Designing your Jim Kruse Custom Muzzleloader

Whether you are starting with just a vague concept, or have a fully-formed mental picture of your custom muzzleloader, Jim Kruse will work with you to ensure that the finished custom muzzleloader is exactly the gun you desire.

Let's examine the design process Jim and one of his recent and more discerning customers used to design a pistol.

First, Jim asked what the customer wished to use the pistol for. This particular customer desired a pistol that he could use in casual shooting competitions and to incidentally harvest small-game and spruce grouse while hunting big game with his flintlock muzzleloading smoothbore long-gun. The two men decided it would be desirable for the ammunition to be consistent with other guns the customer owns to avoid having to carry more than one size of ball or different grades of black powder in the field.

Jim then asked the customer about his historical interests. The customer portrays a historical fur-trade partner in the 1790's, who would have had the means and the social status to afford and appreciate a very fine piece.

By the end of the interview they agreed that the ideal pistol for this customer would be a .62 caliber (20 gauge) smoothbore pistol like those built by gun-makers in late eighteenth century London. Jim hit the books and within a few days was able to show the customer photographs of a variety of guns built at that time. One such gun was so close to the customer's specifications that Jim and the customer decided to duplicate that original piece with only minor modifications.

The finished result is the fine cased pistol with accoutrements depicted in the photograph below:

More photos of this exquisite firearm are posted in the "Pistols" page.