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Pecatonia River Fusil de Chasse

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I have been working wood over 50 years still don't know if I have enough skill to impress anyone. Thought I had enough to keep from getting hurt till I stuck that half inch razor sharp chisel a half inch into my hand fitting a double barrel hammer gun receiver into the stock. These little steps are called experience and experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted.
Been there, done that. Semper Fi.
 
Wiscoaster, EVERYTHING!

I have posted this a dozen times as a warning, people are probably getting tired of my griping but beware.

100_4992.JPG

The fix;

lock fix  7.JPG


Repaired, many, many hours invested in the repair. I just took this picture, this is my #1 hunting rifle, I hunted yesterday so the gun is still loaded hence the toothpick in the touchhole. I soak my touchhole plugging toothpicks in super glue to harden them so they won't break off in the touch hole by accident. I paint my superglue treated toothpicks with a red Sharpie to identify them from the untreated toothpicks on my workbench.

lock repair finished.JPG
 
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Wiscoaster, EVERYTHING!

I have posted this a dozen times as a warning, people are probably getting tired of my griping but beware.

View attachment 274883
The fix;

View attachment 274884

Repaired, many, many hours invested in the repair. I just took this picture, this is my #1 hunting rifle, I hunted yesterday so the gun is still loaded hence the toothpick in the touchhole. I soak my touchhole plugging toothpicks in super glue to harden them so they won't break off in the touch hole by accident. I paint my superglue treated toothpicks with a red Sharpie to identify them from the untreated toothpicks on my workbench.

View attachment 274888
Eric- indeed starting off with a blank slate is preferred. But the challenge of fixing what needs to be fixed (as you have shown) is a technique worth developing!
 

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Anybody have any experience with this Fusil de Chasse kit from Pecatonia River Long Rifle Supply?
http://www.longrifles-pr.com/tulle.shtml
I put one together in the 90s. It had walnut stock, and turned out great. There was no problem with the inlet position. Biggest challenge was the butplate. You can’t inlet it down and forward like a rifle buttplate. You kind of roll it forward and diagonally like a Fowler.
 
Well, I think the way this is settling out is that I'm not up for another kit gun build right now. I want to direct that effort to my pistol loading stand V.2. If I bought an $1800 Pedersoli factory gun, I'd end up tuning the lock and stripping and refinishing the stock anyway, so that option is kind of a semi-kit gun build. A Pedersoli kit is $1300. So, I think I'm going to go with a finished India gun from Loyalist Arms. The Fusil de Chasse, the French 1768, or the Springfield 1975. So, we'll so if they're up to snuff or not. If not, I can do the Pedersoli or one of the kit gun builds some time next year.
 
After that first pre-carve debacle, I tried one more pre-carve from the P place, this time I didn't get the lock inlet. They sent me this one with a little over 1/8" of wood one side of the barrel channel and 3/4" of wood on the other side. Had I been building anything other than a slender TN rifle I couldn't have made this pre-carve work, fortunately the 3/4" side was side plate and cheek piece side.

Lock plates are very easy to inlet, the internals are a bit more challenging but even a sloppy internal inlet will work just fine, I know from experience.
 
@Eric Krewson I had seen your advice several times and it made perfect sense to me. However, I then ordered a pec TC stock to upgrade my Renegade to a better configuration. For me, the Renegade stock hasn't enough drop to allow comfortable use of iron sights. They seem to be made to accommodate a scope. The TC pec stock is pretty much completely inlet with the exception of the BP. All the alignment is perfect. TC never did it better!

So, when ordering my SMR parts set I was lulled into PAYING EXTRA to have the lock, trigger and tang inlet. It's all going to work out sine fortunately the lock and trigger inlet are OK and the lock inlet is undersized which will allow final fitting to be aligned correctly.

When I look at Eric's pictures I feel like I lucked out!

I'm NOT bashing Pecatonica. I like their product, service and people. I'll buy again from them. But, like Eric, I'll not be relying on shop machinery to do the fine work!!

End of confession. Penance to be in the he fixing. 🤣
 
I have been working wood over 50 years still don't know if I have enough skill to impress anyone. Thought I had enough to keep from getting hurt till I stuck that half inch razor sharp chisel a half inch into my hand fitting a double barrel hammer gun receiver into the stock. These little steps are called experience and experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted.
Just did the same thing 2 weeks ago with a dull dirty flat bladed screw driver!
2B758679-F675-4935-9FB7-6AE0FCF74197.jpeg
 
…..
Repaired, many, many hours invested in the repair. I just took this picture, this is my #1 hunting rifle, I hunted yesterday so the gun is still loaded hence the toothpick in the touchhole. I soak my touchhole plugging toothpicks in super glue to harden them so they won't break off in the touch hole by accident. I paint my superglue treated toothpicks with a red Sharpie to identify them from the untreated toothpicks on my workbench.

View attachment 274888
Great idea!
 
A major problem with Peckertonica kits is the thickness of the web between the barrel and the ramrod.. 5/16" to 3/8" is common. No thanks. :rolleyes:
On their stocks, I have extended the rear entry pipe area back about two or three inches and then taken a wooden dowel with sandpaper and deepened the ramrod channel. It does help lessen the thick web.
 
The web thickness on the pre-carve pictured above was 3/8", the barrel channel wasn't cut straight down and was slanted at about 20 degrees, the top flat looked like an oblique flat. I was able to drop the barrel down some as I worked the slant out of it but couldn't get the lock inlet where it was supposed to be so I glued in the extra wood.

On the toothpick touch hole thing, I had a new microwave installed a few days ago, I cleaned out the cabinet over the stove to facilitate the installation. I found a package of bamboo skewers in the back of the cabinet. They were just about the size of a toothpick and looked like the sharpened would be just right to plug a touch hole. I tried to break off the tip of one with my fingers and couldn't do it. I think I have found a better touch hole plug.
 
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