Back Action Percussion Rifle

[Dphar]

One should never steel wool an original.
One should never take the barrel "back to white".
Cleaning is one thing. Attacking the gun with abrasives or worse is something else again.
You really did the gun no favors.

Dan

 

[morelic55]

My rifle, my methods, done deal. Never plan on selling it anyways, just gonna shoot it and use it for living history. I have no place for "Wall Hangers" in my collection.

 

[morelic55]

One should never steel wool an original.
One should never take the barrel "back to white".
Cleaning is one thing. Attacking the gun with abrasives or worse is something else again.
You really did the gun no favors.

Dan

Oh, and pray tell, how would you have preserved the finish on this rifle, so I will not make that mistake again!!!

 

[Robert Egler]

My rifle, my methods, done deal. Never plan on selling it anyways, just gonna shoot it and use it for living history. I have no place for "Wall Hangers" in my collection.

For whatever its worth, I would have cleaned it too. Even as a wall hanger it looks a lot better cleaned up. Its your gun, do what you want with it. :thumbsup:

 

[FredBoulton]

As found, this rifle was junk---all its "history" had been removed by rust. You brought it back from the dead and saved it: you should be congratulated, not criticised.
When deciding wether to restore, the question I ask is:"if the craftsman who made it could see it now, would he restore it?".
You bet he would.
Fred

 

[morelic55]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, it is done and resting well in my gun cabinet.....

[/URL][/img]

 

[JonnyReb3]

Well 2nd page and your done huh? No friend :grin: now you gotta shoot that old beauty. Tie it to a tire and hide behind a tree, pull that string...but let us know how it shoots! :thumbsup:

 

[bpd303]

I think you did that relic proud. Hope it shoots as good as it looks.

 

[morelic55]

Well, got out and shot the ol' girl last weekend. Other than adjusting the sight, it shot well. Did not have time to really zero it it, but it loaded smooth and fired all the rounds I put thru it. Started with .39 patched ball and 40 grains of FF. I think 50 grains is what I will stick with.

 

[JonnyReb3]

:hatsoff: I think thats awesome! Glad to know that old rifle has found a home where it will be justly appreciated, and that it shoots well and reliably is just iceing on the cake. Very cool.

 

[tree]

I think it great to bring that rifle back to usefulness. I
Personally like the looks of the back action locks. If you
Need to remove rust in the future you might want to try
Steel wool sponge . An older gunsmith showed this to me.
Spread a good medium weight oil and use the steel wool sponge. It does a great job of removing rust while leaving
Any remaining finish intact. The sponge can be bought at
Brownells and I have also seen it at larger gunshows.

 

[rickystl]

What a neat Thread. The before pics of it in two pieces sitting in the rafters of the basement to the final restoration. Very cool. Great job of restoring. And that she still shoots good gives her a new life. There's always that extra thrill being able to shoot an original. Not sure if I would have browned the barrel. But that's OK. The goal was to restore it to shooting condition. So, mission accomplished. :thumbsup: I'm sure to restore or not to restore will continue to be a topic of conversation around the campfires for years to come. My personal opinion is that you consider each gun individually. And this one was a good candidate to restore to a shooter. I own a number of originals that I've had restored to shooting condition. Even to the point of having the barrels reamed out and a new steel smoothbore/rifled liner installed. But they were all guns that were not rare or had any special collector/historical value. On the other hand, I own an original Northwest Trade Fusil in untouched condition that will remain that way. I'm just the current caretaker for her. Again, thanks for Posting. Congrats on a good looking/shooting gun. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[Captjoel]

I have to agree with you on this rifle ricky. Each case is an individual issue and the work done based on the gun owner's knowledge and wishes. It looks like you accomplished your goals morelic55. Now, ricky, a look at your northwest trade gun would sure be of MAJOR interest to me and many others around here! hint hint :wink:

 

[rickystl]

Hi Captain. Actually, I did Post it here under Firearms Identification - back on 12/16/11. The Title was: English/NWT Fusil? for I.D. and Comment. You should be able to search for it. It had a similar "find" story such as the one above. Turned out I have an original Belgium copy of a NWT Fusil. They seem to be a bit more rare than the English ones. Let me know if you can't locate it. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[bpd303]

Here is the thread.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/264226/post/1082509/hl//fromsearch/1/

 

[Captjoel]

Thank you both, Ricky & bpd303! Ricky, I can close my eyes and visualize a lot of history in that ole girl! Such a find will keep you in the grip of history and its wonder for many years to come! VERY cool :applause:

 

[rickystl]

Hi Captain. It was just pure dumb luck I ran into it.Seems like I'm handling it once a week now. :haha: The guy I bought it from said he had an old gun he wanted me to look at. Of course I'm thinking he would bring in an old hammer shotgun or a cut back Civil War musket. You know what I mean. When he brought it in and was walking towards me I could see the dragon side plate coming closer to me. :shocked2: I was trying to maintain my cool while filling my pants. :haha: I consider myself lucky to have been able to purchase it - and for a song!!
And the knowledge on this Forum in being able to I.D. her was fantastic to say the least. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[morelic55]

Thanks for the kudos guys, I think just about any old gun, if it's all there and the barrel is safe to shoot, well, fire it up again!! There are the ones like the trade gun thou, that should have little if any done to them. I'm always on the hunt for a new "Victim" to work on. All of these old ones are rare in my book. A lot of them were junked at the 2nd world war to help with the effort with collecting metals, along with other priceless artifacts, but that's what makes them rare, right?

 

[flintlockmdj]

If it were an original flintlock or even early percussion I would say don't touch it. But seeing that it is a back action (later period) percussion lock and probably a factory made gun rather than a hand made one it would have limited value so. Cleaning it up and repairing it may have lowered the value some but not anything enough to worry about.

There are several different camps dealing with gun restoration. One doesn't want you to even dust them off. Another goes for light cleaning and others go all the way to "make it look new".

My point being it's your gun do with it as you see fit. :thumbsup: