Finally got a flintlock

[deseeb2001]

Although I hadn’t planned to buy anything at the gun show this weekend, what may have been a once-in-a-lifetime deal followed me home.

I am unsure of the exact type or maker of this rifle, as there isn’t a mark anywhere on it (unless there is something under the barrel). It looks to be a .54 caliber when I measured across the muzzle, and a fairly knowledgeable gentleman at the gun show said it may be a Dixie Gun Works “Poor Boy” rifle from the 80’s.

All I know for certain is that it is definitely not the standard Lyman/Investarms Hawkins repro that I commonly run across.
That being said, I’m not sure how to get the barrel off to look underneath it as there are no barrel wedges. I see several screws that look promising, but I thought I would ask those more knowledgeable before I went tearing in to it.
Generally, are the barrel; lock; and trigger assembly separate parts or would I need to remove the lock to get the barrel out? If so, are there any pieces behind there that I need to watch for in case they try to fall out or spring apart?

 

[excess650]

Dixie Tn Mtn rifles were 50cal, 41-3//8" x 15/16", stocked in cherry, and made by BC Miroku in Japan. They are marked Dixie Gun Works and serial numbered on the barrel, visible above the wood. I've owned 2 and still have one. They also made a similar squirrel rifle, but 32cal.

The rifle pictured lacks the grease hole in the buttstock, appears to be walnut, and has a buckhorn rear sight. I dunno who made it.

Expect to need to remove the tang screw(s) and drive out the pins that go through the forestock. There should be pins holding the ramrod pipes as well, and they shouldn't need removing. The Dixie has (3) pipes.

 

[Larry Akers]

Your stock and barrel are held together with pins. There is a pin just forward of and up from each ramrod pipe. There will be a third pin about 9-10" in front of the breech but I can't pick it out in the photo. The pins can just be driven out with a punch of proper size. There will be a screw which passes from the tang thru the trigger plate. Remove that screw. You may have to remove the lock screw as they sometimes go through the web of the breech plug. Remove the ramrod and the barrel should come out. Unless someone has put in shims or something is broken, there should be no extraneous parts to fall out.

 

[Zonie]

The pins that hold the barrel in are located about 2" ahead of the rear sight and 1 inch ahead of the ramrod thimbles.

As was said, use a punch or a pin that is slightly smaller than the pin hole.

If you don't have one but you do have a flat metal cutting file or a whet/grind stone and a nail that has a body smaller than the pin hole, file or grind the point off so the end is flat.

Then, using something like a very small hammer, mallet,large screw driver handle or a pair of pliers to pound with, carefully drive the nail/pin/punch in to tap the barrel pins out.

It's a good idea to only drive the pins out maybe 1/4" - 3/8" and then grab the exposed pin with a pair of pliers to pull them out.

Unless you have a real good reason to totally remove them another good idea is to pull the pins only far enough to release them from the barrel underlugs which they go thru.

That way you won't get the pins mixed up when it comes time to reassemble the barrel with the stock. (Often, the pins are different lengths. Sometimes, they can be different diameters.)

There are 2 pins holding each of the ramrod thimbles in place. They are located directly above the thimbles. Do not remove these pins.

Have fun. :grin:

 

[nwtradegun]

unless absolutely needed DO NOT REMOVE THE PINS. I HAVE SEEN SUCH RIFLES DESTROED BY DOING SO. PINS WENT IN AT DIFFERENT POINTS. NOT AT THE SAME HOLE.

 

[deseeb2001]

Thanks for all the help :hatsoff:

I got the pins far enough out to remove the barrel and couldn't find anything under there. The name "Pete Allan" was faintly stamped under the buttplate, and what little I have found makes me think it was/is the name of a company (person?) that made/makes parts for muzzleloaders.

Other than that, I'm stumped as to the origin of this rifle. I may take the barrel off again at some point and clean up the underside to see if anything shows up, but I would have thought any lettering would have been reasonably visible.

Does the snake on the buttstock mean anything, or is it just decoration?

Next step, verify the caliber; get a hold of some 4F powder (would it be worth trying to prime it with 3F?); and see how it shoots!

 

[azmntman]

3 f will work fine. CLEAN (and make sure its not loaded!) before ya do anything else.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I'm thinking what you have there is a restocked Dixie rifle, with an aftermarket barrel. I'd say this as the caliber is huge for a Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle. There isn't a tallow-hole in the stock, and the triggers look aftermarket. The lock, trigger guard, butt plate and toe-plate all look right, so I think somebody took Dixie parts, and upgraded to a .54 barrel while giving it a new stock.

LD

 

[excess650]

Everything on that rifle is different than my Dixie. Lock, triggers, guard, and buttplate included.

 

[don hepler]

I would remove the lock and give it a good cleaning. I would also remove the trigger and do the same.

Be careful when you remove parts on an old rifle. Wiggle them carefully, so the wood won't splinter,

You will be better off, in the long run, if you learn to work on the lock and fully disassemble it, but a spring vice is necessary, to keep from breaking the springs. Proper lube and cleaning after shooting, will make it last for years. I do not disassemble the lock very often, but I do remove the lock after every shooting session. If you are not comfortable with disassembling, you can soak or spray it down with a cleaner and reoil it.

I would wax the wood, barrel channel, and under side of the barrel. You can wax metal and all.

Nice old rifle. Best of luck.

 

[hanshi]

Your rifle appears to be a well made "poorboy" rifle. Despite the snake inlay, they are plain guns for hunting/shooting and without added frills; I have two. It does not look like any Dixie offering I've ever seen and could be a build from a "private" builder who only builds a gun from time to time for a friend/relative, or what have you.

The barrel can be removed WITH CARE and the barrel channel and barrel waxed to protect against moisture. After that, the barrel should NOT be removed for cleaning but the lock should be removed. I doubt I remove a barrel from a gun for several years unless it gets rained on.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

If you're expecting to remove pins often then you might want to try my style of pin.

I find a small nail with a flat head, in other words not a finish or casing nail, and make a pin with it. I chuck the nail into a drill of some sort, and using a needle file with a safe edge or face and run it along the shank of the nail and up to the underside of the head and cleanup any flashing there and get the underside nice and flat. Then I put a flat file against the edge of the head and make sure it is nice and round and flat. At this point you can reduce the diameter of the head if you want. Finally I round off the upper outside of the head of the nail.

Next, I run the nail/pin through the pin hole in the stock and out the opposite side. I mark the shank of the nail/pin about 1/16th of an inch past the side of the stock. Then, pull the pin out of the stock and cut it to lenght at the mark I made. After that I put the cut end of the nail/pin into the cup of a cup stone on a Drexel and nicely round the tip off.

It can be blued or browned at this point.

Put the pin back in the stock, and you will have a tiny bit of the tip projecting from one side a very tidy flat head on the opposite side. To remove the pin lightly tap the projecting tip and using a knife or something similar hook the flat head and gently pull the pin out. It will go back in with no problems. It will save the frustration of using a pin punch each time you want to pull the pin. You can't booger up the stock.

This probably won't cut it with the HC/PC crowd as nice uniform factory made nails weren't available
way back when. However the basic idea could have been worked out by just about any gunsmith at any period. I wouldn't kick anyone out of camp for using my style of pin on a rifle.

The heads of the nail/pins could be decorated with some file work or something.

Just understand I'm not talking about using a big ass framing nail. Just a 10d or similar with a small flat head

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I don't recall anyone mentioning this, but when viewed as if firing the arm, pins, sights, and other items are always installed or put IN from the Right to the Left direction. And removed the opposite, by tapping them OUT from Left to Right.

 

[deseeb2001]

Thanks for all the help from everyone :hatsoff: I'll take it all in to consideration, and I'm looking forward to trying it out one of these days.

 

[jj500]

If I am not mistaken,Pete Allan makes various parts for muzzleloaders,castings and such.Looks like you got a hold of a custom made muzzleloader,looks pretty good but as someone else said, unless you really like it I would lose the snake.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I have a Traditions PA longrifle that has a pinned barrel. I used to take the barrel out every 6 months or so to make sure I wasn't getting any water in it. I also waxed the barrel channel and the barrel.

I haven't taken the barrel off in years now because the only time it gets used is when I loan it to a newby reenactor. When I used to take it ou, I just used a finishing nail slightly smaller than the pin to punch it out. worked like a charm Eventually I did go buy a punch of the right size, but I often would still just put the head of that finishing nail on it and tapped it out if the punch wasn't handy.

You could see pins in mine after I put the pins back in because they were shiny and just slightly shorter than the stock was wide. To cover that up I just got a stick of wood putty to match my stock (Traditions uses a walnut stock, so got walnut wood putty) and crayola'd it over the ends and then swiped it with my thumb to even it out. After that you'd really had to inspect the rifle closely to find the pins.

Also, I've always driven them out and also back in from the same side. Never made a difference. If you have driven a pin all the way through from one side, it will certainly go back in that same way because the whole pin has already gone through in that direction once. Putting it through the opposite side always has the chance of an imperfection in the pin (slight chance of that) hitting some wood differently and causing a splinter because it hasn't gone through in that direction before. If there is no defect on the pin, it shouldn't make a difference.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan

 

[Mickc01]

I really like it. I think you did really well for a first flintlock. Like one of the other guys suggested, be sure it's not loaded.

You can get a cheap plastic caliper from somewhere like Harbor Freight and check the caliber. You can also get everything you need except blackpowder from trackofthewolf.com.

Have fun!!!....Mick C

 

[AZbpBurner]

Take a good look at the bore. Hopefully it's not all rusty like the exterior is. Apparently the barrel was either rusted unevenly and never finished, or else a former owner just plain neglected it. Some oil & fine steel wool should help even out the barrel rust & rub it out to a nice & more even browned finish.

As for that bore: if it's clean without heavy rust, then you should be good to go to shoot; if really rusty, consider having it looked at to ensure the breechplug threads are tight and in good condition. Breechplug removal via firing can wreck your day.

Looks like it will clean up to be a solid shooter!

 

[bones92]

I would lean towards it being a custom build with some Dixie parts. The triggerguard and lock look very similar to what Miroku put on the TN Mountain "poor boy" rifle.

 

[Gene L]

I thought the Dixie Poor boy didn't have a butt plate.

Looks like a nice rifle.