Greetings, all,
I thought I would share with everyone a build that I finished about a year ago. Back in about 1987, or thereabouts, I was inspired to build an early pre-Revolutionary American flint rifle. No particular "school", just an early, iron-mounted wide-butt, relatively short-barreled early colonial gun. I wanted to put sling swivels on it, to look like it was
pressed into service during the Revolution.
I bought a nice curly maple blank (don't recall where), and a Paris (?) barrel, swamped, .58 caliber, 38 inches long, and a colonial-style lock made by a fellow named Vance in Kansas (now out of business for many years). I expected this to be a straight-forward build, but it turned into the build from hell. After hand-inletting the barrel channel, I drilled the ramrod hole--too shallow, as it turned out, with too wide a web. When I removed wood to shape the fore grip, I ran into the ramrod hole. I was at a loss, and many times considered throwing the thing in the fire, but it was too nice a piece of maple, so I set it aside for years and years, doing other projects during that time. Eventually, I came to grips with the poor thing, and (long story short) eventually decided to fix my error with an extra-long entry pipe (made from sheet steel, along with the other two pipes to match) a patch of curly maple behind the pipe, and a big inlay in front of the trigger guard.
After committing to finishing the poor beast, I managed to create a fracture in the upward-forward lock inletting (visible as a dark glue line in this area on the pics), and also some breaks in the upper edge of the fore-grip (visible to the astute observer in the pics). After this, during the final stages of finishing, the stock fell over and hit the floor, completely fracturing off the front 18 inches or so of the forestock, the break passing through the big sling swivel hole I drilled (why did I really need that sling???). Anyway, after an excruciating repair with Acraglas, it all came together, and the final result is in the pictures.
I present this, for the benefit of the new builders, as a case of not giving up after seeming catastrophe. A friend of mine once said, "a good gunbuilder is one who can cover up his mistakes". I suppose it's better not to make them in the first place, but learning only comes with experience. I'm not a professional gun builder, just a hobbyist. Just wanted to encourage the new enthusiasts not to give up after the inevitable mistakes!
http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0128.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0126.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0127.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4p://[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/...b-aad9-8d05414c41bf.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/...d-a065-f033d25d64d3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0120.jpg.html?sort=3&o=12[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0118.jpg.html?sort=3&o=14[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0117.jpg.html?sort=3&o=15[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0119.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0121.jpg.html?sort=3&o=11[/img]
I thought I would share with everyone a build that I finished about a year ago. Back in about 1987, or thereabouts, I was inspired to build an early pre-Revolutionary American flint rifle. No particular "school", just an early, iron-mounted wide-butt, relatively short-barreled early colonial gun. I wanted to put sling swivels on it, to look like it was
I bought a nice curly maple blank (don't recall where), and a Paris (?) barrel, swamped, .58 caliber, 38 inches long, and a colonial-style lock made by a fellow named Vance in Kansas (now out of business for many years). I expected this to be a straight-forward build, but it turned into the build from hell. After hand-inletting the barrel channel, I drilled the ramrod hole--too shallow, as it turned out, with too wide a web. When I removed wood to shape the fore grip, I ran into the ramrod hole. I was at a loss, and many times considered throwing the thing in the fire, but it was too nice a piece of maple, so I set it aside for years and years, doing other projects during that time. Eventually, I came to grips with the poor thing, and (long story short) eventually decided to fix my error with an extra-long entry pipe (made from sheet steel, along with the other two pipes to match) a patch of curly maple behind the pipe, and a big inlay in front of the trigger guard.
After committing to finishing the poor beast, I managed to create a fracture in the upward-forward lock inletting (visible as a dark glue line in this area on the pics), and also some breaks in the upper edge of the fore-grip (visible to the astute observer in the pics). After this, during the final stages of finishing, the stock fell over and hit the floor, completely fracturing off the front 18 inches or so of the forestock, the break passing through the big sling swivel hole I drilled (why did I really need that sling???). Anyway, after an excruciating repair with Acraglas, it all came together, and the final result is in the pictures.
I present this, for the benefit of the new builders, as a case of not giving up after seeming catastrophe. A friend of mine once said, "a good gunbuilder is one who can cover up his mistakes". I suppose it's better not to make them in the first place, but learning only comes with experience. I'm not a professional gun builder, just a hobbyist. Just wanted to encourage the new enthusiasts not to give up after the inevitable mistakes!
http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0128.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0126.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0127.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4p://[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/...b-aad9-8d05414c41bf.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/...d-a065-f033d25d64d3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0120.jpg.html?sort=3&o=12[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0118.jpg.html?sort=3&o=14[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0117.jpg.html?sort=3&o=15[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0119.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13[/img] http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/hemorad/media/DSC_0121.jpg.html?sort=3&o=11[/img]
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