I am Having a Scottish Musket Made

[Tacksman45]

By the way....who made the barrel ???

Bobby Hoyt

 

[Tacksman45]

I have to agree, Dale does fantastic work!

Super work!

 

[Rudyard]

Well it looks fine to me ,I like the flutes I think the same artizans who made Harps likley made stocks no proof just seems logical some one mentioned washer like inlets to prevent the heads of the side nails digging in but I think the heads would be big enough so need no other . All known survivors being so few non of us can be really sure what other styles there might have been. About the only thing ime sure wasn't common is no long guns had Brazzil wood stocks the stuff is too heavy, cast brass would be less headache . I've a bit might do for a pair of wood stocked heart butts never made any heart butts . I think if any capable maker wanted a solid career it would be making the Scots arms & small guns for children .Both have sufficient. interest to keep him in steady work A late friend used to make rams horns & he made the dies to produce the steel stocked heart butts he gave up & I got some blanks but like him time needed & demand wasn't there then . & todays anti gun govts that seek to be rid of us all with such notions hardy helps . As for weight all I used to hunt with ran about 6 pounds except the big duck gun but I've no plan to use it anyway for ducks at any rate. All interesting stuff .
Regards Rudyard

 

[Bushfire]

Beautiful artwork

 

[BillinOregon]

I am stunned at the beauty of your new musket, Tacksman. How does she feel in the hands? How does she shoot? Surely you will name this comely lass ...

 

[Tacksman45]

I am stunned at the beauty of your new musket, Tacksman. How does she feel in the hands? How does she shoot? Surely you will name this comely lass ...

I don't actually have it yet, I will update the post when I get a chance to fire it. I will give it a Gaelic name when the name occurs to me.

 

[rickystl]

That gun certainly turned out well. She's a beauty. Wonderful workmanship. While we know there are very few original pieces, I would venture to guess that you have one of the few accurate looking, custom replicas. Again, congratulations. And thanks for posting these rarely seen muskets.

Rick

 

[senseisugarbear]

Being of Primartily Scottish Blood, YOUR Rifle SHAMES me for never considering Commissioning such a build. Truly an ASTOUNDING Work of art, Yet gives the veiwer a sense of Useability....Magnificent,,,YOU should be commended for your RESEARCH, FORTITUDE, and PASSIONATE LEAP OF FAITH, to keep a Fine example of SCOTTISH HERITIGE alive. My heritage consisting of follow Clans,,,,,,,,,, Cameron,Mac Claren, And Stuart, Landed in the U.S. during the 1820-1830 period. settled separatley over time in the Florence area of What is now Omaha, Nebraska. Grandpa TAYLOR was fond of setting folk straight when referred to as SCOTCH. His reply is I am a SCOTSMAN or SCOTTISH...The only thing SCOTCH is tape! EVEN our drink is not Scotch it is WHISKEY! I will offer MY opinion as to the reason for the scarsity of such Pieces...I doubt that the Average Clansman could afford such a Piece,,,,,Therfore the FINEST CRAFTED pieces May NEVER have been Common. Just My Opinion..Be Safe>>Wally

 

[Tacksman45]

Being of Primartily Scottish Blood, YOUR Rifle SHAMES me for never considering Commissioning such a build. Truly an ASTOUNDING Work of art, Yet gives the veiwer a sense of Useability....Magnificent,,,YOU should be commended for your RESEARCH, FORTITUDE, and PASSIONATE LEAP OF FAITH, to keep a Fine example of SCOTTISH HERITIGE alive. My heritage consisting of follow Clans,,,,,,,,,, Cameron,Mac Claren, And Stuart, Landed in the U.S. during the 1820-1830 period. settled separatley over time in the Florence area of What is now Omaha, Nebraska. Grandpa TAYLOR was fond of setting folk straight when referred to as SCOTCH. His reply is I am a SCOTSMAN or SCOTTISH...The only thing SCOTCH is tape! EVEN our drink is not Scotch it is WHISKEY! I will offer MY opinion as to the reason for the scarsity of such Pieces...I doubt that the Average Clansman could afford such a Piece,,,,,Therfore the FINEST CRAFTED pieces May NEVER have been Common. Just My Opinion..Be Safe>>Wally

Thank you very much! All the credit however must go to Dale Nincehelser, who is part Scottish himself for this build!

 

[Tacksman45]

"About the only thing ime sure wasn't common is no long guns had Brazzil wood stocks the stuff is too heavy, cast brass would be less headache."

My mother has an antique folding table which I think is made of Brazilwood, and that thing is heavy!

 

[Rudyard]

Dear Sugar bear I would have to agree . The booklet of Messers Claude Bliar & Robert Savage is a gem & cost under 10 $ they give size but not weight . The big' Breadalbane gun' has to be unweildy but ones I made & used hunting are around 6 pounds . The first long gun I made was intended to take to the US where I ' Wintered' not likeing winter down here (Or any where !)As I followed the events & R vous scene as a mate to the Lemon Butt pistol already over there . But I married & along came' bin lids 'so that put the lid on my 'Wintering'
Regards Rudyard

 

[Rudyard]

Thank you very much! All the credit however must go to Dale Nincehelser, who is part Scottish himself for this build!

Ime Not Scottish Ime a Yorkshireman (but few in the US could tell the difference in accents !) I just don't like long strides in hot weather so went with the kilts & the whole romance of it ,Too much Sir Walter Scott .Regards Rudyard

 

[NorthFork]

Simply amazing work! Fantastic modern example of an original Scottish arm!

 

[3 eared musket cap]

Hi again everyone,

After doing research for more than two years, I have decided to pursue the project of having a Scottish National Longarm made! I am going to make posts periodically to ask for advice from the folks here on the forum! I have read several books including two from my good friend and fellow forum user MacRob, as well as Scottish Firearms by Blair and Savage, and The Scottish Pistol by Martin Kelvin. I have also have talked with Steve Krolic, who has very graciously answered a number of questions I had about the details of this project. I am still doing research for this project but I will layout where I am at on this project so far:

Fellow forum user "Deep Creek" Dale Nincehelser has agreed to build this gun for me. He has built a beautiful Spanish Escopeta for me before, and he does fantastic work!

I am going to base this build off of a musket catalog# LNA32 in the Seafield Collection at the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. One of the curators at the Museum was kind enough to send me some photos of this musket in it's display case for reference. The majority of the extant Scottish Longarms are stocked with what is referred to as "Brazilwood." This may refer to any number of hardwoods from South America including Paubrasilia echinata commonly know as Brazilwood or Pernambuco wood, however this wood is endangered and no longer reasonably available. There is at least one example of one of these guns being stocked with walnut however, and I was able to purchase a large enough English Walnut blank from Ron Scott, which I attached a picture of below.

For the barrel I contacted Bobby Hoyt, who agreed to make the custom barrel and breechplug for me. If you are in the market for a custom barrel, I highly recommend him! I decided to follow Steve Krolic's advice and not try to exactly match the dimensions of the barrel since nothing about the guns were standardized. The barrel is 48 inches overall and .75 caliber, as the LNA32 is described in Scottish Firearms. The barrel has the distinctive "step" transition on the top of the barrel, and I will have a wedding band filed into the barrel forward of this (see attached pictures below.) For the lock Dale is going to customize a snaphaunce lock from a Rifle Shoppe parts set.

For the rest of the hardware I am going to branch out somewhat from the original gun. The original gun has a conventional shaped trigger, instead of the "ball trigger" that most of these guns have. MacRob is of the opinion, and I agree with him, that the triggers on these guns which are not ball triggers are likely replacements, and I am going to have Dale make a custom ball trigger for this gun. Another source I am using for this project is the painting of Alastair Grant Mor, Laird Grant's Champion, by Richard Wait. the Scottish longarm pictured in this painting is actually one of the guns in the Seafield Collection but I do not remember which one it is. As is typical for these guns, I am going to omit a triggerguard, and a sideplate. I am going to use three 1/2" dome headed lock bolts, and I may have washers inlet under the heads of the lockbolts to give the wood some extra protection. The painting appears to show brass ramrod pipes similar to the bulbous jaeger type ramrod pipes available from Track, so I am going to these with some slight alterations. The painting also shows a large brass tulip type ramrod tip so I will use one of these one the end of the ramrod. The only other tricky detail is the sights. The LNA32 has a very large rams horns type rear sight, with extensively curled rams horns. Track sells a number of buckhorn type rear sights, however if I use one of these it is not going to look right, so I will have Dale make this sight with some creative license. The original does have a small soldiered front sight, for which I will use standard brass fusil sight from Track. I am going to use standard soldered lugs for the pins.

I will give more updates as things develop!

Wow! Good fer you!

 

[Rudyard]

Tacksman might run the pics of similar guns of my make Ive no ability to send any pics at present ' if hes able it might be of interest to you. Regards Rudyard

 

[oreclan]

Beautiful firearm!
I have a Kit Ravenshear English snaphaunce that Kit and I thought could be modified to work in a Scottish musket.

 

[Rudyard]

A friend of Kit ,So was I we go back to his Framlingham days I bought my first rifle barrel off Kit but knew him better in his PA Frackville times & he had Richard as' live in' pupil. Kit could be testy but so could I. Men are not gods .
Are you saying you aspire to have a Scots S hance ? its easy for you to get barrels sending complete arms is a pain these days but maybee a stock with a wooden barrel would go no problem some are unfamiliar with such stocks but Ime not .I suppose any taper oct light 45 or 50 cal would suit if I generally add thistle muzzles but not all did & its the style your after. a pic of the lock with dims would be useful . Perhaps the lock was parts from Ted Blakley "I inherited or rather bought many of kits parts one was a lock I put together for him never saw any S hances at his place just his devolveing locks & roman candle experiments . be it rifled or smooth would be up to you, Ide never see it anyway . Just got out of bed good interesting start to the day . Regards Rudyard

 

[Philip Chua]

A friend of Kit ,So was I we go back to his Framlingham days I bought my first rifle barrel off Kit but knew him better in his PA Frackville times & he had Richard as' live in' pupil. Kit could be testy but so could I. Men are not gods .
Are you saying you aspire to have a Scots S hance ? its easy for you to get barrels sending complete arms is a pain these days but maybee a stock with a wooden barrel would go no problem some are unfamiliar with such stocks but Ime not .I suppose any taper oct light 45 or 50 cal would suit if I generally add thistle muzzles but not all did & its the style your after. a pic of the lock with dims would be useful . Perhaps the lock was parts from Ted Blakley "I inherited or rather bought many of kits parts one was a lock I put together for him never saw any S hances at his place just his devolveing locks & roman candle experiments . be it rifled or smooth would be up to you, Ide never see it anyway . Just got out of bed good interesting start to the day . Regards Rudyard

Great project! I have been mulling over such a project.

 

[Rudyard]

A friend of Kit ,So was I we go back to his Framlingham days I bought my first rifle barrel off Kit but knew him better in his PA Frackville times & he had Richard as' live in' pupil. Kit could be testy but so could I. Men are not gods .
Are you saying you aspire to have a Scots S hance ? its easy for you to get barrels sending complete arms is a pain these days but maybee a stock with a wooden barrel would go no problem some are unfamiliar with such stocks but Ime not .I suppose any taper oct light 45 or 50 cal would suit if I generally add thistle muzzles but not all did & its the style your after. a pic of the lock with dims would be useful . Perhaps the lock was parts from Ted Blakley "I inherited or rather bought many of kits parts one was a lock I put together for him never saw any S hances at his place just his devolveing locks & roman candle experiments . be it rifled or smooth would be up to you, Ide never see it anyway . Just got out of bed good interesting start to the day . Regards Rudyard

This older post seemingly caught your imagination The topic has come up very recently ,like yesterday ! It is possible to make & post 'Stage props' but the barrel needs be fitted in the US or where ever you are . locks I make. I don't think TRS have such specific locks while early ones tend to be Snaphance but many had varient 'English' locks even pure 'dog' locks that are just a full cock & the 'Dog' served quite happily as a half ( Where are you anyway ?) .Post is expensive & I' charge like a wounded Buffalo '! Well not by many standards . I've made and used all the varients even pure internal flint lock it all depends on the patron tastes. I once put into Dixons fair juror's a Snaphance Lemon butt pistol .because it was all l had with me . now these Jurers know ALL about US pistols but 17 Scots don't come up often they pointed out the thissle muzzle" Shouldn't have ' Knurling '' It didn't have any just my hand files .Took a prize anyway . While Ile consider your desire .PM me and see how we go. Rudyard

 

[Notchy Bob]

I will give it a Gaelic name when the name occurs to me.

Regarding the name, I once knew a gal named Morna. This was about 50 years ago. She was beautiful. She said her name was Scots Gaelic, and meant "Beloved."

I can't remember a license plate number for two minutes, or five items on a grocery list, but I remember her like it was yesterday.

Just a respectful suggestion for a possible name.

Notchy Bob