Moroccan Afedali Snaphaunce rebuild

Hi Bob

OK. You're moving right along. Good !! Glad you received the recommendation from Dave Person. I think Nick is a lock enthusiast like me. But Nick would have skills way beyond my capabilities. LOL That's good you sent him the complete lock parts. The talent exists on this Forum. It's just a matter of searching for "who". LOL And the willing.
So, this is what we call the "waiting" period, where both the lock and barrel are out for upgrades. Can seem a bit frustrating waiting. But at least your barrel and lock are in the hands of people who know what there doing. Worth the wait, I promise.

I've heard those pistol kits from Cabin Creek are good quality.

Rick

relyon59 said:

After doing further research, I now believe the stock was made from common walnut (Juglans regia), not black walnut (Juglans nigra). Though the species is of farther eastern origins, common walnut was used extensively in western European muskets in the 16th - 19th centuries, and most likely what the original stock was made of. It's somewhat expen$ive.

-Bob

Click to expand...

No comfort to you but the wood yard in the next village to me in France does do any interesting trees that are offered. Bulk of their business in oak sleepers and firewood but he has a store of interesting stuff tucked away in a spare building and sold me a thick slab of the centre of a cherry tree for €70 about 3 metres long and a slightly smaller pear wood slab for wood cut printing. Usually has local walnut in greater quantities. His firewood pile would be a fine source for pistol stocks. I shudder to think what the delivery of a walnut stock blank to the USA would be though. The thought occurs that you might find enough European walnut in old furniture with a couple of lengths spliced together.

I received the black walnut board (8” x 1-13/16” x 60”, straight-grained, clear, with 4 sides surfaced) ordered for the new stock on Friday 8/9. After laying the old stock on the board, I noticed a knot that can be avoided if the new stock blank is nested just right. There’s plenty of good quality stock blank material - more than enough for two stocks at less than the price of a single walnut stock blank from a muzzleloading supplier.

-Bob

First cuts of the new stock blank; butt bevel still to be cut and more initial trimming to be done. There's 1/4" or more margin all around compared to the old stock, and significant planing, filing, chiseling, etc. will be necessary to remove excess wood and shape the new stock.

The excess board is a backup, but hopefully will not be needed and can be sold as a LR stock blank.

-Bob

Cut the butt stock heel bevel and trimmed the muzzle end for a 52" total length. The two original heel plates will be used and the nose muzzle setback will be made once the barrel channel and breech tang are inlet, and the barrel band positions have been determined.

-Bob

Hi Bob

Great job. REF: Your Post # 43 above, second photo over, showing the new stock on it's edge with the old stock sitting on top of the new.
Looks like there is just enough thickness in the new stock to accommodate the lock. But looks like it will work.
By now you've noticed on the original stock, just in front of the lock area, how the stock takes a more abrupt taper rather than a gradual taper to the rear of the forearm. Every Moroccan musket I've seen is built this way, regardless of it's region.
By the way, did the original forearm have the chiseled out groove for the ramrod ?

Rick

Yes, there's a groove (presumably chiseled, though overall it's not very straight) that runs under the forearm from just behind the aft smaller stock band to where it enters the stock just before the taper. The groove and the stock bands retain the center and front of the stowed ramrod. A long channel of the same diameter continues inside the stock just above the lock inlet back as far as the center lock bolt, offset slightly to provide friction when the ramrod is seated/stowed.

-Bob

Thanks Bob. That groove sounds similar to both my Moroccan guns as well as others I've seen.
Doesn't sound like much else you can do on the project at this point till you get the barrel back.

Rick

The fairly simple materials and construction of this musket are apparent throughout. The stock is straight-grained, fairly clear walnut with minimal carved or embossed designs, and there's no left side lock plate. Though the barrel is channeled, the ramrod is grooved, and the snaphaunce lock is inlet, the edge and trigger guards are not inlet and were just nailed in place over the finished stock. The most decorated parts are the barrel bands (notably the aft-most large tapered band), but fairly simple punch work was used to emboss the designs. There doesn't appear too be any engraving anywhere.

There are several items I’m proceeding with until the barrel and lock come back:

BARREL BANDS: I took the barrel band dimensions and determined they can all be cut from a single brass shim stock sheet 8" x 12" x 0.0120". I ordered two sheets from McMaster-Carr, and will have plenty of spare material to practice with. I anticipate making patterns from equally thick heavy paper and transferring those to the brass with sufficient tabs to bend when attached to the stock.

GUARDS: Though I was able to get the rust off the butt stock heel/edge guards, they're pretty worn and cracked, and will be replaced. After initially considering brass replacements, I've since decided to fabricate new guards from 22 ga steel, using the originals as patterns. The new guards will be nailed to the stock with small brads and cover the larger fasteners attaching the heel plates to the butt end. The forward end of the original edge guard covered a portion of the stock thumb relief decoration, so the new top guard will be a ~1/4" shorter so the entire decoration can be seen.

STOCK: I've taken numerous pics of the stock using a vernier caliper and a ruler to get various dimensions. Aside from the snaphaunce lock mount area, the stock is at most 1-1/2” wide, is laterally symmetric, with a swamped barrel 1.00” wide at the breech with a minimum ~1/4” of stock on both sides there. The right side is 3/16” wider where the lock is mounted and slowly tapers to the overall symmetric profile fore and aft of the lock plate. The LOP is 10-5/16” from the heel to the trigger. I'm planning the layout of the heel plate and guard attachment, thumb relief, lock placement, tapers and section changes, barrel and ramrod centerlines, and muzzle transition as close to those of the old stock as I'm able.

-Bob

Hi Bob

It appears you are approaching this project very well indeed. Great work. In this case. it's good you have generally plain example void of any extra decoration. The original was made as a basic, functional musket. That way, you're not "tempted" to re-use or duplicate any decorative material. LOL
TRIGGER GUARD: Every example I've ever seen, the guards are nailed directly to the stocks. No inletting or screws. Not only with these Moroccan muskets, but 95% of all the Eastern market guns, both shoulder guns and pistols. The Moroccan gun builders seemed to avoid making threads/screws whenever possible.
BUTT CAP END GUARDS: Now that's interesting. I didn't realize those end caps had long tails running to the wrist area of the stock, both top and bottom. I've seen this before on other Moroccan muskets. Glad you decided to make the new ones out of steel. I recall that you can also purchase shim stock in steel.
BARREL BANDS: For what it's worth dept. LOL How I made them in the past. I used four, 8" long pieces of schedule-40 PVC pipe. 3/4", 1", 1 1/2", and 2". I would take my cut piece of brass shim stock and start with the 2" size and roll the brass around it, like using a kitchen rolling pin. LOL Then I would take that same band and do the same with it on the 1 1/2" pipe. And repeat with the 1" and again with the 3/4". That way I didn't risk putting a bend or kink on the shim stock where I didn't want it. Of course, before doing this, while the brass shim is still flat, a little decoration would be in order. LOL What I've most seen in the past is tiny, simple square or starburst punch marks. Maybe only about 1/16" in size. I made the bands about 1/4" wider than each impression on the barrel where the original bands were fitted. That way I would be sure to cover all of where the original bands were on the barrel while pulling back on the new bands to compress. Bit hard to explain in writing. The goal of course is for the band to be snug and also cover all the old area on the barrel.

Funny thing, later on, I purchased a small bench type sheet metal roller to make the barrel bands. (Can also be used as a bender) I couldn't pass up the price. But have not had a project since then requiring these bands. LOL

Rick

After some searching, I came upon an ornate example of what I have: An Afedali musket from the Sous Valley in Morocco. The basic musket and lock are nearly identical, but the lock pictured is missing the lock buffer. A 100 cm barrel length is mentioned, and after looking back at a number of pics I took while disassembling it, that's the length of barrel on mine (~40").

I want to rebuild the musket I have as close to its original configuration as I can determine, and it didn't have a lot in the way of decoration.

-Bob

Hi Bob

That's OK. You don't need any decoration added. It's going to be a shooter. Unless you want to add some later. And the original didn't have any decoration anyway.
LOCKS: There were two basic styles of locks used on these muskets. One is called the English pattern - like your lock. The other style, as on my musket, is called the Dutch pattern. Both styles show up on all three regional styles of Moroccan muskets. Just depends on which lock maker the gun builder used.
By the way, your identification for your musket is as to it's origin is correct.

Rick

Cut two edge/heel guard blanks from the 22 ga steel stock and began laying them out, using the old guards as reference. The old guards attached to the heel with one nail and both have similar cracking. The new guards have slightly longer heel tails ending in the same design as the edge tails. The tails are longer so the large nails attaching the heel plates to the butt will be covered, and the 3 or 4 brads in each heel tail will be the only ones showing, just like the butt stock edges. Measured the heel angles to plan for setback relief at the corner fold: the top is 55 degrees; the bottom is 35 degrees.

-Bob

Hi Bob

Looks like you are taking a fully "engineered" approach with this project. LOL Great work !!!
Question: The wood end piece(s). Do you think you will use two screws in place of the original two nails to hold the it to the butt stock ?

SCREWS/BOLTS: You will notice the lock screws have dome heads. Interesting that not only with these Moroccan muskets, but with all of the "Eastern" market guns I've seen, (including the Spanish) they use dome heads wherever screws are used. Whereas the rest of Europe preferred the pan head screws for their locks. Just something I've noticed over the many years.

Rick

After laying out the heel corner and edge guard patterns, the band saw was used to rough cut everything, followed by several hours of hand filing and bench top sander work. The corner guard edges were bent and trimmed, and now they are ready to relieve and fold.

I have been contemplating what to do regarding attaching the heel plates to the butt stock. Two stainless steel #10 flat head Phillips wood screws is just what that joint can use. But I have the nails that held the plates and they’re plenty strong, so why not use them? The walnut is dense, hard wood, so I may pilot the nail holes at least an ~1”. Other than a little finish/oil/stain that seeped in, there was nothing on any mating surface, so I’m considering gluing everything, then setting the nails.

-Bob

Nice work Bob. Those end/edge guards look really good. Also, to me, gluing first then adding the nails sounds like a good idea, And would add additional strength to those pieces.

Wood End Plates to the Butt Stock: If the two original long nails are still good, they could be re-used. You can also purchase new, hand made style nails with square, tapered shafts on line very cheap. The other option, as you mentioned, would be to use two long wood screws. This would be a stronger fix than the two nails. If I went the screw route I would not use Philips head screws. Not authentic. I would use dome head, slotted screws like the lock screws but with wood threads of course. While the dome heads might sit slightly proud of the flat wood butt plate, it would not be enough for you to notice when shouldering the gun. And look more authentic.
The Spanish used dome heads screws for all of their butt plates on both military and sporting guns. Just my thoughts.

Rick

Just for grins, here are examples of the two styles of snaphaunce locks you find on these Moroccan muskets. First photo shows what collectors refer to as the English pattern. This is the style used on the OP's musket. The second photo shows what's called the Dutch/Low-Lands style. Both function the same. Just a bit different in styling. One of these two lock styles shows up on all three of the of the regional types.

Rick

I finished shaping and relieving the corner/edge guards and sanded the heel plates with 60 and 120 grit enough to get a peek at the base wood with no stain or grime.

When I got the muskets, one of the heel plate nails was covered, one was not. I like the covered look and want to do that for both fasteners. The attached pics hopefully show the look I'm hoping to get: The corner/edge guards will be attached with small brads and the guards will cover the flat head heel plate fasteners (what I was thinking when I mentioned Phillips head wood screws).

-Bob

Ahhhhh....now I understand your thoughts via the Phillips screws. They will be covered anyway. Good thinking. That looks like it's going to turn out really nice. Almost like a semi-metal butt plate. Overall, should be a good, strong mounting. Nice work.

Rick

I’ve had a number of things come up recently (sold a helicopter and ferried it to Hannibal, MO, among other things), both the barrel and lock are still out, so I haven’t otherwise made any further progress to date (aside from picking up some shiny 0.012" brass shim stock for the replacement bands).

I’m driving to IL later this week and hope to swing by Pecatonica River LRS in Rockford, IL while I’m in the area. Though I will probably bring the original stock, stock blank, and misc parts I have for reference, unfortunately I will not be able to have Pecatonica inlet for the barrel or ramrod while I’m in IL. Hopefully I can observe the same or similar and/or purchase reference material regarding muzzleloader construction and repair.

-Bob