Indian Wheel Lock Re-Do

[buzz]

I have found a lower vent i can use less prime in the pan

 

[Matt85]

that flash hole location looks ok to me. but i cant tell how badly its obstructed by the pan. if the lip of the pan isnt covering any of the flash hole then id say yer good.

-matt

 

[rickystl]

Hi Curator. The edge of the pan is not covering any of the vent hole. So, as you mention, I'm not really worried too much about it. I just think whoever drilled the hole would have taken a little more care in the position :idunno: I can always have it plugged and re-drilled. That's not a big deal. And, I may have to do this anyway if I have it re-stocked, which is the way I'm leaning at the moment.
I would have preferred a slimmer .50/.54 caliber barrel. But I can't locate a octagon, fading to round, - that's 16" long. I can easily have a new barrel made - but that would probably take a year to get. :shake:
The current barrel is the correct profile and is right at .62 caliber (.621). So I think I'm going to re-use the barrel. The barrel has never been fired. I ran a cleaning jag with a tight patch down the barrel and did not feel any "drop" at the breech end. But it is an Indian made barrel. So as long as we are doing everything else, I'll have the breech plug removed and inspect/mic everything.
Thanks again for the tip about the pan cover ARM. A good thing to fix while everything else is being done. Rick.

 

[rickystl]

Hi Matt. Yes, I agree with you. I wouldn't let it bother me much about the vent hole. But it will likely have to be plugged and re-drilled anyway if the gun is re-stocked.
Well, I've made a decision. I'm going to have the pistol re-stocked using a nice piece of European walnut, utilizing the same lock, barrel, and hardware. This should be an interesting before and after project. :haha:
Thanks to everyone on this Thread. It's most appreciated. I've been told I can have something back in about three months. So I'll report back with an update with new photos. Thanks again. Rick. :hatsoff:

 

[rickystl]

BUMP!
After some further thought, I decided to try and slim down the existing stock. I figured if I didn't like the end result, all it would cost me is a few hours of the gunsmith's labor. While we were at it, we re-shaped the wood in front of the pawl spring, re-shaped the trigger, and made a new trigger guard. Must have taken a half inch of wood off the stock. :rotf: But the fore end: Now the ramrod looks even further away from the barrel :cursing: Well, we can shorten the tang of the ramrod thimble. That will bring the rod closer to the stock. But there is only about a sixteenth of an inch to work with. Anyway, overall, it seems to look better. Especially the grip area. What do you guys think?
We found two major problems trying to slim the stock down. And this may be true with all/most of the Indian made guns (especially the MVTC Colonial Fowler). 1) The ramrods hole/groove are too low, too far away from the barrel. You can't slim it down enough without going right through the ramrod hole. So you can only remove so much of the excess wood from the forearms. Too bad.
2) The other thing we found out is that the composition of the Indian teak wood won't accept a dark stain. Tried four coats. I should have tried black India ink, but didn't think about it at the time.
Again, the only real problem is the position of the ramrod being too far below the barrel. So, if anyone is considering doing this to their gun, at least you know what you will run into. :idunno:
Here are some photos of the re-do. Thanks for looking.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[raszpla]

some tips ;

:hatsoff:

 

[cynthialee]

Nice.

 

[Many Klatch]

I don't know how dark you were trying to get this gun, but shoe dye will work on any wood. I rebuilt a pair of Japanese made Tower pistols and dyed the stocks black with shoe dye. Worked great. I would think you could pick a dark brown dye and get the color that you want.

Many Klatch