Discover the thrill of working with your hands and build a small caliber, percussion-cap muzzleloading rifle similar to the type built by famed Loudonville gunsmith Peter Reinhard, with this hands-on series of workshops.

Students will work as a group to learn the skills necessary to completely build and assemble the rifle, including fitting the breech plug and drum to barrel, inletting the breech plug, lock, trigger, trigger guard, and butt plate into the stock as well as shaping and finishing the stock from a blank.  Additional steps include dovetailing the barrel for sights, pouring the nose cap, and more.  Hand tool skills developed will include chiseling, sawing, scraping, inletting, and finishing wood and metal.

The workshops will be led by master antique arms builder Tom Oakes, who joins the museum with over 40 years of building and repairing muzzleloaders, as well as 9 years at the Log Cabin Sports Shop in Lodi, OH.

The workshops will be held on Tuesday nights beginning January 11th, and last until the completion of the rifle or as long as the group decides to continue.  Please note that one registration includes the duration of the build process.  This is a hands-on, manual labor workshop with students primarily working on their feet.

There is no cost to register or attend the workshops.  The cost of materials will be covered by the CRF Museum, after which the rifle will be raffled or auctioned (tbd) to cover the expenses of the build and future workshops. 

Due to the nature of this project, this initial series of workshops is limited to 4 attendees.  If registration is full, you may still sign up for a wait-list and be notified if a space opens.

For questions, please contact the museum at 419 994-4050.