No patch box?

[Doc Arroyo]

The owner of the "jeager" I am building is slightly impatient. He had it in his garage for 17 years, and now that it is looking like a rifle after a couple of months in mine...he wants to shoot it! So he is looking for a way to accelerate the process, and says he doesn't need a patchbox. :haha:

So have you ever seen a jeager/transitional rifle without a sliding wooden patch box? Is the anything else to dress up this side of the rifle?

 

[54JNoll]

He may not need a patch box but that rifle sure will not look right without it. It will always look like the builder forgot to put one on.

No I have never seen a Jeager or transitional rifle without one. But I will say that I do not yet have any Jeager Books and have not "looked" at a lot of transitional rifles. So I can not say that there were not any made without them. But it would sure look wrong without one in my view.

Besides adding a patchbox does not take an inordinate amount of time. So he would not be shortening the timeline by much.

 

[Stophel]

No, he's not exactly going to save a lot of time.

SOME German rifles were made without the butt box. It was S.O.P. to build smoothbore (and straight rifled) guns without them.

 

[crgabel]

You could just attach a false lid on it but that is sort of nut's.
I normally get 5-7 hours max into the assembly and as was said before not a big savings in time.
You may want to remind him that he will have to live with the gun for a long time and the decision to scrimp now will haunt him forever, not to mention lower the value as time goes on
Craig

 

[Zonie]

On page 4, 24, 50, 54, 64, 128,136, 148,162,166,194, 196 and 210 in Shumways JAEGER RIFLES you will see examples of Jaeger rifles without patchboxes of any kind.
(The last three are Danish rifles and I omitted one because it did not look like a Jaeger as we know them.)

Some of these guns stocks were left smooth while others have simple or elaborate carving on them.

Obviously there is nothing new under the sun. :hmm: