This year's raffle gun is a reproduction done in the style of Nicholas Shennefelt, a Clarion county gunsmith who worked in Huntingdon County, PA, before moving to Clarion county. He began his career at the dawn of the percussion era, somewhere around 1830. As the years passed, his later guns were more reflective of the percussion era, but his early guns showed the "Golden Age" influences.
Shennefelt wasn't known as a great carver, and anyone who knows Ron Luckenbill knows that he is. The challenge in building this gun was to recreate the look and feel of the original, forcing Ron to "dumb down" his own superlative skills to match those of Shennefelt.
This year's gun is a reproduction of one found in Harriger's "
Longrifles of Pennsylvania: Jefferson, Clarion and Elk Counties," (Shumway, 1984), pages 182-183. The gun in the book is a percussion, but Ron built this copy as a flintlock.
Tickets will go on sale sometime this spring for $5.00 a ticket, or you can get a 20% discount by purchasing lots of 5 for $20, or 10 for $40. Tickets will be available at the Jefferson County History Center, Dead Center Arms, and Lloyd-Smith (see Dave Rossey).
If you have any questions about this gun, please talk to Ron at the monthly Longrifle shoots, or call the Jefferson County History Center (814-849-0077) and ask for Ken Burkett.
Shooters along the Trail course, late afternoon on Saturday.
More shooters along the Trail course, late afternoon on Saturday.
