmoor rifles to Stevens cartridges and telescopes to gunmakers like George Schoyen and famous shooters such as`Charles Rowland. I enjoy the history and learning about the personalities involved, but because the subject matter is so varied one is left wishing there was more detail. Even with that lack of detail, I enjoyed reading it.

The second book is James Grant's Single Shot Rifles. It was published in 1947 and is the first of five books Grant wrote on single shot rifles. This book is a review of the rifles and features a lot of excerpts from period catalogs and flyers. It doesn't have much in the way of the history behind the development of the rifles or the companies that produced them. It does, however, allow you to see the options the factories offered and the various cartridges the rifles were chambered for. In the case of cartridges that were rare, Grant lists alternate cartridge cases that can be used through trimming, reforming, etc. This book was a little "dry" for me because of the catalog/flyer excerpts and lack of history, but it is still a good reference source.

By the way, I am looking for a reasonably priced copy of Kelver's, "Respectfully Yours, H.M. Pope".

Continuing with the single shot theme, here are a some links to articles I found interesting:

http://sandiegoschutzenguilde.org/History/PhiloJacoby.html
http://sandiegoschutzenguilde.org/History/JackLondon.html
 http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/08/history-pope-rifle-barrels.html

Available Knives

This Semi-Skinner is currently available and I am working on a medium Drop Point Hunter to go along with it. The handle material is fiddleback Myrtle and was provided by Cecil Fredi.

THIS KNIFE IS SOLD

If you are interested in purchasing this knife or are interested in having a custom knife made, I can be reached at baumgartknives@gmail.com

Cheers,
Lee