If any of you haven’t watched this yet, you really should.

James84 said:

I have to wonder if they even teach history anymore in school...

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They don't, and I can just about guarantee you if they did a video about building a firearm would never even be considered.

Dave

Great video. Those rifles back then were truly a work of art and skill.

James84 said:

I remember watching this on vhs some 20 years ago in history class while I was still in high school. I have to wonder if they even teach history anymore in school...

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Short answer- NO. It makes it easier to manufacture useful idiots.

You'd be appalled at what passes for "history" class in the halls of education these days. That's why many schools doing online education don't want parents monitoring what's being taught.

Great video! I love this era of our Nations history!

Surprisingly they showed us a video like that in 5th grade about Lewis and Clarke, the things they did to survive and experiences they had.
I just remember at the time, 10 year old me being absolutely fascinated by the oddity that was the old rifles. I didn't know at the time if the lead balls were themselves the cartridges, or what the powder horn was for. My 5th grade history teacher was a libertarian. He understood the right wing point of view, and also the left wing one. But nonetheless his teaching was completely non-biased. I appreciated that about him.
It was when I was 10 years old that I started reading about those old weapons because i wanted to understand them. Good memories and founded the interest that I still carry with me today.

I remember touring Colonial Williamsburg in my early teens and being fascinated by the gunsmith shop. The tools, the smells, everything about it. There were a couple of guys building rifles as well as rifles and pistols on display. Watching one of the gunsmiths truing a long barrel by bending and sight was fascinating.

I visited Colonial Williamsburg long B.C. (Before Children, infact 30 years ago at least) and spent some time drooling in the gunshop. Noting my interest the gunsmith allowed me to walk a pass on a barrel on the rifling jig, reset the cutter and rod and allowed me to make a second walk. Somewhere some unsuspecting collector has a Williamsburg made scratch built rifle with kBob work involved in it, OK a teenie amount but....

That trip I also got to examine an original wall/boat gun that was in the shop for work from the Museum of American history. About five years later I was in the Museum and it was on display. I over heard someone talking about smooth bore muskets while describing it to a small group and stepped up to tell them that was Lake Erie gun that was in the same battles/time era as the boat a short distance away and what it was used for and that it was a one inch bored rifle with 16 grooves. I then explained having handled the rifle in Williamsburg and ended up with eight to a dozen people following me about that section of the museum while I pointed, talked, and told stories. It was one of those good days I hope to remember when I have forgotten most else.

We made a second trip on the way home to Williamsburg and I told the Gunsmith about visiting the Wall gun in the museum and he immediatly remembered me. A tour group came in and he was showing off a 16 bore fowler they had just finished and he handed it to me, then standing with the crowd. and asked me to "check it for sparking" so dropping my reading glasses I cocked the piece and made a show of examining the flint, covered the pan, and let fly for a great spark. I understand that since then they have pretty much stopped building from scratch and work with many kit parts. A shame, but understandable.

I told these stories to my then soon to be father in law and he rumaged around in his stuff and gave me a VHS copy of that film

-kBob

I had that on VHS tape which I wore out. I now have it on DVD. No idea how many times I've watched but it's a LOT! It never gets old. The first time I went to Colonial Williamsburg umpty-ump years ago the rifle made in the video was on display in the shop. Couldn't touch it but it could be examined closely, which I did. Everyone in our hobby should watch it. I think YouTube has the complete thing available.

And it's worth watching just for the David Brinkley narration with that distinctive cadence. I sure miss that man.

Jeff

I remember watching American Sportsman many yrs ago, this mountain man was walking along and picks up some flint, knaps it into an arrowhead while talking, continues along a creek and finds some sturdy reeds and cuts one with the arrow head, finds a sapling and on till he had made a bow and arrow, then shoots a rabbit and builds a fire and cooks it up, he made it look so easy. I also saw the above video in American history in the 60's.

That was a great video, hadn't seen it before. Thanks!

I was about to post the same video, thought I better do a search. Great video, I refound it and watched a 2nd time.

Here is a new video that isn't as good, but gives some other details about the colonial times.

Dave T said:

They don't, and I can just about guarantee you if they did a video about building a firearm would never even be considered.

Dave

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I saw this video in 8th grade, nearly a decade ago. I was allowed to give class in 12th grade on the firearms used for every era, from colonial era to post 9/11.

I had the pleasure of meeting Wally Gusler back in the 1970s when my wife and I took a trip to Williamsburg. Because I was a member of the Tidewater Muzzleloaders from Annapolis,MD and knew some folks that knew him I got special treatment and got to handle some of his creations. Great experience.

On Veteran's day a small group I belong to did a demonstration for 3rd 4th and 5th graders.
We were in full civil war uniforms of both sides. We brought hard tack for the students to try and we even brought muskets and bayonets.

My high school history class was taught by a socialist, so I never got to learn history as it was practiced until well into my adult working years at my own expense. Thank you for sharing this valuable knowledge.

Howdy

That video is copyrighted 1969. I first saw it in a college class about 1970 or so.

Wallace Guster, the gunsmith at Colonial Williamsburg, was a young man when that video was published. He retired just a few years ago. He was well known in Black Powder circles for building beautiful custom rifles.

For those of you who remember, the narrator of that video was David Brinkley, a well known TV newscaster of that time.

Watched that a few years ago for the 1st time. Very interesting. Youtube seems to keep deleting it.

Since we're telling High School History Teacher stories. My History teacher was the Varsity Football Coach and Varsity Track & Cross Country Coach. He was also a Civil War Reenactor. I had him for history and Cross Country / Track. You'd never guess they guy was a hard core lefty that believed no one should own firearms.

I was blown away by that. He and I didn't get along all that well together. He passed away from Cancer shortly after I graduated. The field house at my High School is now named after him.