Colonial American militia musket: in progress

[Artificer]

Hi Gus,
Thanks for looking and I apologize because I did not answer your previous questions about the sideplate. I cast the plate using Delft clay to make the mold. It is just like sand casting but the clay produces a finer surface and can hold on to finer detail. I used a single large sprue heating the brass in a ceramic crucible using my oxy-acetylene torch and borax flux. The process is very straight forward but it is a challenge to estimate the shrinkage that occurs. I got that just right so the side plate counter bored holes line up perfectly with the holes in the lock. I have quite a bit of experience at this casting stuff. I suspect British ordnance had precise drilling templates for lock holes and sideplates, and they probably had tight standards for the plates. However, they also could have bought the plates with unbored or finished forward holes but finished and bored rear holes. That would allow them to adjust each plate to each lock but simply boring and filing the forward hole.
Gus, this project has been a pile of fun for me. I visited West Point Museum, Museum of the American Revolution, Valley Forge, Washington's Crossing, and Fort Ti doing research for this gun. I also examined every book available with information about militia muskets. This has been a wonderful voyage of discovery and understanding. Wait until you see the slight dimples in the sheet brass muzzle cap and the big copper rivet holding it in place, the simple ramrod thimbles with a colonial gunsmith version of a forward trumpet thimble, the simpler and cruder bayonet, and the curly maple stock. It is really going to look right.

dave

Dave,

No need to apologize, I knew you would get back with me on the questions and thank you for the answers. I figured you were "in the groove" on the Musket and I fully understand how when you are there, you stay in it to do as much work as possible while in the groove.

I can see this is both a challenge and a sort of a work labor of love for you to make something unique and different.

Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing the copper rivet and nose cap and thimbles.

Also, I'm curious as to how you are going to make the Rammer? Have to admit there is a secondary reason for my curiosity on this point. I am thinking of making an Armorer's Rod (or having one made) and making an extra long Rammer would be very similar.

Gus

 

[Wes/Tex]

That's an amazing job you've got going. I'm with Gus...big curved lock plate's where it's at! :thumbsup: Went back through some of my books on period guns. have wanted to make a militia musket of mixed parts and sources. Don't know if I'm talented enough to make or cast like that but some of those mixes of British, French and/or Spanish parts muskets are a hoot! Way to go guy! :applause:

 

[dave_person]

Thanks for looking guys,
Gus, I bought a 46" steel Bess ramrod from a guy on another forum. I hope it is right but I can modify it if not. I have to fit a bayonet. I have one that is the perfect colonial-made version but the socket is too small. I split the socket with a hacksaw and opened it up to fit. Now I have to weld over the seam. I attached photos of the stock being stained. The maple has curl but much is indistinct. Tannin will darken curl when reacted with aqua fortis or ferric nitrate (same thing). So I brewed very strong tea and painted the stock with it. After it dried, I painted on the ferric nitrate-water solution and blushed it with a heat gun. It worked! The first photo shows the wood coated with just ferric nitrate that has dried but not blushed. The second shows the mix of tea and ferric nitrate before blushing. The third photo shows the wood with just ferric nitrate that has been blushed and the wood wet to simulate finish. The last photo shows the same but with the tea and ferric nitrate stain blushed. All the wood in my photos comes from exactly the same location on the stock so I am comparing apples with apples. I think this is another good trick to store in our recipes for staining and finishing.

dave

 

[Eterry]

Oh my Dave.....I believe that's gonna be PURTY!!! :bow:

 

[Artificer]

Indeed, that stock is going to look GREAT !!

Hi Dave,

I stole this from one of George’s recent replies in the Flintlock with a Telescope thread because I thought you and others would be interested in the information about a Philadelphia Gunsmith Thomas Palmer:

“As tensions mounted between the citizens of Virginia and Royal Governor Dunmore, the Governor dissolved the House of Burgesses which in turn allowed the standing Militia law authorization to lapse. In the wake of this, several volunteer "Independent companies" of extralegal uniformed militia were formed in various Virginia Counties. As one of Virginia's most experienced military leaders, Colonel George Washington led the Fairfax Independent company and was involved in procuring military style arms and accouterments for that and other Independent companies including that of Prince William County. In correspondence to Washington dated December 27, 1774 William Grayson requested that Washington
"... write to Philada. for forty muskets with bayonets, Cartouch boxes, or Pouches, and slings, to be made in such a manner, as you shall think proper to direct..."
In a previous letter to Washington dated November 29, 1774, William Milnor writes:
"...I have Applyed to two Gunsmiths, One palmer tells me he Can make one hundred by May next, And Nicholson says he can make the like Number by March, they both agree in the priece at £3.15. this Currcy.4 Palmer says Mr Cadvalder had agreed With him for 100 at that price, a Jersy Musquet was brought to palmer for a patern, Mr Shreive Hatter of Allexandira has one of that sort, which you may see..."
The "Jersey Musquet" was most likely a New Jersey purchased Commercial Wilson musket of the type imported during the French and Indian War. “

Spence further verified he had documentation the muskets that Philadelphia Gunsmith Thomas Palmer made were copies of a Wilson Commercial Musket, borrowed from New Jersey.

Back when I rebuilt/restored the shattered stock on my Brown Bess Carbine, I had learned that G.Gedney Godwin had a guy who would make really good steel replacement rammers, in any length one needed. My original rammer got severely bent in one of the many moves back and forth around the country before I got that Musket rebuilt, so I tried one of those rammers and was very pleased with the higher quality, even though it cost a fair bit more than a standard Italian Replacement Rammer. However, that was around 20 years ago and I don’t know if the guy still makes the Rammers for Godwin.

I still have the piece of over 4 foot long 3/8” Brass/Bronze Rod that I used with different jags and tips for specific calibers/gauges as a modern “Artificer’s Rod,” but I got very interested in a period Artificer’s Rod after reading how they were used here by British Artificers as early as The War of Jenkins Ear through and including the AWI. I know they were made from Steel though sometimes/ to often mentioned as “Iron,” just as the period Rammers were often described. Though I don’t believe there is any period illustration of a British Artificer’s Rod, though Fig. 9 in the Arquebusier page of Diderot’s Encyclopdie is probably very close. http://artflx.uchicago.edu/images/encyclopedie/V18/plate_18_9_4.jpeg

So if you are pleased with the Rammer you get, I would like to get the information from you on who made it for you.

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gus,
Thanks for that great information. During the early F&I war, the New Jersey companies armed with various styles of Wilson-made muskets were considered the best outfitted and drilled in the colonies. Unfortunately, a large number of them were killed or captured during the ambush at Sabbath Day Point and later the siege of Fort William Henry on Lake George, NY. My components are styled, as best I could, after the earlier version of those commercial muskets, artifacts of which are stored at Fort Ti. A major deviation was that the commercial guns tended to have skimpy stocks that appear to me to be much more fragile than the Bess. I opted to conform more to the Bess but with more drop in the butt stock and this is my interpretation of what a good colonial gunsmith might do with the parts just prior to the Rev War. My "colonial maker" upgrades the original musket design by beefing up the wood, adding a sheet brass nose cap, steel rammer, and appropriate thimbles. The end result will be a really good shooter if the Colerain barrel is any good. The rammer I am getting was originally sold by TOW for long land Besses so I do not know the manufacturer. That said, if it does not work or is not sufficient quality, I will buy one from Paul Ackermann. I believe his, which he has in stock, are from the Rifle Shoppe.

dave

 

[Wes/Tex]

I'm enjoying this series of posts as well. had to go back and look through all the militia muskets, converted fowlers and officers fusils in Neumann's "The History of Weapons of the American Revolution". I smile each time seeing the combination of British, French, Dutch, German and home-made parts and the mixture of them on some of those period militia muskets. Wish more builders today ventured into that type of long gun. What a treat to see one being built now. :thumbsup:

 

[Artificer]

There is, at least to me, an extremely interesting piece in the RCA books of a gun that looks like it is a smoothbore (and so described in the caption) and with a round barrel and bayonet stud, but was built like a cross between a Brown Bess and a Rifle. Since the RCA books were published, the barrel has been examined again and they found tracings of rifling in it that had been bored out.

I think the issue with building more of these conglomerate pieces is finding barrels and locks or even castings of locks, butt plates, trigger guards, etc. and then assembling it into something the owner would be happy to pay for.

Another question for Dave,

I think you stated you used a Rifle Shoppe Kit for the Lock? I was wondering if you have ever used the "Early Bess 1746 by 'Jordan'" kit from Blackley and Son in the UK as shown in this link?
https://www.blackleyandson.com/acatalog/English_Military_Flat_Faced.html

It has been many years since I last saw The Rifle Shoppe folks at the Annual Baltimore Antique Gun Show, but I've seen representatives from Blackley there and these kits and their Brown Bess parts impressed me as much better quality than the Rifle Shoppe.

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gus,
Good questions as always. I have quite a bit of experience with Blackley's and have spoken and communicated with Kevin Blackley quite a bit. I also have a lot of experience with TRS. Blackley's castings are usually better than TRS and they will cast parts in mild and higher carbon steels. If you can case harden parts properly, the mild steel parts are the way to go because they file and polish much easier than higher carbon steel. However, their customer service and delivery time is no better than TRS. Gus, Bess locks are so large that it really doesn't matter whose castings you use. The precision of the cast parts is not really much concern because the large size allows you to fit them properly as there is always enough excess metal. Smaller locks, like pistol locks are a completely different matter. The TRS lock on my musket was very easy to build relative to others I have built. If you want to get banana shaped Bess lock parts I suggest checking in with Paul Ackermann at www.ackermannarms.com. He has TRS parts sets for Besses in stock and they will suit your purpose well. If you can buy them from Blackley's at the Baltimore show, then by all means do so.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
The musket is finished. It was a lot of effort but also fun, particularly all the research I did in museums, collections, and books. It represents a New Jersey militia man’s gun made prior to the Rev war from old commercial British musket parts purchased by NJ during the F&I war. The barrel is a Colerain 75 cal. long land Bess barrel. The stock is sugar maple logged in Vermont, the trigger plate, trigger, and ramrod are modern made Brown Bess components. The butt plate was made by reshaping a long land pattern Bess casting. Same with the trigger guard. I cast the ramrod thimbles and drilled them for the rod. I also cast the side plate and made the nose cap from sheet brass. The cap is held in place by a copper rivet. The lock was made from pattern 1742 Bess lock parts from TRS that was reshaped a little and all markings removed. I then engraved “Wilson” on the plate. The bayonet was forged by the owner’s father but the socket was too small for the barrel and not heavy gauge sufficient to work as a split socket bayonet. Therefore, I cut off the blade and welded it on to a socket I made from DOM tubing. The new socket fits very well to the barrel and is stronger than the old one. I shaped the weld joint into a heart-shaped shield similar to many original bayonets. It has a well made but crude look of a colonial product. The stock was shaped with saws, planes, rasps, and files and then scraped. No sandpaper was used. I left tool and scraper marks giving the stock an authentic look. The stock was stained with tea and then ferric nitrate dissolved in water and finished with a sealer of thinned Sutherland-Wells polymerized tung oil topped with S-W polymerized tung oil wiping varnish. Enjoy the photos and comments good and bad are welcome.

dave

 

[Wes/Tex]

wow...Wow..and again, WOW! The whole musket came out so very well. Even with a description as thorough as the one you gave of how you were making and modifying parts to make a militia musket, the end result is stunning. Yours is a good blend of available and hand-made parts as they would have been available in the day. I've seem some originals that could best be described as a "hodgepodge" of English, French, Dutch and hand-made parts., but yours has a bit more orderly flow in it's construction. Simply sir, very well done...or as we say in Texas, "Yah done good compadre!" :wink: :applause: :hatsoff:

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

The Button on the Rammer came out beautifully.

The Butt Tang is really elegant. Good grief I bet that was hard to inlet as accurately as you did it! Was the idea of the thimbles something a local gunsmith would make to somewhat copy a military musket?

The copper rivet holding the nose cap is interesting, been waiting to see that. I like the fact you made a nose cap instead of a nose band.

Love the Bayonet! That socket sure looks strong enough for use. Did you taper it down from the rear towards the front? Making a heart shaped joint is very nice indeed.

The square front sight is a very nice touch as well and in keeping with a fairly early front sight. I’m wondering if the blade is tall enough, but I’m not familiar with the heavy breech Colerain barrel?

The whole effect of this musket is just downright elegant, splendid and outstanding! I believe you more than accomplished what you set out to do! Very Fine job indeed!! :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

As an aside, I was wondering if while you were researching this musket at different museums, did you happen to see either a Pattern 1730/40 Musket or Pattern 1742 Musket that had been restocked in American Maple or Walnut?

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Thank you Wes/Tex,
I was hoping you would comment. I love to build highly decorated guns but I also love the challenge of these simple, but elegant firearms. They are like a good Italian dish, few ingredients, but each has to be of very high quality and cooked just right because there is little to hide bad stuff. Thank you.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gus,
I was waiting to hear from you and Wes/Tex. I also am anxious to hear from Loyalist Dave, Jas, Joel, and Rifleman76. Some details to note. There is no hole for a forward sling swivel. I soldered a lug on the barrel just forward of the 2nd ramrod thimble in case the owner wanted to add a swivel and sling. However, during my research, as well as the owners research, we found that most early militia muskets did not have hole for slings even if there was a hole in the trigger guard. I do not know why that was. The stock actually looks better in person than in photos because you can see the tool and scraper marks. It looks so authentic. If I dinged up the stock, rusted the barrel and aged the brass parts, you could put this musket in a museum along with originals and never know the difference. My only regret is I don't have a way to stamp British proof marks on the barrel. I have the stamps but they just don't work unless I have some sort of high pressure press. Modern barrel steels just don't accept stamps very well. Every detail on this gun was researched, even the font I used for the engraved letters. I don't know if the front sight is high enough but I will find out soon when I shoot the gun. Given my past experience with military smoothbores, I suspect it will be fine as long as I can actually see it. Thank you all for commenting. I so appreciate your input

dave

 

[wulf]

Thanks, You definitely are an inspiration to
make me try harder. I feel that I can learn
a lot from people like you...

 

[Grumpa]

The knowledge, the research, the skill in execution... masterful. :hatsoff:

Richard/Grumpa

 

[Artificer]

Hi Dave,

That "somewhat mysterious" hole in the trigger guard without a barrel lug or even a forward hole in the stock, also shows up in a few period rifles.

I have begun to wonder if we "moderns" mistake that hole for the possibility of mounting a sling VS some other period explanation? Also have to admit I have wondered if it was for a thumb stall, but that doesn't make sense on most period rifles.

Is it possible that single hole in the trigger guard was drilled so as to put a lace through it for a Cow's Knee/Lock Cover? That item was very common for both muskets and rifles in the period.

Gus

 

[Wes/Tex]

Had thought similar about how with a bit of use it might end up with an "original" tag hung on it but modern steel parts should provide answers to anyone doing serious research. I had also noted some originals had the sling swivel hole in the trigger guard but none along or under the fore stock. Don't have a definitive answer but would speculate militia weren't likely to carry muskets over their shoulders on long marches like regular troops would...just a WAG! (Old NASA tern!) :wink:

I love that you went for an early mixed ancestry musket. I don't know about New Jersey but but the Massachusetts militia regs in effect in 1775 specifically stated they were to carry,

"a good firearm with a steel or iron ramrod...a bayonet fitted to his gun, a scabbard and belt therefor, and a cutting sword, or a tomahawk or hatchet, a pouch containing a cartridge box that would hold fifteen rounds of cartridges at least, a hundred of buck shot, a jack knife and tow for wadding, six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaden balls fitten to his gun, a knapsack and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle sufficient to hold one quart."

Those specifically rule out rifles..metal ramrod, bayonet, a hundred of buck shot. "Forty leaden balls fitten to his gun" also covers caliber, since each had 15 pre-made cartridges and 40 extra balls and it appears they didn't anticipate a long campaign when those regs were put down. I think the northern colonies were probably similar, they seem to have thought it out fairly well. Rifles used by militia seem to have been a southern colonies adaptation, at least from the furor the Virginia riflemen made north of there on there way to Boston.

This gun you made fits the bill precisely...damn good job! :thumbsup:

 

[Wes/Tex]

These are a few that still exist and it's assumed they were used by colonial militia early in the AWI.
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/21908/20436783_1.jpg?v=8D1A96E1B40AA30
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/21908/20436783_2.jpg?v=8D1A96E1B40AA30
http://www.adirondackbasecamp.com/basecamp/wp-content/uploads/wilson-musket.jpg
A Wilson
https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/332...n=1495490133&width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp
This one has a striped maple stock but was later converted to percussion.
https://www.collegehillarsenal.com/shop/images/P/FLA-2016-Product.jpg
Restocked Dutch musket
https://www.collegehillarsenal.com/shop/images/D/FLA-2816-18.jpg
Farmer made with militia name and number
https://cloudinary-a.akamaihd.net/...://images.skinnerinc.com/full/578/1037578.jpg
Known Massachusetts militia musket with it's bayonet
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/13268/13827521_1.jpg?v=8CF5F35D83E5B80
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/13268/13827521_3.jpg?v=8CF5F35D83E5B80

I've posted these just so those who may be reading this but may not be familiar with the mix of muskets in colonial militia units were all about.

 

[Artificer]

Wes/Tex,

OMG, I dropped my jaw when I saw the following link of yours:
https://www.collegehillarsenal.com/shop/images/D/FLA-2816-18.jpg

This is not a put together or commercial musket, rather it is a FINE example of a REAL British Ordnance Department purchased Pattern 1742 Land Musket.

With your permission, I believe this one deserves its own thread in the smoothbore section.

Gus