ARROW ROCK — The state of Missouri spans just under 70,000 square miles. The town of Arrow Rock spans 0.13.

The small town is home to one of only two shops in the U.S. still making 18th-century flintlock rifles from scratch — gunsmith Tyler Sydebotham of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is the friendly face behind the shop.

Sydebotham is the active gunsmith at the historic John P. Sites Jr. Gunsmith Shop in Arrow Rock.

"I absolutely love what I do, and it never feels like I work a day in my life when I'm here," Sydebotham said.

Sydebotham knew from the start: This craft was his calling.

"Every since I was little bitty I thought I was Daniel Boone, growing up I wore buckskins and a coonskin cap everywhere I went," he said.

At the age of 9, he saved up $900 to buy himself his first flintlock r

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