My current build, Isaac Haines .54

[Chowmif16]

It's been a while since I've posted rifle progress and thought I would show some progress and invite critiques.

The rifle is a Chamber's Isaac Haines in .54 cal.
Patchbox is copied from one of Haines' rifles in RCA.

I'm currently drawing molding lines on the fore-stock and butt-stock in preparation for carving them out. Don't have any pictures with the lines yet.

IMG_3665 by chowmif16, on Flickr

IMG_3666 by chowmif16, on Flickr

I made this front sight out of a single piece of .040 brass, folded over and then roughly shaped.

IMG_3667 by chowmif16, on Flickr

Accent lines on the trigger-guard

IMG_3668 by chowmif16, on Flickr

Same again on the sideplate:

IMG_3670 by chowmif16, on Flickr


The ramrod entry pipe had a simple, rounded finial with no adornment. I wanted to have three flats on it and an incised line at the back end, so I filed the flats and the incised line into it:

IMG_3669 by chowmif16, on Flickr

Any comments or critiques are quite welcome,

Cheers,
Chowmi

 

[Nitsudttesrod]

Nice work! I hope to one day take on a project such as this! With my current work schedule however, it would take me 10 years to complete. Looks like a good piece of wood too you've got there. I take it this is a pre-carve, how was the inletting?

 

[Chowmif16]

Nitsud,
Yup, it's tough to get time to build! I bought this kit almost 4 years ago. Didn't start it till about a year ago.

It is a pre-carve from Jim Chamber's Flintlocks.

The pre-made inlets on the kit were nice and clean, and of course, slightly undersize. The pre-inlets make it easier in some ways, and more difficult in some ways. The barrel inletting was good.
I made a huge mistake and left the barrel out of the stock for probably 2 years. The fore-end warped badly and this made it tough to get everything squared up. I've had the barrel in the stock now for over a year and it is helping to straighten the stock.
I the sides of the forend warped a bit outwards, so there are now some gaps between the barrel and the sides on the fore-end. This is not Chamber's fault, it's my fault.

I got the upgraded wood, and it is a real nice piece. Can't wait to get it stained, but I need to do a lot of carving first. That will go quite slowly because I'm not terribly good at it.

cheers,
Chowmi

 

[Staggerwing]

Looks good so far. I agree with you that the preinlets can sometimes be more difficult than not.

 

[hoochiepapa]

Dampen the forearm wood with a little water, and wrap the forearm tightly with something stretchy like a bicycle tube with the barrel in place. You'll be amazed at the results.

 

[faste350]

very nice!

 

[Squatch84]

Looks amazing!