Making of the Mansker Suite: Part 1 The Rifle

An enormous amount of work is involved in the making of a documentary copy of an emblematic original rifle. This is especially true of the Mansker Rifle. The original, carried by Kasper Mansker is now in a private collection. Jud was invited to make the accurate measurements and esthetic appraisal of the original with the aim of crafting documentary copies of this important historical piece. He has subsequently made 5 documentary copies, one of which is on display at the Mansker's Station historic site in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

The image above shows Jud engraving the silver cheek piece decoration, unique to this rifle, that was incorporated as a design motif into all of the pieces produced in the Mansker Suite of rifle and hunting accouterments.


The following pictures show the shaping, carving and inletting of the unstained curly maple stock.

To prevent a documentary copy from being mistaken for an original it is customary to mark the rifle as shown in this picture.