The Gunsmith
A lifetime around firearms; a lifetime studying the craft.
Edward Pitrolo has spent a lifetime around firearms — more than fifty years of sport and competition shooting and hunting — and over thirty years handcrafting traditional muzzleloaders in the 18th-century manner.
His training comes from the people who kept these skills alive: the Master Gunsmiths and historians of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia, and the gunsmithing and longrifle seminars run by the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association with Western Kentucky University. He has studied for many years under names respected throughout the craft — Wallace Gusler, Mark Silver, Jim Chambers and Ron Ehlert.
Training & study
Coursework
Formal training completed through the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the NMLRA / Western Kentucky University Gunsmithing & Longrifle seminars.
- Drawing & Design for the LongrifleNMLRA / WKU
- Stock Shaping & Relief CarvingWallace Gusler
- Traditional Stock Architecture, Preparation & FinishingMark Silver
- Wire & Sheet-Metal Inlay for the LongrifleWallace Gusler
- Longrifle EngravingMark Silver
- Modifying & Tuning the FlintlockJim Chambers
- Stocking the 18th-Century American FowlerRon Ehlert
- Advanced Firearms Decoration (Gary Brumfield method)Ron Ehlert
Certificate — Stocking the American Fowler, granted 8 June 2001.
Certificate — Advanced Firearms Decoration, granted 10 June 2005.
“PC Longrifles exists to keep this craft alive in Australia — and to put a genuinely hand-made piece in the hands of people who value it.”