Mark Thomas Rifle

This is the rifle I have been deer hunting with the last two years. It has a 44 inch Getz barrel, a Jim Chambers lock and the stock wood came from Freddie Harrison. The rest of the parts were made/modified by Mark Thomas. It weighs just 8 pounds, so it's not a chore to carry through the woods all day. I asked Mark about the styling on this rifle and here's part of what he told me:

"I believe, when I built your rifle, that I used the pattern from the Alexander Walker riffle circa 1780 of Augusta County, Virginia. That is where the relationship to the original stopped. By using a generic early style butt piece and trigger guard, I developed my own rendition of an 18th century rifle. This rifle is a more common style with a little carving and engraving to enhance it. Actually, that's the fun part for me. I've always viewed the building of a rifle to be in two different realms. One is the practical, so that it fits correctly and functions well. The other is the artistic details of the carving and engraving. The final part of this saga is the color that was imparted to the maple wood by the use of ferric nitrate as the stain. A little secret of an aged gun with nice wood is that, when the aging is polished through over years of use, more wood and the unique color of the nitrate stain will show through."

Those are the basics on this rifle. If I think of something else later, I'll post about it again.

Bill Scurlock