Caucasian Rifle - Rebuild

[rickystl]

Hi everyone. Another project completed. :haha:
This rifle was made in the Caucasus (Georgia, Circassia, or Dagestan) probably the first half of the 19th Century. These guns have a unique style and were designed light weight to be carried on horseback through rugged mountainous areas. Even retained the original flint and leather in the jaws. Unfortunately, the gun was missing a number of parts and presented the gunsmith and myself some unique challenges and sourcing. :hmm:
The GOOD: The lock is typical Persian/Balkan style Miquelet that was in perfect working order. Just a little cleanup and minor tuning. The stock is Circassian walnut (I believe). The barrel is 43 1/2" long, tapered octagon, with a slight swell at the muzzle. Has 8 groove rifling with a slow twist and gold kofgari work at the breech and muzzle ends. AND! the interior of the barrel is in wonderful condition!! :shocked2: I honestly could not believe it. Just light surface rust. Had the barrel un-breached. Breech plug fits nice and snug. No wobble or variations. The rifling is great! No chips or kniks, and nice sharp edges the entire length. So the gunsmith gave his OK for shooting. I was thrilled!! Slugged the muzzle. Mics out right at .50 caliber. Even the original ramrod, which has a thin iron neck that is the same design as two other guns of this type I've seen. Must have taken a long time to do that.
Now the BAD: Missing all but one of the original thin, iron barrel bands. Missing it's ivory (Walrus) butt cap, one of the ivory barrel tang inlays missing, and a green dyed ivory inlay on the side of the stock was broke in half. :cursing: Also, there is a splice (not a break) in the forearm (to maybe accomodate a later shorter barrel?) that someone epoxied together where you can easily see the epoxy! :cursing: AND... while they were doing that, they epoxied the ramrod too while still in the channel!! :cursing: D____! Took the gunsmith an entire day to get it all apart. :shocked2: OH no, this is going to take a lot of work. Anyway, here are some BEFORE photos. I'll Post the AFTER photos next.





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[gunmaker43]

What a nice relic be sure and show us a target. Like to see what an old timer can do...Tom

 

[rickystl]

Hi Tom. I was just about to Post the AFTER photos, and saw your note. Yes, it will be interesting to see how the original rifling shoots. It was just pure luck that the barrel was in such good condition. I have to order some .490 balls from TOTW. The lock sparks geat with a new flint in it. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[rickystl]

Hello again. OK. Here are a bunch of AFTER photos showing the restoration.
I was able to locate a big chunk of genuine walrus ivory. The diameter of the tusk was JUST large enough to fit the butt stock - with no margin for error. :shocked2: I lucked out. Walrus ivory is what was used on these guns. The butt cap was aged and nailed on in the original manner using hand made nails. Another piece of the tusk was used to make the barrel tang inlay and aged to match. The broken inlay on the side of the stock had to be replaced - and dyed green to match the others. It took the gunsmith numerous tries to get the green to match. But it came out great.
The splice in the forearm was carefully glued back together, and looks much better now.
Barrel bands on these guns were made of iron or silver. I have search before, and have never been able to locate iron sheet that is 7-8 thousands thin. (I've never seen brass used on these guns.) Also, I could not locate low-grade silver that was thin enough. So I had to opt for genuine sterling silver :shocked2: $$$.
While he was at it, I had him make some authentic style sling swivals out of iron.
Anyway, the gun is finished and ready for test fire. I think it turned out real nice considering all the work that went into it. Hope ya'll enjoy. And thanks for looking. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[Rifleman1776]

Very nice restore job. I'm sure you have some $$$ invested in that project. Interesting style rifle we don't very often. Enjoy.

 

[uno676]

Very nice thanks for shaing

 

[excess650]

....and it has a peep sight!

Is the rifling straight or spiral, and if the latter, approximate twist?

The barrel is Damascus?????....appears so!

 

[Wes/Tex]

What a wonderful old piece. MY heart-felt congratulations on appreciating it enough to restore it to such a fine state. I'd have loved to see a bit better way to reattach the stock pieces but sometimes, especially with these old pieces, you just have to be happy with 'best we cold do'. The fact that your gunsmith did such a great job is very revealing about his understanding of the old guns, thank him for us too. From the original post, I got the feeling you're intending to shoot this nice old piece. Would only recommend you go light and enjoy! Thanks for posting these photos so we acan all enjoy seeing your baby! :hatsoff:

 

[rickystl]

Thank you all for the kind comments.

Yes, the barrel is Damascus, and still shows a lot of the pattern. It's a slow twist which would be good for BP round ball shooting. The closest the gunsmith can figure, it's somewhere between a 1-66 and 1-72 twist, or there about.
Yes, it has a single hole rear peep-type sight as most have. My Turkish rifle has the same style. Takes a little getting use to, but it works surprisingly well. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[rickystl]

Hi Wes. Thanks for your comments. I figure a good starting load would be about 50-55 grains of FFG and a .490 ball. Have a total of three opinions that the barrel is still in shooting order. The breech has plenty of wall thickness and the breech plug and thread integrity is good. I would not shoot the barrel unless I was able to have it un-breached and two other opinions other than mine. Most of the original barrels on these guns were made in Turkey or Persia. I was expecting some corrosion back by the breech area. But surprisingly, there was almost none below the light surface rust. So I was just lucky - and thrilled! Thanks again, Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[Wes/Tex]

You've every right to be proud...and seriously, say "well done" to your gunsmith. Just go easy with these guns, there's no way to tell what the steel really is or how it was actually built. There's no reason not to be able to play with your babies! :thumbsup:

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Beautiful restoration! :thumbsup:

 

[rickystl]

Hi Wes. Well.....you're right. The barrel is iron vs steel. Unlike my others that have a modern steel liner in them, this is the original iron barrel. As a final precautionary measure, I will test fire the barrel only at a distance with fuse :shocked2: The range I belong to has combat pits for the modern shooters that is surrounded by concrete walls, which is perfect for this. I'll let you know. :haha: Thanks again, Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[gunmaker43]

Dang---I think I "REALLY" need one a those. Anybody got a Mickey lock for sale ??? Tom