Half Stock

[DBox]

I'm getting close to finishing my half stock Tennessee. Would it be terribly incorrect to not put an endcap on it? I've found a few pics of rifles like this but they aren't very clear.

 

[chapmans]

I would think a poured nose cap would be correct, I've seen them on full stock Tenn. rifles.
Longball 58

 

[Zonie]

While there were a number of Tennessee rifles that didn't use a nose cap, I put a browned steel one on this rifle. I think it looks right at home there. :grin:

It is held in place with a copper rivet passing from the barrel channel thru the bottom of the cap.

The "rivet" was made from a piece of #12 copper wire.

The rivet, the sight base and the brass tube on the tip of the ramrod are the only non steel pieces of hardware on the gun.

 

[reddogge]

Zonie,
Were you copying me or was I copying you?

 

[Jim-Iowa]

David I 'm no expert(former drip under pressure?) by any means. But would say it depends on what hardware you are using on the rest of the rifle.
The so called poor boys sometimes used no buttplate, toe plate, entry pipe or nose piece.
As has been pointed out steel or poured or none would be apropriate. I was not going to put one on mine, but have decided to pour a Chevron cap.
The reasoning came to me early in my build.
A bunch of us guys were discussing whether I would use a toe plate. One of the guys said" If you don't use one the question is not if, but when will you break a chunk out of the stock in the toe area". I'm using that discussion and logic to pour the cap.

BTW thats a couple nice rifles!

 

[Ian Pratt]

David, I see you are asking about a half stock gun, yes that's fine to do it without a cap for a Tennessee rifle.

Not all of those southern half stock rifles were originally made as half stock guns, some were full stock guns that were cut back or the forends broke up and were shortened. You see all kinds of stuff, no cap and no entry pipe, wood under ribs with the pipes pinned to the rib, flat metal plate at the end of the forestock in place of a cap, etc. There's a lot you can do that could be considered "correct".

 

Some of the fullstocks had caps and some did not. I would think the same would be true on a halfstock southern mountain rifle although halfstocks in the southern mountain regions were a rarity.

 

[DBox]

Thanks for the input. I guess I could have told ya'll a little more. This rifle started life as a CVA Kentuckey rifle. You know, the one with the two piece stock. I don't have much cash tied up in it and, since it is a really good shooter, I thought it would be a good source of parts to start with. I ordered a precarved stock from Gusstocks Plus. There was a mix up on the stock but they went out of their way to make it right. I'll probably order from them again. I'm making the iron furniture in my shop. The trigger guard is simple with enough curves to have a decent amount of "grip". I built the butt plate and will put a toe plate on it to save the stock since this will be a working rifle. I think I'll start out without a nose cap but I can always come back and add one later if I decide to. Probably will try since I have a hard time leaving anything alone. This is my first and I've learned a lot. I'll try to post some pics when I get through, if ya'll won't be too rough on me.

 

[Zonie]

reddogge:
If you were copying me, you forgot the carving on the cheek piece. :rotf: I know they weren't usually carved at all but I couldn't resist doing something.

Yours looks like a Flinter too while mine is actually a converted Flintlock to Percussion (note the plugged frizzen and frizzen spring screw holes and what's left of the pan to support the drum).

 

[reddogge]

Zonie,
You have a fine looking specimen there and I did catch the finer points of your build. Your shot did remind me of the one I had on mine. I built that little .32 squirrel gun in the mid 80s. It doesn't weight very much, less than 6 lbs. or so.