Numrich Arms Minuteman rifle

[davidmc62]

I picked up a Numrich Arms Minuteman Rifle in 45 Cal. Any one had any experience with these rifles? The Lock is junk, looking at replacement and the rifle will get an overhaul to bring it in to more of a correct looking profile. What is the breech plug like. Was considering a correct plug and flint conversion.....but may just get it back in shooting shape. Any help, advice, info would be great.
Dave

 

[Artificer]

David,

By the time you replace the lock and barrel, you may or even probably won't be happy with the stock and then replacing the stock makes it a whole different rifle.

I have personally never owned one of these rifles, though a friend of mine did back in the 70's. He spent a LOT of time getting the lock to function correctly and then accuracy was "So-so to OK," but nothing to write home about. He retired the rifle to wall hanger status when he got his next rifle.

Gus

 

[user 922]

That was my first flintlock muzzleloader. I bought the "kit" in 1970 and still have the barrel. The breech plug is unique in that it has a hex cavity that the tang fits into. Makes removal pretty easy with a big allen wrench. Also, the barrel is pinned to the stock through holes drilled through the barrel. How they got an accurate hole started on a 45 degree slope would be interesting to know.

The lock is laughable by today's standards. I swear the time from trigger pull to ignition could be measured in minutes. Probably why people thought the gun wasn't very accurate. I converted mine to percussion at some time so I don't remember what the vent area looked like. It may have been a simple drilled hole and the barrel was pretty thick. That wouldn't help ignition time either.

The patch box shape looked like a paint spill and the other hardware was sheet metal - except for the trigger guard. The barrel was pretty good - the bore, I believe is a little larger than .45 cal. barrels available today. A .445 ball worked quite nicely.

Other than trying to improve the lock I cannot see investing any money in that gun.

 

[davidmc62]

did you ever pull that breech plug? Does the drum shaft transect the breech plug like the CVA models do, or is the plug set back enough for the drum shaft to snug up to but not cut into the threads of the breech. Just curious, I have not attempted to pull the plug yet. I have heard that some of them were not bad shooters if you can overcome the lock issues.

 

[user 922]

Mine was originally flint. I converted it to percussion, and the drum I used did not interfere with the breech plug. I don't know what the stock setup was.

By the way the face of the plug is not flat but beveled (at least mine is). I have it in my hand and wonder how I ever got the breech area cleaned.

 

[Trot]

The drum does not intersect the breechplug. My son has one that I assembled from a kit, the drum was actually not installed in the kit and I had to do so.

 

[thecapgunkid]

Even if you discard most of the gun per all those comments prior to this, hang onto that barrel. When a friend of mine broke the absurdly thin wrist on mine during a repair, I ran into Nathan McKenzie who completely re-did the rifle around the barrel. It stayed with me until a shoulder injury forced me to trade it in for a llighter piece down at Dixons. IN all those years my groups were never more than about three inches and I won a boat load of ribbons at matches. Had I more csash, I probably would not have traded the barrel in.

 

[davidmc62]

Yep, Im not ready to give up on it. I got it cheap enough and any money and time I spend making it "mine" may not ever show up in a resale, but that is not why I want to renovate it. I just have this gnawing need to rework the ugly thing. It will never be a fine custom quality gun, but it will be more eye appealing to me and that's all that matters.

 

[Billnpatti]

In the final analysis, it is not what others may think, it is what makes you happy that counts. If it is worth the cost to you to make it into a decent shooter, then go for it. But, I will say that if it were mine, I'd shine it up, sell it and invest the money into something better. But, that's just me.

BTW keep in touch. We need to do some shooting as soon as it cools off a bit more. :hatsoff:

 

[davidmc62]

Yes sir I been itching to go!

 

[richdeerht]

I bought a Numrich (Hopkins & Allen) halfstock flintlock back in the 80's before I started to build rifles. I can remember taking at least 2 deer with it. The lock has always sparked reliably, and the barrel shot roundballs well. (remember that PA flintlock season required patched roundballs for a number of years) I kept it as a backup/loaner for all these years. I can think of at least 4 people (2 of my sons) who have used it.
Eventually, the stock developed a serious crack, so I decided to re-stock it with a maple half-stock. The project is about 60% complete with the barrel tang, underlug, lock, and buttplate installed. Today's project is to inlet the trigger. Looking at what stuff costs today, I want to keep this rifle available.

 

[tallPercshooter]

I got one of these in .45 a year ago for $175. Heavy 15/16 barrel had excellent bore, shoots good groups at 50 yards with .440 ball. I thought my lock looked pretty good - heavy parts, good bridle, works fine. I thought I had an old custom, but now clearly is a Minuteman. Wrist of stock is waay too small, LOP too short also. But a good shooter nonetheless.