Building a Chambers Little Fella's Rifle

[dave_person]

Hi Buckskinn,
The lock on your rifle will be a Chambers early Germanic lock. It has a different plate from the Siler but uses the same internal parts. It should be a good lock. You will need to polish it and perhaps grind the frizzen and mainsprings to balance them to get best performance. However, you don't need to do any hardening and tempering. I do so because I can and it is easier to polish the frizzen when it is annealed. Moreover, my case hardening yields better performance with respect to sparks but the lock as it comes should already be a good sparker. I just make it even better.

dave

 

[Buckskinn]

Thanks, I appreciate the help. I will definitely use your advice...

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
The rifle is finished. I still have to clean a little finish off the brass but that is it. It is stained with ferric nitrate dissolved in water, then blushed with heat. The finish is Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil. The sights are set up for target shooting and provide a really nice sight picture. It was fun to build but kit guns are never really your own because 95% of the shape is determined by the kit maker not the builder. Anyway, enjoy the photos.
dave

 

[Moleman]

Beatiful build Dave and thanks for the build along.

 

[Rifleman1776]

My heart stopped beating. Good thing I have a defibrillator.

 

[Buckskinn]

That is outstanding! How many hours do you figure you have into it?

 

[anaconda44]

Dave
I really want a 58 or 62cal rifle made but cant decide what style to go with a hawken half or full stock 36in hawkin. Or long rifle with swamped barrel. The thing is i like brass not iron mounted and would like a patchbox.
I want the gun ti be able to have it handle heavy charges of 2f with patched ball. Dont know about right twist rates for the 58 or 62.
Can you give me any recommendation on what might be the best way to go. And do you build custom guns.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Anaconda44,
In my opinion, and I am very biased, the best shooting big bore guns were made by the British. Hawken rifles are very fine shooting as well but most, when built like the originals, are heavy particularly at the muzzle. I also do not like the butt plates. The British guns have large flat butt plates that help you absorb recoil. The stock shape also aids in fit and recoil management. Also unlike most Hawken rifles, some British rifles were mounted in brass, particularly those made as high-end trade guns and they often had patch boxes. All that said, my Star of Bethlehem rifle, which resembles an original American gun possibly made in Bethlehem or Christian's Spring in the 1760s-1770s has a big 62 cal 41.5" swamped barrel. It is heavy but very well balanced and shoots very well. The flat brass butt plate is big and comfortable. I included some photos below of several 62 cal guns.. All my guns are flint but the Brits also made very fine big bore percussion rifles. I build rifles and fowlers but I have a 2-3 year waiting list at the moment because of my work load. I thought I was supposed to be retired but I guess not.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
I finally had a chance to shoot the rifle and make sure everything works. I had to let the finish cure and then it was safe to shoot. Weather has not been kind so I could not do the test firing I normally do. Because of snow and cold I decided to settle for a dozen or so shots from by balcony. I sighted in the gun using a laser bore sighter in my shop. I usually am pretty good with that and get the gun sighted into the scoring area at 50 yards after the first few shots. Today, I just put out a 9" black disk and shot from my balcony, which is 85 yards from the target. Using 0.490 balls, 0.012" thick patches, and 55grs of 3F Swiss powder, I hit the disk with every shot so I think it should be really easy for Frank to zero it in. Rice barrels with round bottomed grooves usually do better with thicker patches but Frank can experiment with that. The Siler lock, modified and tuned by me, is lightning fast, reliable, and easy on flints. A friend built the same rifle but just slapped the Siler lock on the gun as it came in the box. About every 5 shots his lock fails to ignite the powder. Every commercially produced lock needs tweaking and tuning, some way more than others. Well, after cleaning and oiling, she is ready to ship give good service.

dave

My balcony shooting spot during warmer days. I was too cold for the scotch today.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Exciting news, Dave. And, thanks for the e-mail. As you can imagine, I am much looking forward to seeing it. Our club annual meeting is the 19th, I'll be showing it off for sure there. I'll be in touch. Frank

 

[dave_person]

Hi Frank,
Here is the photo you wanted:

dave

 

[kemart17]

Hi,
The rifle is finished. I still have to clean a little finish off the brass but that is it. It is stained with ferric nitrate dissolved in water, then blushed with heat. The finish is Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil. The sights are set up for target shooting and provide a really nice sight picture. It was fun to build but kit guns are never really your own because 95% of the shape is determined by the kit maker not the builder. Anyway, enjoy the photos.
dave

that is a great looking rifle!!!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Hi Frank,
Here is the photo you wanted:

dave

Thanks. The rifle is definitely much prettier than the holder. ;-)

 

[tlallijr]

Hi Frank,
Here is the photo you wanted:

dave

Wow!!! What a beauty .... The rifle looks great too ! All kidding aside I really enjoyed this thread and seeing how you customized this rifle. There is many little details you do that I admire and it makes me want to strive for in my own building endeavors. Lots of luck with her Frank ! Dave, Thanks for taking the time to post. Tony

 

[dave_person]

Thanks Tony,
Yours is up next. The first coat of finish is on.

dave

 

[GriscomRun]

I’d love to have you make one for me!
Would you?

 

[dave_person]

Hi GriscomRun,
Thanks for your interest but I don't really want to do kit guns. I have one more to do this year for a member of this forum and I think that will be the last kit gun for me. They are too restricting and the final product is never really me but more the kit manufacturer. In addition GR, I have a pretty long queue of guns to make for folks that will take 2-3 years to cover. That does not include lock work, repair, and restoration jobs that inevitably work their way into the mix. I am way busier than I ever thought I would be. I am in the shop 7 days a week and I am supposed to be retired. Fortunately, I love the work.

dave

 

[GriscomRun]

Hi GriscomRun,
Thanks for your interest but I don't really want to do kit guns. I have one more to do this year for a member of this forum and I think that will be the last kit gun for me. They are too restricting and the final product is never really me but more the kit manufacturer. In addition GR, I have a pretty long queue of guns to make for folks that will take 2-3 years to cover. That does not include lock work, repair, and restoration jobs that inevitably work their way into the mix. I am way busier than I ever thought I would be. I am in the shop 7 days a week and I am supposed to be retired. Fortunately, I love the work.

dave

Thanks, I do understand. I am interested in a shorter rifle and like others really like how this project turned out. Your version of a rifle similar to this would be perfect for my size. Please keep me in mind on your waiting list.

 

[dave_person]

Hi GR,
Thanks for the kind comments and I agree, the Little fella's rifle is a pretty nice gun. The kit is based on a prototype made by David Dodds, which is the Little Fella's rifle you see on Chamber's website. Dave was one of the best interpreters of traditional long rifles and an expert on Berks and Reading guns. Unfortunately, but understandably, Chambers made some changes probably to facilitate more efficient production of the kits, and in my opinion, they detract from the original design. Anyway, the kit has enough excess wood that it can be modified to make a better rifle IMO. If I ever did one again, I would mount a single trigger, replace the butt plate with a Reading plate from Reeves Goehring and also use his David Dodds designed Berks trigger guard. Then the kit could be turned into a nice scaled down version of an early Reading rifle.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi.
Well Rifleman1776 received the gun in good shape. Hopefully he will post a picture or two and maybe eventually a target shot with it. That would be fun to see.

dave