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Show Gunsmithing with Black Powder Guns Firing off a pinch of black powder, the modern mountain man, turned teacher, took a deep breath. "Smell that? You get addicted to that smell," he said, "and you have to go out and fire your rifle or else you get to itchin' real bad" Roger Chidester believes there is great satisfaction in making your own gun from scratch, making your own powder, your own powder horn, balls and ; A riri I SKILLED IN GUNSMITHING. Roger Chidester, complete with powder horn, "possible" bag, and flintlocks of his own construction is ready for the hunt. Chidester has built numerous guns from scratch. pouch and then going out and bagging a deer. And from the look on his face, satisfaction is a by-product of the hobby. Chidester, a machine shop instructor at SUSC, teaches a non-credit course in the SUSC Continuing Education Program intitled "Gunsmithing with Black Powder Guns." The course, Chidester said, is designed to spark an interest in the production and use of black powder guns. Chidester said his first interest in black powder guns was when he fired a neighbor's flintlock as a child. He said he and friends used to shoot bits of bolts with the old flintlock, "which wasn't very smart." He began making his own guns five years ago and has since constructed four, with a few more on the workbench. One of the goals of the class, taught Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the Trades and Industry Building, is for all enrolled to build a gun. Some are not able to, Chidester said, but often choose to tear down and remake a rifle instead. "But everyone in the class needs to be involved," Chidester explained. "Fun is the name of the game. "After I take them out and let them shoot one once, they get to festering something awful and they just have to have one for themselves." Chidester said about 50-60 hours is involved in making a powder fired hand gun from scratch. A kit for a Kentucky pistol, he said, generally costs about $35-$50. Rifle kits run about $120 and up and a flintlock rifle made in Europe can be bought for around $140 or a U.S. made one for $400. But Chidester said he prefers to make his from scratch. "It's a fun hobby. You can spend as little or as much as you want," he said. "You can do most of the work in building a gun right at home." "One student made everything in his rifle completely by hand and from scratch and spent less than $10." The interest in flintlock and blackpowder guns faded out a bit, but never faded out entirely, anything that could be used for repair if something went wrong, hence the name "possible bag." Chidester made his own possible bag, but he said, "I cheated. I sewed it on a machine." Chidester also makes his own black powder, using a mixture of charcoal, sulphur and saltpeter. lie also made his own powder horn, from an old cow's horn. It is a relatively simple procedure to make a powder horn, he said, accomplished by boiling the horn and lots of hand rubbing. "Most of my students have seen shows or read in grandpa's history about flintlocks," he explained, "but the class gives them some first hand information." Chidester said. There are more flintlock rifles built today than at any time in their history. He said his favorite flintlock fires "pretty nice up to 300 yards and is really accurate up to 100 yards." Chidester's flintlock kicks about as much as a 30-30, he said. Black powder burns slow, he added, so there is a delay in the firing of the rifle. "There is enough of a delay that a jack rabbit can move about three feet," Chidester said. "But I've got so I can get about one-half of the rabbits I shoot at." Chidester said any one who is really interested in building replica guns, should go "whole hog" and research carefully the time period the gun was used. For example, he said, anyone who puts brass screws in the brass hardware on the stock of a 1700 gun "is faking it." Because, he said, there were no brass screws in the 170O's. Chidester also discusses the history of black powder guns and their evolution, of which he is a walking encyclopedia, in his class. Mountain men of the frontier, Chidester said, also carried a "possible bag," with them wherever they went. The bag contained a crude screwdriver, spare parts, lead balls, a ball mold, an extra screw or two, I. |