poor boy

[Craig Tx]

there's an old saying I love;
"If I light your candle with my candle, it doesn't diminish the light of my candle"

Absolutely!  

It's no shame for the student  to out do the teacher.  I've taught fencing for a number of years.  Nothing thrills me more than to have one of my students whup me.  Especially if they use a technique that they've had to really work on.

It shows me I'm doin' my job right, and gives me incentive to make sure my skills are where they need to be.

Craig

[FG1]

Steve, the beer is for sauteeing the venison ,chilies,garlic and onions in before adding to the beans :lol:

[wadedog]

Thanks wyosmith, you have a great sense of values.
A true testimony to the fellowship that makes this site so good.

[Captchee]

I would agree with Steve on this .
 Its sad really that parts have become such a cost . But when you really look at it I guess , the cost is still pretty reasonable .
 Take casting a trigger guard for instance .
 When I cast a new guard I have at least  2 hours in it . Ranging from laying up the mold , pounding the sand . Melting the  metals .  Not to mention  I have the cost of the gas for my foundry , the brass  as well as maintaining my crucibles which  don’t last to long .
Then you still have to clean things up to make it suitable for use . I simply cant do that process for  the cost charge to simply buy that part through a supplier.
BUT on the bright side  those suppliers most times don’t offer the parts I want .  

  There simply is no replacement for quality work .
 Now unlike steve , I do rework  production guns of  a lot of different qualities  but I also let folks know that  those rifles will never be the quality of  a good  quality rifle made from good quality parts . Sure it may  shoot and shoot well  and serve their intended purpose   BUT

 Now I have  and im sure others here to include steve have  been know to  say  here , try this  I think you will like it better . Try it , this is why  I recommend what I do .

 Some time back  a member of our organization  wanted a new lock for  a  rifle they were building ..
 They contacted me  to see if I had an old factory flintlock laying around .
I did but  IMO it wasn’t satisfactory  and never was , even when new .
 The person  felt he simply couldn’t afford a  quality lock . So  we did some trading and I agreed to send him the  old production lock .
 Well once I got the items we had agreed upon , IMO they were worth more to me then what  that old production lock was . So  I simply boxed up  one of my good locks and sent it off .
 When that fella got the lock  , his remarks were something to the effect of , I have never seen a flintlock that  sparked so well ,  its like its on steroids or something .

 Well  that lock wasn’t  what I would have considered a top of the line lock . It was just a simple L&R   medium  quality  lock . But comparing  that part alone  to the production lock , ?? Well enough said .

 Now that’s just one part ,  taken as a whole  the end reliability alone is  IMO much greater  with  good quality parts found in custom rifles .

 So I would say this . Buy you a   parts kit from one of the manufactures . Get a couple building books , read them . Your not going to be into   things more then a couple hundred more then a descent  production gun   and in some cases less the  what  you would pay for a Pedersoli at cabalas.

 Build your own rifle , we will help you through the steps and answer any questions you have . don’t rush , take your time . The end result will be that you have a rifle that you built with your own two hands . A rifle that you can pass down . A rifle that will   in the end be worth all the knowledge you put into learning to build it ..
 Not to mention when you  use it for hunting  the pride in taking  that first deer or what have you with a rifle you built  will be  worth way more  then the price of the parts .

[mark davidson]

I had a production gun first, a Hawken 50 by Thompson Center. It is a fine rifle and killed several deer for me. Now I have a great Jack Garner flinter that I absolutely love. Even with nice wood it was just over a grand. I am a broke MS school teacher and if I can afford a custom gun than anybody can. I work an extra job or two sometimes. I actually sold a centerfire or two to fund my custom flinter. Point is, save, work extra, sell something, trade out something.....where there is the will there is a way. Considering hunting club dues, land lease fees, four wheelers, good clothing, gas, food, trucks, trailers, etc......the rifle may well be the very least expensive part of the whole thing for a hunter yet it is the rifle that matters the most.

[WhiteBlanket]

I will give you my favorite recipes for chili too.

Well, that's it, you're an extra-terrestial alien.

Naah, Wyosmith just walks in the Kingdom of the Light who is coming into the world..

[sse]

Naah, Wyosmith just walks in the Kingdom of the Light who is coming into the world..

That's true, too.  

And I have to just say, Steve is so full of good words and randomn acts of kindness, quite a character, or as we used to say back in the 70's, he's a good head...(remember that one?)

[Gordon H.Kemp]

I would have to agree with Steve and Charles 100%. Cast some bread on the water and you'll get a whole loaf back. When you have true talent, there is no reason to feel threatened . I also have to agree with Craig, if a student developes a talent that surpasses the teacher, you've done a first rate job of teaching. I would hope we of the TMA can continue to preserve and pass on to others what we have learned.

[Kirrmeister]

Would you all help a guy from Germany too, who try to keep the ML spirit alive here over the big pond???

Regards

Kirrmeister

[Steve S]

Ok...Satisfy my curiosity...What's a "poor Boy"?......Or more accurately,what makes a gun fall into that category?....It's not a term I'd heard until I started frequenting US circles.........
Steve

[FG1]

Plain , no frills ,just a solid workhorse. Some had no buttplate.Something similar to a 'Barn Gun'.

[mario]

Ok...Satisfy my curiosity...What's a "poor Boy"?......Or more accurately,what makes a gun fall into that category?....It's not a term I'd heard until I started frequenting US circles.........
Steve

Like FG1 said.

Most often heard of when you're speaking about things like a "Southern Mountain rifle".

A bare bones firearm usually made for folks at the bottom end of the financial scale.

Mario

[Steve S]

Gotcha.........
Steve

[vermontfreedom]

sorry for getting a bit off topic here (i guess as moderator i should know better), but this is good discussion and I wanted to throw in my $0.02

There are those of us that do certain things (like build muzzleloaders) for a living (I'm not one - I wish I had that talent/expertise!!!).

Folks like WyoSmith and others that do quality work deserve to make a living at it.

Then there are those of us that do these things as hobbies or the enjoyment of teaching others. Some of us sell our crafts - never expecting to make a living or even break even.

I believe there is great value in the non-monetary rewards of these hobbies. For the great majority of us, making our own bullets, possibles bags, longguns, powderhorns, even hunting is done for the love of it - sometimes that is worth far more than money.

Even if I shot the cheapest possible firearms and was able to put 2 or 3 deer a year and a turkey a few grouse or pheasant, some squirrels, etc. etc. in the freezer, hunting might not actually pay for itself (compared to buying, say, the cheapest meat in the grocery store) when you add in gas, vehicle maintenance, hunting clothes, ammo, and time that could be spent in gainful employment.

But...I'll get more out of my experience (often even if I don't put meat in the freezer!) than thinking I'd like that firearm to "pay for itself". Plus there's the added benefit of knowing I'm harvesting a sustainable resource that mostly fed off this good green earth - sometimes you never know what's been put into the meat you get at the store....

[tg]

Take a look at Early Rustic Arms they have some guns for $600-$650 in the white it's hard to buy the parts for that thru most dealers.