Grease hole

I use a lube made by a late friend. It is more of a solid consistency and won't run. You just wipe the patch over it.

To each his own of course. I been a studying some southern mountain rifles from this area of East Tennessee, southeast Kentucky and western North Carolina and noticed several guns had grease holes in their stocks. So thinks I, if them old fellers did it, so can I.

I ain’t worried about the ‘grease’ running out for a couple reasons. First, it’s more of a waxy paste made of a secret formula that I ain’t revealing. Also, my hunting and most of my target shooting is done in cooler weather.

Ain’t worried about a little dirt either cause I won’t be low crawling with my rifle like I did for Uncle Sam. But, if a stray squirrel hair or grain of sand happened to get in the mix, it won’t hurt anything. I’m igniting a charge of black powder in the bore, not operating in a sterile lab.

Anywho, as soon as it cools off and I get the time, gonna see how it works.

Life is good.

Years ago - a lot of years ago - I had a CVA "Kentucky" .45 caliber, two-piece stock, you all know the one I mean. Percussion, shot pretty good. Because it was a plain rifle and my skills to add anything were and are limited, I added a grease hole to the stock. I used a beeswax based lube to fill it and for protection I simply covered it with a patch when hunting or at the range. Seemed so obvious to me. Worked pretty well too.

Finally got to take the $75 Jukar to the range and test the modifications I made to it.

First, I filed down the front sight some and opened up the rear sight. Now I can see and hit what I’m aiming at.

Next, I cut off the annoying little tail at the back of the trigger guard. It looks better and feels much, much better.

Finally, the grease hole. I’m glad I did it. It was mighty fine and worked with pre-cut patches or patches cut at the muzzle. After twenty shots there was still enough grease for a few more shots, so plenty for a deer hunt.

30 yards, standing, off hand.
50 grains of 2f, patched .440 home cast round ball.
I’m a fan of flintlock smooth bores but this gun is definitely my favorite rifle.
Not bad for $75 and old eyes.
Life is good.

Banjoman said:

Added a grease hole to the .45 percussion rifle. Southern mountain rifles from East Tennessee and western North Carolina sometimes had these. We’ll see how it works.View attachment 349534

I got the idea from this,

View attachment 349538

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Looks good. I actually like grease holes. I guess because when growing up I always wanted a BP rifle but couldn't get one. And seems like all the rifles I saw were SMR type and had grease holes. Pop and them had no interest in black powder so I had too wait about that. I guess that's how I knew I was adopted... Here is an example of an old SMR that's had the grease in the hole for at least 40 years. Don't know what the grease is because it was there before it was mine. But that grease is still usable if one wanted to. And much to my surprise, even in the heat, this grease has never ran. I think you made a good improvement to your rifle.

Banjoman said:

I used a 1” hole saw. Drilled down about 1/4” then chiseled out the center. Don’t know if this is how it was done back in the 19th century, but it worked for me.View attachment 349789

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I think back then they used Forstner bits. At least that's what Davy Crockett said on his website.

JohnBHM said:

Thanks, I've got Forstner bits that give you a flat bottom hole. I will post a picture after do it.View attachment 349816

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Tis a beautiful rifle.

Banjoman said:

Finally got to take the $75 Jukar to the range and test the modifications I made to it.

First, I filed down the front sight some and opened up the rear sight. Now I can see and hit what I’m aiming at.

Next, I cut off the annoying little tail at the back of the trigger guard. It looks better and feels much, much better.

Finally, the grease hole. I’m glad I did it. It was mighty fine and worked with pre-cut patches or patches cut at the muzzle. After twenty shots there was still enough grease for a few more shots, so plenty for a deer hunt.

View attachment 35086130 yards, standing, off hand.
50 grains of 2f, patched .440 home cast round ball.
I’m a fan of flintlock smooth bores but this gun is definitely my favorite rifle.
Not bad for $75 and old eyes.
Life is good.

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Yep, you got a deal on that one. They are much better guns then some folks would expect. And I'm glad you cut that stupid little tail off the trigger guard. Been thinking about doing that to mine but wasn't sure how it would look. Yours looks good so I'm gonna copy that. Thanks for posting.

reddogge said:

I put one in my .32 I built back in the 80s but I wish I had not. It seemed to be the trend back then ala Hershel. View attachment 349987

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Good looking rifle.

Hermit Tim said:

Yep, you got a deal on that one. They are much better guns then some folks would expect. And I'm glad you cut that stupid little tail off the trigger guard. Been thinking about doing that to mine but wasn't sure how it would look. Yours looks good so I'm gonna copy that. Thanks for posting.

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You’re welcome. I was truly surprised how much better it is. I’m also considering taking it off my Traditions Kentucky rifle too. It has the same little tail. It would probably have been okay if it was about an inch farther back.

Banjoman said:

You’re welcome. I was truly surprised how much better it is. I’m also considering taking it off my Traditions Kentucky rifle too. It has the same little tail. It would probably have been okay if it was about an inch farther back.

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Yep. For me it is just right in the way. What was CVAJukarTraditions, Inc. thinking with that little tail?

If you look at the Randal Pierce book ‘Kentucky Rifles of the Great Smoky Mountains’, it looks like they may have tried to copy some of those. I’ve handled only a very few originals with similar trigger guards but I don’t remember them being annoying as the CVAJukarTraditions.

reddogge said:

I put one in my .32 I built back in the 80s but I wish I had not. It seemed to be the trend back then ala Hershel. View attachment 349987

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Would be easy to plug the hole up depending on the hole size.

I think the holes look great especially with the yellow color against the wood color. And if they are useful all the better. Love SMR’s and all of yours are beautiful in my eyes.

Hmmmm.....bacon fat!

A matter of personal taste for me. I like patch boxes on stocks but would not drill a hole on any of my guns. In the Florida heat it would take a very stiff grease to not be a big mess.

I wouldn't ever do it to a beautiful chunk of rifle wood, but....
If you have to use a hole saw, you can cut in using the pilot about 1/4" or until the teeth are buried, and then back out the pilot on the hole saw and continue to your desired depth. Forstners are better though.
Or, you can set up your pilot bit to go all the way through the stock, with the saw going in only 1/2". This will eliminate the fear of dirty grease as you can now extrude a clean lube through the 1/4" hole on opposite side of the stock by pressing on the sawn out side. Lots of examples of this in the Cody Museum.
And while doing all this, bore a thumb hole behind the trigger guard.
Ok, I was trolling about the extruder and the thumbhole. Not sure about the Cody Museum. But you can eliminate the inauthentic pilot bit hole by following my earlier instructions. It also helps to use a separate 1/4" bit to cut your starter pilot hole. Then use your hole saw and pilot, in reverse at first, until you break the surface about 1/16". This will help to prevent tear out when you start going forward with the hole saw. Of course, all the Cody Museum specimens have lots of hole saw tear out, so go with your gut. Using a pre-1900 cordless drill will also be more authentic. They did have them.
I actually like my 'extruder' idea. I might surprise a friend on one of his rifles. If he doesn't like it, I have plenty of bondo. SW

Antelope Pete said:

Here in the dusty, dirty west the lube would quickly turn into a coarse valve grinding compound.

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Lapping compound, Pete.
Pretty sure Mr. Kibler makes customers sign a contract to never, ever do this. Maybe on future, Kibler synthetic stocks....
SW

Banjoman said:

I definitely like the way it looks. I always thought those were cool and interesting, a real southern mountain kind of thing. My grease is more of a stiff paste so I think it will be fine. Most of my shooting and hunting is in the fall and winter anyway so melting probably won’t be a concern.

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I would have trouble keeping grit and dead leaf fragments out of the grease.

Hermit Tim said:

I think back then they used Forstner bits. At least that's what Davy Crockett said on his website.

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Forstner bits are a rather modern invention, but I'd use that or a spoon bit yo avoid tear out. Good article on the basics of braces and bits: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/arts-mysteries-boring-in-the-18th-century/