humidity and barrel fit

[aragorn]

I've been away for a month and just made a not unexpected discovery on my semi-completed York. Here in S Ontario we get hot, very humid summers and cold dry winters. My gunmaking workshop is in the basement of our house and we have dehumidifiers on constantly in the summer, but even so I was expecting problems. Nothing too serious, but the perfect fit of my breech, completed mid summer, now has a slight gap (the gun was of course stored over the last month with the barrel screwed and pinned in the stock). I may even have to put in a thin coat of bedding resin at the breech. I don't think there's much I can do about this - if I'd done the inlet in the winter I might have reverse problems with wood expansion in the summer. Also I imagine annual shrinkage and expansion will be reduced once I've sealed and finished the wood to reduce moisture exchange.

I have an old violin, we think late 18th/early 19th c, which cracked when my Dad took it from its original home in England to New Zealand (dry), and now in Ontario the crack closes and opens with the seasons! Hoping this doesn't happen with my gun but I guess its all part of the circle of life.

 

[AZ-Robert]

We get a six week long monsoon season here. Rest of the year we have very low humidity, but during that period it gets over about 60% on most days. Not much by some people's reckoning, I know, but around here that is a pretty good spike from what we consider normal. The conventional wisdom passed on to me by the local guys was to leave the ramrod standing in the corner during the monsoon period, just to minimize the chance of swelling wood locking it tight in the channel.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Strider and All,

You are absolutely correct about minimizing the stock movement problem once the would is sealed and finished. In South Texas, we have the same problem.

I learned many years ago that an oil finish is the best way way to go. Oil does not completely waterproof the wood and allows it to 'breath" in a more natural manner with atmospheric changes.

That wood is going to try to "breath" regardless of the finish used. The stock will "fight" a water tight/proof finish and will warp, twist, and swell in unusual ways if it has to "fight" to adapt to seasonal climatic changes. I spent many a year experimenting and looking for the "perfect" finish. There is no such animal. Any finish is a compromise.
I started with oil finishes 45 years ago, tried every finish you imagine, and have come full circle back to oil finishes.

By the way, are you aware that David Crockett's first personally owned rifle was of York County pattern?

And also another by the way, Strider, how is it you Canadians are allowed to build ML rifles and have black powder. I was under the impression, you guys had been virtually stripped of all firearms and reloading equipment/components.

We American Shooters just got a major boast to our firearm owners rights and the US Constitution 2nd Amendment when President Bush signed a legislative bill week before last protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from second or third party criminal misuse of a firearm.

Best regards and good shooting,

John L. Hinnant,

If you are not an NRA Member, why not? I am carrying your load.

 

[aragorn]

Thanks very much for both replies. I'll return to yours John in a couple of months when I'm ready to finish, and may seek your advice again. It does make me think that I should try to plan future builds to get them done more quickly, to seal the wood - this is my first, and the next should be quicker as a matter of course, I hope!

Mine's a Jim Chambers York and he mentions the Crockett rifle on his website, and I've looked closely at Billy Bob's rifle in the film the Alamo to see if they got it right! I'm going to start buying some of the reference books on York/Lancaster rifles and look forward to finding out more, especially as I come to think about doing some authentic carving on my rifle.

The less said about the law here the better, as I don't want some idiot bureaucrat to read this and suddenly realise there's a loophole ... but basically yes, despite all the billions (literally) spent on the monstrous Canadian firearms registry, which makes all of us law-abiders register our firearms and feel like criminals, but actually has no effect on gun crime (immigrant black and Chinese gangsters in Toronto don't buy their guns legally or register them - duh), there is a loophole which means you can buy and shoot a flintlock, and buy powder, without any paperwork at all. Flintlocks, even modern ones, are legally 'antiques', not firearms. Percussion guns are firearms. This may seem nonsense to anyone who's fired a 50 cal lead ball at 1500 fps out of a flintlock, but it's what the girls in the firearms registry came up with and we're not complaining. The story is there was a big lobby from the Parks Canada and related services who run the historic forts and were worried that legislation would prevent their historic reenactors, mainly students, from carring and firing flintlock muskets for tourists.

So there you go - the law's an ass, but sometimes it works in our favor!

 

[jerrywh]

The solution is to sell that gun to a guy in Florida.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Strider,

The Billy Bob Thorton/David Crockett rifle used in the 2004 Alamo movie is not based on Colonel Crockett's 1796 dated York rifle.

The 2004 ALAMO movie Crockett rifle is a custom Jacob Dickert style rifle suggested by the Dickert rifle which is supposed to have survived the 1836 ALAMO battle.and is supposed to been used by Colonel Crockett. However, there is no evidence to support the claim it belonged to the Colonel.

The movie rifle is one of two custom Dicket style fully functional flintlocks specially built for the movie.

There is more to this story, but it long past my slumber time.

Best regards and good shooting,

John L. Hinnant

If you are not an NRA Member, why not? I am carrying your load.