my first flintlock

I got into this hobby as a senior in high-school way back in 1984 & it wasn't long before I had my first smokepole in the form of a Traditions Pennsylvania longrifle in percussion, well, I thought I had the "real deal" but soon realized I wanted a shorter barrel to make it easier to hunt with so out went the Traditions & in came a T/C Renegade percussion, yep, that was the "real deal" for me...UNTIL, the first time I saw someone discharge a flintlock! PRAISE THE LORD! This was like a whole new revalation for me, I've GOT to get one of those!
Enter Curly Gostomski from North Star who I met in '85 at my first real rendezvous, the High Plains in central Nebraska. Well, what a guy & the coolest looking smoothbores I'd ever seen up to this point, the dropping of spare change started in a jar & well it was a couple years or so later I decided I needed to call Curly back about his trade guns. Now for those of you who havn't heard about Curly Gostomski & what he did for the modern day flintlock shooter in his days, you need to ask anyone who's been in this for a few years & hopefully they can set you straight, long story short he started making trade gun parts based on original trade guns that to this day hang in the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, NE

Well, I decided I wanted the Chief's Grade Trade Gun with a 30" barrel to negotiate from a horse & I needed a lefty as I'm a "Southpaw". Curly could set me up but he was way up there in years & having some health issues so he advised me to order the kit & have a reputable builder make it for me. DANG! I felt like it was going to be forever, who do I get to build this thing for me that I can trust for my first flintlock?

HMMM, I remember a guy I had met at our local muzzleloading convention over the past couple years whose handmade flintlocks really stood out, even though they were mostly "those longrifles from back east & an earlier time period" I'll give him a call. Enter Larry Cruise from St. Edward, NE, very talented builder & now proud to say a good friend & fellow Contempoary Longrifle Assoc. member.

Larry Cruise built this up for me way back then in a timely manner & treated me like a friend from the start & I couldn't be more pleased about my "first flintlock" I've used this gun for years in the woods, mostly for quail & rabbits, it's yet to take a deer because another fine Larry Cruise built longrifle took that duty over just a few years after I got this one (I'll save that for a future post) Anyways, it's been a joy to carry, shoot & hunt with this gun & I'd like to thank ol' Curly (RIP my friend) & Larry who's still making some of the finest flintlocks I've had the pleasure of handling/shooting.