That Fancy Rifle

Notes on the Subtle Art of Engraving

- Terry Wieland

Ernest Hemingway once advised that, when you are stuck for an opening line, simply write the truest sentence you know at the time. So here goes: Engraving on rifles serves many purposes, most of them good, but it can also be a trap – and a very expensive trap at that.

More than any other feature on a rifle, with the occasional exception of extravagant walnut, engraving can make even the finest rifle decadent. By that, I mean decadent in one of the original definitions of the word: an object which becomes so ornate as to be unusable for its original purpose.

Ironically, many of the finest rifles found in the world’s great museums today exist solely because they were so ornate. As a result, they were never actually used and subjected to the rough treatment of hunting and the corrosion of powder and priming.

If one were intent on beginning the story with the origins of engraving on guns, the trail would lead all the way back to prehistoric cave drawings of game animals, which led to the ornamentation of spears and bows, and laser swords and daggers, and finally firearms. The engraving itself is intertwined with the creation of totems for individuals and tribes and has a long history related to a fine art. Engraving, however, no matter how good, is a craft, not fine art, and should be treated as such.

This is getting slightly away from the original intent, which was to look at different types and purposes of engraving found on rifles, so let’s go back to that and see exactly what purposes appropriate engraving actually serves.