Yeck Firearms Find

[Steve Weems]

While cleaning out an old box of mind came across an original announcement by Yeck Antique Firearms of their re-production of
American muskets and carbines. The front picture shows a worker at a bench with a musket and a rack of muskets and Smith carbines
next to him. Remember side burns and bell bottoms? He's got them. Post mark was Feb. 1975. Must have been close to start
of their production.

The 1861's were going for $235 and the Smith's for $225. I was just getting started in my career and could not afford these
high prices! If there are any Yeck collectors out there I would be glad to pass this on to them if they send me their address.

[MikeArthur]

Hi Steve, I've got a Yeck Smith, but only need a photocopy, :D if possible

mike arthur
hampton horse artillery
843 412-1992

280 middle st
sullivans island, sc 29482

fax 843 412-1992 when turned on

[pastore]

I bought my Yeck Smith the year before they were delivered. Mine cost $160. Mine had no serial# and no manufactures markings. The only stamping on the gun was the #19 stamped on the bottom of the top strap.

[Harry]

Steve .... items like that make very nice donations to the Historic Center at the Fort. The displays there are very interesting but alas I think underappreciated and somewhat unknown. You can also name a value and get a donation slip for your taxes ...

Harry
11'th NJ PVI

[Steve Weems]

Harry--The original went out today to Mr. A. C. Baird for the Historical Center and also sent out a copy to Mike Arthur.
Looking at the pictures kind of makes you hunger to hold one --never have had a chance. I have wondered what the
Yeck muskets weight and balance compared to the Italian ones.

[musketjon]

I once had a Yeck Smith Carbine, about 30 years ago. Then I found a really nice original about a year later. Paid $400 for the original. I thought I was crazy!!!??!! The Mrs said I couldn't have 2 of the same gun so I sold/traded the Yeck. In retrospect I should've kept the Yeck and got rid of the Mrs. (lol). I'd sure like to have that Yeck now.
Jon

[R. McAuley 3014V]

As I mentioned on another thread here last year (August 2009), in 1982 I bought one of the last of the Yeck Carbines as a parts kit (for about $250 as best I recall), just a few weeks after the man who had been assembling them for Mike had passed away (and whose name currently escapes my memory). Not sure that I knew his name then? But the receiver was still a rough investment casting, and while the carbines that were assembled had the shoulders milled in a bevel, and bore serial numbers, mine was devoid of these refinements. Determined to complete mine as closely as possible to match the subtle contours of the original 1860s production, I studied every example I could access, and made precise measurements and detailed notes on the external contours, then applied these to my receiver until completed. After seeing an example of the color case-hardening by Henry Marshall, gunsmith, of Smyrna, GA, I polished the receiver to a mirror bright finish and gave it to him to do his part (costing another $60). Since the carbine was never stamped with a serial number, it's one of only a few of such specimens that others may discover unserialized, just as the one that was on Gunbroker last year looked very much like the carbine I sold in 2003. At the time, I had two of the Pietta Smiths, one of which had been relined by Hoyt and was much more accurate than either of the others. Do I miss the Yeck Smith, not really. But I just wanted to convey to the broader group that not all of these carbines were completed by Mike Yeck. Some were finished from a parts kit. But all were (as I recall) the artillery model, while the Pietta production included both the artillery and cavalry models,and at $350 when they came out in 1990-91, more than one skirmisher sold their Yecks to buy the new Piettas. Not all were satisfied with the new carbines.

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