Photo by Brent Addleman
Brian Nesby, left, of Rocky Mountain Firearms Inc. and Mary Kalinowski, of the Elk County Historical Society, hold the Remington .12 guage Stagecoach rifle that was created for Elk County.

Firearms company produces rifle depicting Elk County's rich past.

By Brent Addleman

Editor

Brian Nesby of Rocky Mountain Firearms Inc. has crafted a fully operational piece of history.
Nesby, who was in town this past week, stopped by the Elk County Historical Society to show Director Mary Kalinowski a Remington .12 gauge Stagecoach rifle that depicts the history of Elk County.
The rifle, of which only 11 were made, will be sold and Nesby will donate part of the proceeds to the society.
The idea for the gun stems from the creation of a gun the company made for Elk County a few years back. This time around, the rifle, which features a 24 carat gold barrel and engravings of historic sites and businesses from all over the county, features localized history.
“All of our history is localized,” Nesby said from the spacious interior room of the Elk County Historical Society museum. “You are not buying something that is generic that covers the entire nation. It’s your community, it’s your home, the people buying these – it’s their history. A lot of these people have lived here all their lives. It’s the  history of right here at home.”
“We’re not doing anything generic. When we do our engravings, we try and find actual photographs.”
Nesby and his staff of artists dug deep into the history of Elk County in producing the rifle.
“We try and do all actual history,” Nesby said. “We don’t try and do generic stuff. The proof rifle takes about 3 1/2 to 4 months. All the research is in there, all the artist work from the artist is in there. Then once the artist gets done with it, I go back in and design what I want to put where on the gun.”
The rifles feature engravings that feature the elk herd, the Elk County Courthouse, the Wilcox Tanning Co., Elliott Co., the State Game Lands, the Straight Creek Railroad and the Johnsonburg Community Center, along with some animals.
“The date I put in here was the date of the last one being killed, that was recorded that they ever knew about. That’s when they actually went extinct,” Nesby said of the engraving depicting the elk herd. “With the elk being such a popular thing in the county’s history nowadays, I thought that was probably important, seeing how it was back in the 1800s.
“It’s always unique to put stuff on guns that locals don’t know.”
The engravings are on the barrell, stock, trigger guard and butt of the gun.
“We have a map of the county and the established date,” Nesby said. “We have the majority of the towns. We have the Arroyo Bridge on the trigger guard. We have the State Game Lands. This was the first State Game Lands in the state of Pennsylvania, was here in Elk County. We put the historical marker on here with the date of when it was done.
“We have the Straight Creek Railroad. It’s just one of the engines I found on a historical picture. We have the Elliott Co. They built the electric motors for two different submarine classes. We have the Johnsonburg Community Center. That used to be tied into the paper mills. I have the Pennsylvania state flag and the county’s name.”
For Kalinowski, seeing the rifle for the first time left her awestruck.
“I think its fantastic,” Kalinowski said. “What a way to actually show the history, especially since we did have the first State Game Lands and we are a huge hunting community. People come from all over to go hunting here. I think it is a fabulous collector’s item.
“They picked some very nice things to put on the gun. They picked different businesses that depict all of Elk County. My favorite part is the eastern elk.”
Kalinowski was also appreciative of the manner of how Nesby picked the historical places for the gun, leaving no corner of the county untouched.
“It does depict everything, different parts of the county, the game lands, the hunting, the turkey, the bear, it does have all the different things people do when they come around here to hunt,” Kalinowski said. “I imagine when settlers first came to Elk County they didn’t go anywhere without their shotgun. I think that’s a great way to display the history of Elk County. I think anybody would be fortunate enough to get one of these guns.”
The gun will be on display this upcoming week at Elk County Ammo & Arms.
One might think that gun collector’s would be among the people first in line to purchase the rifles, but, according to Nesby, that isn’t always the case.
“Gun people do buy them, don’t get me wrong,” Nesby said. “That’s not the way it is. I sold one to a lady in Ohio that has never bought a gun in her life. She was 58-years old. She never owned a gun in her life. She saw the gun and said, ‘I’m going to buy one.”
“It is 100 percent functionable firearm. You can shoot it.”