Jaeger Rifles: Collected Articles Published in Muzzle Blasts

By George Shumway

220 pages,softcover: $35.00 plus $5.00 S&H

Reviewed by Peter A. Alexander

Over the years, readers have frequently asked me about books that show pictures of jaeger rifles. Contemporary gunsmiths have been interested in recreating the Germanic rifle for many years now, and for many years there was little published about them beyond a few very expensive European books, showing, perhaps, a museum collection, like Handfeuerwaffen Katalogie Des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums Munchen, which I understand to be the catalogue of firearms in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.

Back then, we were all in the same position we had been when the Hawken craze got started in the mid seventies. Thompson-Center had just produced its “Hawken” rifle, which motivated John Baird to research, write and produce his books on what the original Hawken half-stock rifle looked like. Now we could make “true” Hawkens. Before that, any percussion half-stock rifle with double set triggers and iron hardware could loosely be called a “Hawken.” And the same held true for jaeger rifles: as long as there were no accessible books on the subject, we could produce a short-barreled flint gun, mounted in iron with a sliding wooden patchbox, and let our imaginations run wild in the decoration of it. I remember making a few back then but always with the nervous feeling that I was somehow wrong.

Then, in 1991, George Shumway began publishing a new series in Muzzle Blasts magazine, called “Our Germanic Heritage.” These articles featured jaeger rifles, the ancestors of the American longrifle, and continued for at least five years before the editor at that time pulled the plug citing reader complaints; general readers wanted articles on the longrifle.

George Shumway has always been a few steps ahead of the rest of us. Back in the late 70s, when we were all fascinated with the highly decorated “Golden Age” longrifles, George was already studying earlier longrifles, and the publication of Rifles of Colonial America in 1980 caused an almost-overnight change in collectors’ focus. Then, when I worked with George in 1981–1982, I noticed that the longrifles were disappearing from his collection, to be replaced by jaeger rifles and, even more startling, wheel-locks.

In 1996 George took the collection of the “Our Germanic Heritage” articles, photocopied them and published them in a wirebound edition. Here was presented some 50 jaeger rifles broken up according to various regions in the Germanic lands. In fact, it was George who applied Kindig’s thesis of regional “schools” to the Germanic jaeger rifle, something no European museum director had ever thought to do, as he explains on page 31 when discussing the Kaspar Zelner rifle. Another great feature was George’s photography, which showed detailed views of these guns and are of great assistance to contemporaray gunmakers. Now there was something to which I could refer readers.

I immediately bought a copy and began studying. There were some drawbacks, particularly the quality of the photographs, often fuzzy because of the photocopying process. Then I lost my copy (or lent it), and by the time I sought another, the book had sold out.

But now it’s back, under its new title. And the quality of the photography is much better, thanks to Dorothy Shumway’s conquest of the computer and scanner. In addition, Dorothy went through George’s collection of Muzzle Blasts and discovered some eight more jaeger rifles that George had published years before his series. So we now have some 64 jaeger rifles in one place.

I have my favorites, of course, like the Zelner rifle, which I intend to recreate, but more importantly, this book shows a great collection of mannerist and baroque decoration. Through study and practice, I can “do” rococo from classic to American, but I have shied away from earlier styles. Now I can really get down to studying them and someday effecting them. With all of the jaeger parts available from Track of the Wolf and others, there is now no reason why we can’t produce historically correct jaegers. And I understand that Jim Chambers will shortly produce a jaeger kit. With this book, you will know how to decorate it.

Now I have to admit that, even with computer scanning, some of the photos are not as clear as I would need. If you have found a rifle in the book that you really love and want clear photographic prints, they are available. Just call Dorothy Shumway. Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

Jaeger Rifles is $35.00 plus $5.00 shipping. To order Jaeger Rifles, write George Shumway, Publisher, 3900 Deep Run Lane, York PA 17402, or call 1-888-748-6929. Foreign  orders may fax 717-755-1196.