Wind River "Tacks"

[Uncle Russ]

The Wind River Sioux Indians could be a cantankerous bunch at times, and the trappers of the day, that happened on their land, lived in constant fear of loosing their hair.

A year or so back I read a story about Wind River.
It seems the Sioux Nation was a tribe that liked to decorate their firearms...although colors, beads, and certainl inlays were popular, it appears the majority was done mostly with small brass tacks.

Some decorations were very simple, yet done with much deliberation in order to convey something the Brave had accomplished in his life, some act he had performed to help others within the Tribe, or something he accomplished while on the field of battle that had brought honor to him or his tribe.

I have been looking at "Tacks" on a rifle for well over fifty years...some I've seen were done in good taste. Others looked just plain "tacky", pardon the pun, but during all this time I never really came across anything I liked so I just never did it.

This past year I got serious about this "Tack" thing. I had made up my mind, I was going to do it.
I drew up, on paper, dozens of designs, all kinds of South West Motive, but heck this rifle was supposed to represent something a thousand miles from the Southwest, consequently nothing ever jumped out at me, and said "do it"!

I asked here on the forum, and I quickly discovered the memberships thoughts were much like my own....everyone seems to have seen some good, and a lot of bad.

So I said heck with it! I'm going to do this and whatever turns out will be what it is...
This is a very early model kit gun, roughly 45 years old, that was first assembled back, about 5 or 6 years ago.
In the early 1970's Thompson Center was just getting off the ground good, and I have to say the real Walnut stocks that came out of the factory in the kits, was some really nice wood.
There were several models around the Bicentennial in 1976 that had exceptional wood including the Beautiful Cougar, and the Match Grade Cleland Rifle in .40 Cal..

Anyway; here is my completed "Wind River Tacks Rifle".
The Wind River part is for the Sioux Nation, and Tacks is in honor of a member we once had who was bit on the cantankerous side himself....many of the old timers know the story well....

Here is the left side...when I first built the rifle I made a concave "shadow line" cheek piece. Hopefully you can see it in the picture as it too has some tacks.


Her is the wrist and forearm from the lock forward;



Here is the right side / patch box side....


Here is the forearm forward....


If you look close you can see the recent addition of a flash-cup, ie, proper flash cup that actually fits and works like it should.

Don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but that was a choice piece of wood I got with that kit, that stock looked really good before I put all those tacks in it...but now, it is what is.

So what's your thoughts on the more modern day "Tack" rifle.

Uncle Russ...

 

 

[Two Steps]

Looks very neat and clean to me Russ.  No clutter or mess...I say well done! 
Al

[Roaddog]

I like that!The smaller tacks fit just right and don't just jump out at ya,They just blend in wthe the flowe of the nice lines of that pretty stock.That is some nice wood.

[Ohio Joe]

That looks good to me Russ. It's very well done and sets the rifle off. It's pleasing to the eye! 

[amm1851]

I like it! Simple and tastefully done!  Nice job Uncle Russ.   

[ridjrunr]

Nice job Uncle Russ , it would be pretty tough for me to try that, I have thought of it and you described some pro's n con's well. I have always thought one would end up either ya or nay with no in between as far as how it looks when done. Imo, you done this rifle up right

[Paulk]

I like it Russ.  Very pleasant to look at and tactfully done.

[Bigsmoke]

Russ, That is a very nice, tasteful bit of tack work.  I like it, well done.
And the piece of wood is something you would never see today come out of Thompson Center, if indeed you would see a T/C Hawkin come out of there today.
I recall in 1996, Thompson Center had a very bad fire at their plant and their phenomenal  inventory of walnut stock blanks went up in smoke.  Plus tooling for several guns.  Just awful.  There was quite a write up in their local paper, and the photos were incredible.  And their rifles were never the same afterwards.  Just whatever average  wood they could come up with.  And then there was Smith and Wesson and then blah.  What an incredible slide from really good rifles to ho-hum rifles to just the modern zip guns.  Whoopie!!!  De-evolution.
Anyway Russ, glad you got the "before the fire" wood.  You did it proud with the tack job.
John

[Winter Hawk]

Looks good!  I have thought of tacks myself, actually have a bunch of upholstery tacks I picked up for various projects which would work.  They look bigger than what yours are - where did you get them, if I may be so bold as to ask?

Muzzleloader magazine, in the last issue I believe, had an article by Mike Nesbitt where he talked about one of his rifles which he called Tacky since he had done the same to it.

~WH~

[Maven]

Nice job, Russ!   (You have lots more patience than I do!)

Winter Hawk, Nesbitt often talks about Tacky I, So Tacky, and "Too Freakin Tacky."   I'd be happy if he never mentioned them again and I'm sure I'm not alone!

[Uncle Russ]

I agree that the very word "tacky" brings about bad memories from the early start up days of what could well be described as the Modern Muzzleloading craze...shortly before, and several years after the Bicentennial of 76...
Tacks on rifle stocks could be found everywhere you went, some were okay, once translated, but others were little more than just plain tacky, and without rhyme or reason....

Bigsmoke, I totally agree that we the public lost a lot in that big fire back in the mid 1990's.

The single biggest loss, IMHO, was serial numbers, to identify which manufacturer of barrels had "actually" made that barrel....in the very early days T/C permitted the barrel makers to put their "mark" on every barrel they made to T/C Specifications.

I understand that same practice ended sometime in the early 1980's with GM being the last of the truly distinguishable barrels made....GM supposedly used a "double mountain" mark which many have confused with the letter "M", myself included and I'm still not totally convinced otherwise.
I also understand that no less than six, possibly even seven barrel makers have made barrels for T/C over the years.
Back in the 70's and early 80's many "known" barrel makers of today were struggling to get started and would contract for any job they could get.

Information such as this.....years later, would prove to be invaluable in the sale and re-sale of these Muzzleloaders.
Used T/C's are said now to be at least as popular, if not more so today, than they were back in T/C's heyday....That could well be because of the cost factor, and has little to do with quality or durability. Only history will answer that.
They have always been played down as "entry level" Muzzleloaders, no matter how well they shot.
I strongly suspect that if I had been a builder back in those days, I would have pushed hard on that same thought and theory. 

Who would have ever thought that K.W.Thompson Tools, and Warren Center, could have come up with something that would become as popular, and as lasting,  as the lowly T/C Muzzleloader, all while both men were looking for full time work....with an idea based on pictures of past Plains Rifles, and a single surviving specimen of a true Hawken, they made history, or so the story goes.....

Uncle Russ...
 

[Uncle Russ]

Looks good!  I have thought of tacks myself, actually have a bunch of upholstery tacks I picked up for various projects which would work.  They look bigger than what yours are - where did you get them, if I may be so bold as to ask?

Muzzleloader magazine, in the last issue I believe, had an article by Mike Nesbitt where he talked about one of his rifles which he called Tacky since he had done the same to it.

~WH~

Winter Hawk. although we call them "tacks' the proper name for the real small ones is Escutcheon Pins.

The ones I used were 3/4" x 14....then cut in half...all of 'em dipped in Gorilla Glue before tapped in the hole.
I got mine from a "North 40" store, a feed and tack store....
(Tack store as in leather...buying tacks from a tack store doesn't sound just right...)

Anyway, they are the same brass tacks used on a powder horn, when tacks are used.

Uncle Russ...

[Ohio Joe]

I'm almost tempted to do some tack work on my .54 TC that I built from a kit back in 2001 (I believe that's right)... My barrel is "button pulled rifling" according to TC when I called and talked to them about possibly getting the rifling deeper. Can't recall who I talked to, but he said it couldn't be done as it was "button rifling" so i let it go at that.

With this said, I worked up a great load with what I had (90gr 2fg & .535 .018 lubed patch) and put many a deer down with it. 

If I could do as fine a job as Russ did and the tack work have some meaning behind it,,, I'd be very tempted.

Question Russ,,,,, "did you drill undersized pilot holes and glue the tack shanks in"?  Also, where would one start with locating a meaningful designed that would be acceptable to the eye as representing a good hunting rifle,,, something along these lines? 

I just noticed part of my question was answered above in your post to WH.

[Hawken]

Mighty fine job!

[Uncle Russ]

Thanks for all the nice comments on my tacky ol' rifle.
Personally, when I drilled the first few holes in that nice piece of wood, the thought went through my mind...

What in the world was you thinking, if this is a "flop" you've totally ruined it!

So thanks, perhaps it's not all that bad after all.

Uncle Russ...