Jerry Huddleston

There is a long story behind this gun. Before the war of 1812 the British government commissioned Manton and Durrs Egg to build 50 of these rifles. They were to be presented to the Iroquois chiefs in Canada as an incentive to keep them loyal to the crown during the war os 1812. There were three different models. The premier model was a over under 20 Ga. x 55 cal. rifle. This is a near copy of the medium quality model.

The war ended before these rifles could be distributed and all but about three of them are still in the armory. I saw some photos of these in some auction catalogs and from the photos scaled this out and built this gun.

I do not believe in making an exact copy of an original for ethical reasons. There are slight variations in this rifle besides my name being on it. The originals are 55 cal. This is a 54. cal. The engraving is very slightly altered because I thought the original stag or deer on the patch box looked too cartoonist among other things. The Architecture is as exact as I could make it.

The barrel is a 54 cal. Getz that has been re contoured on the outside. The lock is a revised Pedersoli. The hammer has been changed to coincide with the original Manton Egg style hammer. The original Pedersoli springs were too light for my liking so they were all replaced with stronger springs. The trigger guard is a reshaped Manton shotgun guard. The sight is a two bladed leaf sight exactly like the originals. The second blade is set at 200 yds.

This is my hunting rifle. I killed a nice white tailed deer with is in 2006 and will probably get another this year. The deer was killed with a shot thru the heart at 135 yards.

I absolutely love this rifle. It looks great, hits where you shoot and feels good in your hands. It has about 1/4" castoff, 3 1/4" drop, weighs about 7 lbs., 14-1/2" pull, nice light single trigger, and No Creep. Almost as fast as a percussion. It has never miss fired.

In 2007 the owner of one of the only two original rifles in private hands was at my table at the RenoShow. His first comment was " you copied my gun." J.H.