Newest Companion

Time for confession. It's been a little over a week since Jessica, my secretary, brought her over to me in the office. I was expecting her to come, but not just then; but it's been uninterrupted and unexpected pleasure since. Slim and graceful, a brunette with just a hint of red deep in an almost otherwise dark walnut color, she has a steely beauty that engages the eye. When she speaks, she does so with a natural authority. She is versatile, able to carry out any task for her that has come to my mind. I have to say that the first time I took her by the wrist I was amazed by its unexpected delicacy. Since that day we been out twice socially, causing a bit of a stir at whatever gathering she has been seen on my arm.

I'm speaking of course, about the new Early Rustic Arms French Trade Gun built for me by Mr. Terry Williams. I ordered her well over a year ago. She is not late; Larry Williams, who heads Early Rustic Arms, told me when I placed my order that he had a huge backlog of orders, which he was doing one at a time. At that time he was working alone. He's had some hard times; he lost his wife to cancer last year, and has been a bit lonely, I fear, in his shop. His son Terry has recently entered the business, and is actually the one who turned out my trade gun; which I am very happy with. I think the plans are to bring the entire operation out of Kentucky, to his son's place in Camdenten, MO.

My gun is not advertised by Early Rustic Arms as a Tulle fusil-de-chasse; it actually has the look, I think - but of course I'm no expert - of something that might have come out of the St. Etienne works. The furniture is later 'D" type French trade gun styling ( i.e., pre-1763). She has a 42 inch octagon to round smoothbore barrel, made by the Williams', in .62 caliber/ 20 gauge; she has a walnut stock stained very dark, and steel furniture, all antiqued in a gray finish. It's going to be much easier for me to maintain this gun than my other 20 gauge fusil de chasse, which metal is armory bright. She's also lighter in weight than the other gun, so I think she will be a great companion for me when I hunt. As a smoothbore, ( that is, possessing an unrifled bore like a shotgun) she will take either shot or ball, so I could use her to take and put down any game in North America from a gray squirrel to a polar bear. Loaded with a .600 caliber roundball and wad, or .595 caliber roundball with a greased patch and 70 grains of FFg black powder, she should be as accurate as a rifle for me out to at least 70 yards. The same powder load and an equal volume of #7 shot will do for small game like squirrel; switch to #4 shot and pump up the volume of it a bit, and I should have a tighter pattern and more knock-down power for hunting turkeys.

I did something I shouldn't of with this gun; I shot her out of the box without sighting her in. It was our first time out. And what I shot her in was the local muzzleloading club's smoothbore competition, in which I finished second place! She's already won me 2 pounds of black powder! Her balance is extremely sweet, and she holds on target like a rock.

The next day, Sunday, I went out with some friends to shoot trap. I haven't shot trap in 20 years. I hit three of every four birds flown; I'm not sure how many we shot, but we were there all afternoon. It was an informal family get-together of one of my parishioners who is a member of a huge clan, which I came to as an invited guest. Shooting a smoothbore flintlock successfully against all those people missing their clays with pump shotguns caused a bit of conversation, you can imagine!


I think this one going to become a favorite hunting gun. She needs a name, but I haven't thought of one yet. As you can tell, I'm very happy with her performance so far. Next week, we will go to the range to become more intensely acquainted with each other. I'll probably post a range report when I have one. And for sure, I'll be going squirrel hunting very soon!