Design Your Flintlock

The Northwest trade rifle is the most traded gun at Fort Union and with several other trading companies. These rifles would have been flintlocks, which is the firing mechanism used to shoot the gun. A flint that is held in between two jaws is located on the cock of the gun strikes a steel frizzen to create a spark. Gun powder that is located in a trough called a pan would ignite and the spark would move through a small hole in the barrel called a touchhole and cause the gun to fire.

Gun barrels and stocks were often decorated to distinguish between owners as well as bring a unique look to the, sometimes-plain, base. A staple on the Northwest Trade rifle was the serpent side plate. A bronze image of a serpent was seen as a symbol of power to many Plains tribes and was a necessity when it came to the trade. It was used to hold the firing mechanism to the rifle and protected the wood of the barrel from the screws. It was also a great way to decorate the rifle itself. Stamps of the manufacturer and the side plate were seen as marks of quality. Coils of brass wire could be used as decoration as well as a repair for the wrist of the gun. Brass tacks were a very common decoration in the fur trade era, because they were easy to obtain and install on the rifle. Other reasons for decorating would have been for respect to the weapon, ceremonial reasons, or marking it as your own.

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  Northwestern Trade Gun Ranger Talk

  Park Ranger Sawyer Flynn describes the attributes of the Northwestern Trade Muzzle Loader and the significance of different decoration patterns.

  Duration:

  11 minutes, 25 seconds

Gun activity instructions:

We have provided a few templates of flintlock rifles for you to make your own. You can either print them, or use a computer program like Paint.
Full Flintlock Template
Flintlock Stock Template (Page 1)
Flintlock Barrel Template (Page 2)

1. Add designs to your template and brand it for yourself.

2. (Optional) make a side plate for your rifle

3. (Optional) add a patch box to the stock of your gun

4. (Optional) draw tacks on your rifle

5. When you are done, make sure to take a picture of it and post it on our Facebook page.

Alternate Activities

• Imagine what your rifle would look like. Describe it to a friend and they can draw it for you and post a picture to our Facebook page.
• Imagine what your rifle would look like. Post a written description of your rifle to our Facebook page.

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  Northwestern Trade Gun Activity

  Park Ranger Kristen Norgaard walks you through printing out and decorating your own Trade Gun.

  Duration:

  3 minutes, 19 seconds

Outline of Flintlock

NPS Photo

Outline of a Flintlock Stock

NPS Photo

Outline of a Flintlock Barrel

NPS Photo