.62 Rifle Build, 2nd Try

[PathfinderNC]

I am starting another try with parts from TRS for a .62 Rifle, which incorporates all the various Brown Bess parts for what they called a “British Officers Fusil”.
My first try was using a stock on very brittle Black Walnut that I wasn’t able to work with, and ended that fiasco.
I have a nice piece of clear Maple to use now; I am very wary of ordering Black Walnut on line any more. Yes it’s not historically accurate but I really don’t mind. I just want this baby built
Today’s project will be to get working on installing the barrel I finished. The stock has a 3/4” rounded channel milled in which will be helpful ( they also drilled for. 3/8” ramrod).
Hopefully I don’t screw it up

 

[Sam squanch]

I hate black walnut. I’d rather use plain hard maple and stain or even paint it.

 

[Notchy Bob]

With your skills and experience, now with a proper piece of wood, it’s going to turn out fine.

I’m looking forward to seeing this project come to fruition. Guns built in the British tradition are very appealing.

… and if wild buffalo move back into North Carolina, you’ll be equipped to deal with them.

Notchy Bob

 

[oldwood]

My first British military rifle was a copy of a Durs Egg gun from Tower of London Museum via Kit Ravenshear , one of the collection's gunsmiths. The caliber was .62 , w/about a 30 something inch barrel length. Twist was about 1 turn in 60 ". This short rifle had the same negatives , and positive attributes as any Eastern European Jager rifle. The last thirty yrs. I hunted Pa. deer , I finally settled on a .62 cal. 37" by 1" st. Oct. brl. , 1 turn in 60 inches twist. The top "powder charge" sweet spot for this barrel was 90 gr. FFg. . The rifle was very accurate and predictable beyond 100 yds. similar to a .50 cal. longrifle I at one time used for hunting and competition . The .50 loved 80 gr. FFFg , and trajectory was so similar to the .62 using 90 gr. FFG. Trajectory of the .62 was dead on at 100 yds , while 8" low at about 150 yds. . Finally at about 70 yrs. old , I had to quit hunting deer in the open woods. The recoil of the rifle was too much for a bad shoulder and neck. As things are known to do , I'm back to a 37" .50 one turn in 60 in. , using 80 gr. FFFg.. I always loved the utility of carrying a short light Jager type rifle , but really liked the long sight plain of a long rifle. Barrels around 37 to 38 inches seem to be the best of both worlds. Hope this BS is helpful on your journey ......oldwood

 

[PathfinderNC]

My first British military rifle was a copy of a Durs Egg gun from Tower of London Museum via Kit Ravenshear , one of the collection's gunsmiths. The caliber was .62 , w/about a 30 something inch barrel length. Twist was about 1 turn in 60 ". This short rifle had the same negatives , and positive attributes as any Eastern European Jager rifle. The last thirty yrs. I hunted Pa. deer , I finally settled on a .62 cal. 37" by 1" st. Oct. brl. , 1 turn in 60 inches twist. The top "powder charge" sweet spot for this barrel was 90 gr. FFg. . The rifle was very accurate and predictable beyond 100 yds. similar to a .50 cal. longrifle I at one time used for hunting and competition . The .50 loved 80 gr. FFFg , and trajectory was so similar to the .62 using 90 gr. FFG. Trajectory of the .62 was dead on at 100 yds , while 8" low at about 150 yds. . Finally at about 70 yrs. old , I had to quit hunting deer in the open woods. The recoil of the rifle was too much for a bad shoulder and neck. As things are known to do , I'm back to a 37" .50 one turn in 60 in. , using 80 gr. FFFg.. I always loved the utility of carrying a short light Jager type rifle , but really liked the long sight plain of a long rifle. Barrels around 37 to 38 inches seem to be the best of both worlds. Hope this BS is helpful on your journey ......oldwood

I’m wondering what kind of kick this thing will have, if I finish it…

 

[PathfinderNC]

I worked about six or seven hours on inletting the barrel. Lost track of time and no lunch for me today Round barrels are not fun. Anyway, it needs about 1/16” deeper so the barrel tang is a bit lower into the stock.

 

[oldwood]

Path...............I feel what you are doing with the new rifle. I was in a high stress profession for 41 yrs. , and to stay sane , I was able to build m/l guns in my head , while experiencing the never ending travel my job required. So , when I was able to go home to my shop , I was like a psycho rifle builder. While traveling , I would plan what I had to do to build a certain gun , and fly into it when home. In 1974 , with the assistance of the Getz barrel brothers , I met Fred Miller , owner of a Don Allen 5 axis gunstock shaping machine. Fred could put an original antique gun in the follower side of his machine , and copy an original to a few thousandths of it's shape. For me , m/l rifle building went into high gear. All I had to do , is to look through Shumway's books , pick out a gun , and build it . My friend would turn a stock shape , mill the barrel channel , and drill the r/r hole. In 50 hours of my intense work , there was the gun from the Shumway book.
Anyway , being able to crank guns out fairly rapidly , allowed me to experiment with many different unusual m/lers , and experiment w/them at the range , in competition and hunting deer and small game. I built three Jaeger rifles , a .69 , .58 , and finally a .62. All these rifles shared the same difficulty in the woods , that being , they weren't 100 + yard rifles . Killed a bunch of deer w/ the easy carrying rifles , but passed up a bunch of deer meat knowing the sure kill distance was too far. I knew I was crazy about the .62 cal. PRB. , and knew a longer sight plain would give me the 125 yd. confidence I wanted. Also , the longer barrel allowed me to up the powder charge to 90 gr. ffg , the upper sweet spot for the .62. For me , to have a large bore rifle , with predictable 150 yd. accuracy is a dream come true. Wish you would have seen the longest deer kill shot I made on a doe one evening. Shot from a rest standing in an old building foundation. I held above the deer's muzzle about half an ear high cause she was walking. The ball broke her neck for an instant kill. The distance was an astounding 185 yds. , the longest shot of my life with m/l or ctg. rifle. Recoil of this 90 gr. ffg , in a 7.5 lb. rifle , is for a young man's body. You can handle it. I sold the .62 about 10 yrs. ago , and built myself a .50 cal. longrifle , 7/8 Oct. w/ 37" light 6.5 lb. old man's gun. 80 gr. FFFg , w/ .490 ball , has little recoil , should allow me to shoot at the range bench , 'til my Father calls me home........oldwood

 

[PathfinderNC]

Path...............I feel what you are doing with the new rifle. I was in a high stress profession for 41 yrs. , and to stay sane , I was able to build m/l guns in my head , while experiencing the never ending travel my job required. So , when I was able to go home to my shop , I was like a psycho rifle builder. While traveling , I would plan what I had to do to build a certain gun , and fly into it when home. In 1974 , with the assistance of the Getz barrel brothers , I met Fred Miller , owner of a Don Allen 5 axis gunstock shaping machine. Fred could put an original antique gun in the follower side of his machine , and copy an original to a few thousandths of it's shape. For me , m/l rifle building went into high gear. All I had to do , is to look through Shumway's books , pick out a gun , and build it . My friend would turn a stock shape , mill the barrel channel , and drill the r/r hole. In 50 hours of my intense work , there was the gun from the Shumway book.
Anyway , being able to crank guns out fairly rapidly , allowed me to experiment with many different unusual m/lers , and experiment w/them at the range , in competition and hunting deer and small game. I built three Jaeger rifles , a .69 , .58 , and finally a .62. All these rifles shared the same difficulty in the woods , that being , they weren't 100 + yard rifles . Killed a bunch of deer w/ the easy carrying rifles , but passed up a bunch of deer meat knowing the sure kill distance was too far. I knew I was crazy about the .62 cal. PRB. , and knew a longer sight plain would give me the 125 yd. confidence I wanted. Also , the longer barrel allowed me to up the powder charge to 90 gr. ffg , the upper sweet spot for the .62. For me , to have a large bore rifle , with predictable 150 yd. accuracy is a dream come true. Wish you would have seen the longest deer kill shot I made on a doe one evening. Shot from a rest standing in an old building foundation. I held above the deer's muzzle about half an ear high cause she was walking. The ball broke her neck for an instant kill. The distance was an astounding 185 yds. , the longest shot of my life with m/l or ctg. rifle. Recoil of this 90 gr. ffg , in a 7.5 lb. rifle , is for a young man's body. You can handle it. I sold the .62 about 10 yrs. ago , and built myself a .50 cal. longrifle , 7/8 Oct. w/ 37" light 6.5 lb. old man's gun. 80 gr. FFFg , w/ .490 ball , has little recoil , should allow me to shoot at the range bench , 'til my Father calls me home........oldwood

That is a great post- thanks for sharing it! You have had some wonderful experiences, oldwood. Like the man says- if you want something bad enough, with proper effort you’ll get it

 

[PathfinderNC]

With your skills and experience, now with a proper piece of wood, it’s going to turn out fine.

I’m looking forward to seeing this project come to fruition. Guns built in the British tradition are very appealing.

… and if wild buffalo move back into North Carolina, you’ll be equipped to deal with them.

Notchy Bob

Thank you Notchy Bob. I appreciate your confidence!
Had I been drinking my coffee when I read this I would probably have sprayed my phone laughing so hard ! “and if wild buffalo move back into North Carolina, you’ll be equipped to deal with them”

 

[BS]

Question,
Is a “British Officers Fusil” basically a short barreled rifled fowler?

 

[PathfinderNC]

Did an hour more gun work this morning and got the barrel fully set into the stock. Beautiful day and lots to do around here today though- cutting the grass, and moving the baby chickens from the brooder to the hen house, stuff with the kids…
Next shop step will be the lock…

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

Looks like it's on the way, you'll do good!

 

[oldwood]

This is an unexpected .62 cal. story. I was in my 6o's , so could still go through the woods pretty well even w/snow. Was the Pa. late flint season , w/ about 12 in. new overnight fresh powder snow. Was dieing to break in a new built British Jager style rifle in .62 cal.. Walked in about a mile and one half on a tram road to a honey hole I found on the back side of a hill. Decided to hook back toward the truck and hunt a big flat w/laurel patches. Had to climb a steep 100 yd. hill to the flat , and going was step at a time tough. I burnt through a good 1/2 hr. struggling up the slope , and rested 3/4 the way up. I conquered the slope , stopped to scan the start of the flat. Nealt down in the snow to rest for a min. , and was shocked to see a big doe stand up from her overnight snow bed no more than 15 ft. from me. Old hunter instinct took over , and as she stood up to run , I cocked the flint hammer , shouldered the rifle and fired the shot. Hit her forward of dead center in the boiler room , and amazingly , she took about five small jumps down along the crown of the hill. While this was happening , instinct caused me to uselessly, yell at her to go right , and die on the flat , instead of flipping down into the bottom , toward the back of the hill. Once she came to rest , she was too far down the steep hill to drag her back up to the flat for an easy down hill drag back to the truck. This all happened so quickly , I sat there stunned in the snow , analyzing what the heck just happened ? First thought was , oh crap , the doe dieing down over in the steep hollow , was going to be an extra mile of drag to fetch her back. Thought #2,,,,,,The big .62 PRB did it's work , but at that very close distance , guess I expected to see the doe slump over and die on the flat. Wrong ! Oh well , that's why I hunted deer , ya just never know what new surprise might be in store for ya. I shook my head , prepped the doe for the several hrs. drag , and started back. Always have had a love for big cal. rifles , and the .62 cal. is my all time deer meat favorite. ..........oldwood

 

[PathfinderNC]

I got back to the .62 rifle and was successful in getting the lock fully inlet. Next will be the trigger, but I might deviate from the original plan and put in a double-set trigger in it, with a nice trigger guard(and a nice sideplate, too). Depends on cost though. The hardware was a gift and I hadn’t planned on spending much on it, and after two stocks to get it right, we’ll, I’m overspent already.

 

[Notchy Bob]

It’s only money, right?

That’s shaping up to be a really nice rifle. If you really want double-set triggers, it would probably be worth putting it aside until you can justify the expense of getting them. However, a single trigger with a well-tuned lock doesn’t give up much, and your finger won’t get confused about which trigger to pull. I’m not an expert on English rifles and I know this particular piece is your own creation, but it does have British “bloodlines” and if I remember correctly, single triggers would have been more common on the originals.

Have you looked at Caywood’s English Game Gun? Just for inspiration or maybe comparison. Danny put a lot of research into developing it, and he does offer it in a .62 caliber rifled version. The subject rifle of this thread sort of reminds me of this Caywood gun.

Either way, that rifle is looking really good, and I have no doubt it will be a shooter, whether with one trigger or two.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[PathfinderNC]

Got the lock bolts (“side nails”) in. That’s a scary job for me
Next will be to install the trigger and plate.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Question,
Is a “British Officers Fusil” basically a short barreled rifled fowler?

I think “ rifled fowler” is an oxymoron.

 

[tgfrench]

I got back to the .62 rifle and was successful in getting the lock fully inlet. Next will be the trigger, but I might deviate from the original plan and put in a double-set trigger in it, with a nice trigger guard(and a nice sideplate, too). Depends on cost though. The hardware was a gift and I hadn’t planned on spending much on it, and after two stocks to get it right, we’ll, I’m overspent already.

I despise a man with a clean shop

 

[BS]

Pathfinder, what are diameters at the breech and muzzle?
I have always liked the idea of a short rifled barrel on an English fowler type stock.
What is the weight of the 62 cal. barrel?

 

[PathfinderNC]

I cleaned up the old musket trigger that was in the box, and got it installed. Maybe 3 pounds pull? The plate next.