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Much controversy still surrounds the question of which rifle equipped the Lewis & Clark expedition, the M1792 comission rifle, or the M1803 (or M1800) Harpers Ferry "short" rifle. Below, in Meriwether Lewis' own hand, we have a telling clue. On March 20, 1806, as the expedition is just about...

Pics of my recently delivered M1800 .54 Harpers Ferry rifle reproduction, from The Rifle Shoppe. Next to it is a TRS Baker rifle for comparison. Yes, the British made left handed Bakers. The lock plate of the one pictured was cast from an original. The M1800 is about three inches longer than...

The Rifle Shoppe puts out an extensive catalog of the parts that they produce. It's $19 and well worth the cost, as it is as much a reference work as it is a catalog. Photos of the locks of the guns described are pictured full size, for instance. The Harpers Ferry model of M1803 rifle receives...

Sorry to be so slow in posting the photos! I'm out of town and this will happen next week. A few arguments helped to settle the L&C M1803 v. 1792 contract rifle question for me, in addition to those mentioned above: The M1803 was almost universally referred to while in Army service as, "the...

Seriously, go ahead and take the rifle apart for through cleaning. What seems like a chore (on the face of it) is actually pretty enjoyable! Then you can put 'er back together, lock, stock, and barrel. You WERE taking the perc apart for cleaning, weren't you??? :thumbsup:

I found these folks while doing a web search and ordered up 5 lbs. online, including 4 lbs. of ffg and one of ffffg for priming. http://www.powderinc.com/index.html Turns out that none of my local gun shops carry black powder because of very restrictive city storage ordnances. Thanks for the...

Hello, Does anyone know where I might purchase ffg and ffffg black gunpowder in less than five and 25 pound batches? Thanks!

I ordered up a new reproduction M1800 Harpers Ferry short rifle from Jess at The Rifle Shop in August, 2007. It showed up on the door step two years later, almost to the day. This is a reproduction of the rifle that surfaced in St. Louis, that is believed to have accompanied the Lewis & Clark...

I went the more expensive route, with a left handed TRS Baker rifle. Yes, they were made at the time! Note the lock markings, cast from an original. The pics below were taken before I had fired the rifle for the first time, so it's looking nice and new.

Never have, and I have to ask, how do you do that? My otherwise clumsy fingers just never seem to go anywhere near that sharp flint during reloading.

Does anybody know where the articles, "Whack! Crack! Boom! The guns of the Lewis and Clark Expedition", from the May, 2006 issue of the magazine, "We Proceeded On", might be found? A Google search brings up Cowan and Keller's article on the air rifle carried by the Expedition, but nothing of...

I've always thought that a good starting point would have the flint about 1/8" from the closed frizzen with the hammer at half cock. You can decide whether to mount the flint bevel up or down by keeping in mind that you want the flint to strike the frizzen about 3/4 of the way up the face. You...

The ramrod on my Baker is exactly as you describe. I'm certain that it is the correct ramrod, except that the flared flat is too lage for the barrel. I believe I'll turn it down to .60 and have done with it.

Thanks Mike: I'll look for such a thing. The whole question came about while reading Bernard Cornwell, where one of his "Sharpe's Rifles" loads his Baker by drawing out the ramrod, giving it a half spin, seating the bullet, and then spinning it yet again to quickly return it to its stowed...

Probably a really stupid question, but this is my first flinter! About two years ago I lucked into a Rifle Shoppe .62 Baker rifle. One end of the ramrod flares to a flat, and the other is threaded for for a cleaning jag, ball puller, etc. Like the rest of the rifle it's beautifully made. The...

Agreed. I doubt that I could cram 45 grs. of black powder into each chamber of my Colt's M1860 pistol!

Many thanks, Gents! It does sound as though this 1.0/1.5 rule of thumb might be a good starting point, but a starting point only. I know for a fact that the Baker with 90 grs. of Ffg is a brutal kicker, and is (for a given ball/patch combination) far less accurate on the bench than lighter...

One of the experts at our local range (we have many) shared his rule of thumb for working up initial black powder loads. He said that a nice comfortable short range target load would be the same number of grains of ffg as the rifle's caliber. In the case of my Baker, 62 grains for .62 caliber...

The beauty of Track's patina finished M1817 is truly in the eye of the beholder. I came to like this kind of finish after I purchased a USFA Ainsworth replica M1873 "Custer battlefield" pistol, finished in much the same dull gray. I found that I had no concern at all about the inevitable nicks...

Beautiful Mike!Did you use rifle Shoppe parts?