Issac Haines rifle

[Deadeye]

I finally finished an Issac haines rifle that I've been
working on off and on for quite a while. 1st pic is a couple of weeks ago when I first got it together and test fired it, took it apart, finished stock, browned it, installed double set triggers, and today reassembled it.

 

[Deadeye]

I tried to post several pics together but it didn't work.
This a finished pic.

 

Deadeye: WOW! Nice job, nice indeed. I have everything it takes to build my own rifle except for one thing....skill! :haha:

 

[steved]

Nice job, Deadeye. One day I hope to complete my never-ending project. What stain/finish did you use?

 

[Ohio Joe]

From where I'm settin', that looks mighty fine, Deadeye! :applause: :applause: :applause:

 

[Birddog6]

Looks very nice & I like the stain color.

They are a great little rifle & very well balanced. I just finished my 4th Haines & shipped it. The guy just loves it.

 

[Deadeye]

Thanks for your compliments. The stain I use is one recommended by John Bivens as the best he had ever used. It's a mixture of walnut and a red (colonial red, I think) obtained from Wampler Chemical co.
in North Carolina. I use about 2/3 walnut and 1/3 red. Put it on a cloth and wipe it on until it's the shade you like. I've used it for 25 or 30 yrs. I use it a lot for matching different shades of walnut to get an even color.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Gorgeous.

I am partial to iron mounted flintlock longrifles, and I.Haines certainly worked clean, practical lines into his designs. Very nice. I'm sure Issac is smiling, somewhere.

 

[charlie47]

Hi Deadeye,
I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions. Is this
a kit or were the parts purchased individually? Who did you purchase the parts from?

The word you did is great! I really admire the work.
Regards,
charlie47

 

[Zonie]

Great looking rifle!!
I do have to ask though, where's all the inlays?? Just kidding.
So, now that you've finished that, I predict your going to get bored and start thinking about another one. Maybe not right now, but within the next 6-10 months the old wheel is going to start turning and before you know it, you will be opening up this great big box of gun pieces and you'll be fitting and shapeing again!!

 

[Deadeye]

Thanks, Most of the parts came from Track of the Wolf. I built several other rifles while working on this one but for some reason kept putting off finishing this one, I really like it though now that it's finished. I like Track because the show their parts life size. About a yr. ago a friend bought all the parts for a Classic Tennessee
rifle from Track then a few weeks ago he came by and said he was never going to build it and offered it to me so yes I'll be starting it next week. He bought the small siler
percussion lock and now I'm wondering if I should use it or get a small Siler flint. It should be a neat little rifle.

 

[tg]

Nice looking gun, TOW has a 44" stock that is very much like the Haines one for those who want a longer barreled "Haines." Does anyone know where there is a pic of the origional Haines gun that this and the other Haines kits are patterned after? I saw some Haines guns in RCA but nothing like what is offered by any of the suppliers.

 

[Deadeye]

This one is 38" and I believe all that I've seen have been about that. Do you know if Haines made any longer ones?
He must have, longer rifles were popular at that time.

 

[tg]

Schumway shows Haines guns, three smoothrifles and one rifled barrel of 44" 38" 47" and one that is not measured but looks to be at least 42" and none show the stock architecture of what is offered today that is why I was asking about where the "Haines" style comes from. I have a 44" gun that is very close to the "Haines" style which is said to be much like the work of Haines in the catalog, but I am still looking for the original that goes with this line of thought so to speak.

 

[Darkhorse]

I just finished up a LH Isacc Haines in .54, the only problem I have with TOW is they sell the Whitelightning in 1/4" size. Jim Chambers and co. say for the C weight barrel they should be 5/16", on my next rifle I will order both the lock and liner directly from Chambers. It's not a big deal, unless you just spent around 200 hours building a rifle and then find you don't have the optimum liner.
From what I have read about the Haines, the originals were mostly, or all, 42" barrels and longer. The 38" barrel came about because of early problems when reproduction of swamped barrels resumed some years ago. Then it became a popular length for a handy hunting rifle.
I can't remember the exact details but I remember reading about this from one of Don Getz's (Getz barrel co.) posts on another forum awhile back.

 

[Deadeye]

What was his reasoning on the 5/16" liner, larger hole on the inside? I believe the barrel I used was a Colrain C wt.
swamped barrel and I used the 1/4" liner. No problem when I test fired it, fired every time. Hopefully I'll get to shoot it some tomorrow. With the swamped barrel and the small thin forend it sure sits well offhand.

 

[tg]

I would suspect that one would find that Mr. Haines found a plain hole to be quite sufficient...(VBG)

 

[Zonie]

Darkhorse: I can only think of one reason why someone would say the 5/16 liner is better than the 1/4 liner.
If you are making a convertable rifle you would not want to install a drum with a 1/4 thread attaching it to the barrel!

The 1/4 inch thread is under less stress during firing and is less obvious to folks looking at the gun.
IMO, you have the best size.

 

[Randy]

TOW sells White lightning Liners in 5/16 and 3/8" sizes too.
I've installed some of the 5/16" liners in Isaac Haines C weight barrel and they seem huge. The only reason I see for using a larger liner is to plug the drum hole when converting a percussion gun back to flint.

Deadeye, thats a real nice job on the stain, seems more mellow than I ever got using aqua fortis. Is that mix of stains you mentioned the only stain or color you put on? I assume you use several coats of some oil finish. I understand if its some secret formula, I was just curious.

Did Haines use both iron and brass fittings on his guns? you certainly see a lot of brass parts for sale nowdays. Of course you also see lots of brass trimmed "Hawken" rifles, when old Jake and Sam hardly ever used it.

 

[tg]

I don't think you will find any iron fittings on a Haines gun or for the most part any other Penn guns before the mid 1790's at best, the iron mounted gun thing done now in the Penn guns and even the early southern guns is way out there when compared to the originals, and the iron mounts from originals were not like what is offered today (clones of the brass mounts)