Chamber's Virginia rifle kit

[Trey]

I recently bought a Jim Chambers Virginia rifle kit and I would like to build and finish it as historically correct as possible. Are there any books with pictures (such as Shumway's publications) that anyone would recommend? I saw a similar piece on Mark Silver's website but the pictures aren't easily discernable :hmm: . Any other advice concerning finishing this rifle is appreciated .

 

[aragorn]

Shumway, Rifles of Colonial America, vol 2, chapter 14, 'Rifles of the southern colonies'. pp 509-94, is what you need.
I also have Whisker's Gunsmiths of Virginia and Gunsmiths of West Virginia, but personally I wouldn't bother with those if you're intending to build a colonial period rifle (which the Chambers kit is designed to be), as most of the Whisker illustrations are Federal period rifles.
I think the finished Virginia rifle illustrated on the Jim Chambers website gives an excellent idea of decoration for a Virginia rifle of the colonial period (I don't know if that particular rifle was made by Mark Silver, but there are similarities in the very pleasing volute design behind the cheekpiece with one of the Virginia rifles illustrated on his website).

 

[rich pierce]

That's a very expensive project and so I'd recommend getting as much info as you can before proceeding. Handling originals or going to shows whjere there are originals and drolling helps a lot.

 

[Flintandsteel]

Trey,

The Chamber's kit IS a Mark Silver kit, based on the Johannes Farber rifle in RCA. To copy a little more accurately, have them leave off the sideplate inlet, and cut your own to match the Farber gun.
Also, I believe there are a couple of Chamber's MS Virginia kits or Mike Brookes site.

 

[J.D.]

Check out the "Building Jim Chambers Kit Rifles
...with Ron Ehlert" DVD series, available at the link.
[url] http://technicalvideorental.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=214Building[/url]

 

[john4645]

I just got that kit also. It will be my first build. except for a lyman gp. I purchased the RCA books, and I am a little dissapointed, I don't like the original gun and there are not a lot of other guns for that style or supposed time period.

 

[aragorn]

What RCA does show is what there is out there to base your build on, and that's why it's important - even if disappointingly few rifles survive or are well executed and in good condition. It gives you a lot of leeway to be imaginative in your design and decoration, because it shows how little we really know about 'schools' of style in the colonial period. With maybe one in five hundred or a thousand early colonial rifles surviving - just my ballpark guess, an order of magnitude -nobody can tell you your colonial rifle isn't PC or correct for a particular origin, like Virginia - we just don't know. But at least that means you don't have to worry about getting it 'correct' and can have more fun being imaginative! That's my approach anyway ...

 

[Trey]

Thanks for all the help guys ! I think I'll get a copy of ROC volume II to begin with...