New Rifle for Review

I received a new rifle this morning from Clay Smith. Now Clay is a top-flight gunsmith who trained and worked in the gun shop at Williamsburg for many years. He was let go in staff cutbacks last year. Clay is building guns on his own, and really makes some beautiful firearms. He is also a shooter and a hunter and knows that not everyone wants to take a high-dollar rifle out to the woods to get soaked by rain or scratched up. Since there are not many good flintlock production guns on the market, he introduced a plain rifle that is well made with high quality parts. He calls it his Trade Rifle, and he based it on Indian trade rifles of the early 19th century.

Though not carved and decorated, Clay does his usual first-rate job on the fit and finish. The rifle I just got is a .54 caliber. I plan to shoot it as soon as it warms up a little, and then write a review on it for an upcoming issue of MUZZLELOADER. I haven't taken pictures of my new rifle yet, so the picture above is from Clay's website.

More on this later,
Bill Scurlock