Percussion bench rifles

[hawkeye hugo]

Nice gun Canute rex

 

[fleener]

Rex, I think I saw that one on auction. I liked it then and I still like it. Let us know how it shoots.

Every time I think about buying another gun I have to remind myself of what a good friend once told me "you cant buy all of them"

Fleener

 

[F.G. Ford]

Here is an informal target rifle built from a Peter Allen box lock.
I made the rear sights from scratch.
I built the rifle to represent an informal target rifle of the latter nineteenth century, a kind of target shoot after church.
The box lock action, trigger guard, and butt plate came color case hardened, making the fitting of the wood to metal parts problematic and difficult, however it shoots round ball very well out to one hundred fifty yards.
I hope my pictures came out well enough to see what I have done.
Fred

 

[F.G. Ford]

"you cant buy all of them"

Oh shush!
We can always find a good reason to get another fine gun.
Fred

 

[rmark]

The butt plate says offhand rifle, 1 1/8" barrel weight and my poor left shoulder say bench rifle (.50, 1-48, false muzzle, made circa 1970 I think)

 

[F.G. Ford]

Here's another. .50 cal., 33", 1-1/2" octagon Bill Large barrel, L&R lock, 1" Hawken style breech. Brass tube sight (not a telescope) of my make has a small aperature inside the rear and a fine-wire cross hair inside the front. My load is 90gr FFFg, .495 ball and .022 ticking patch lubed with sperm oil.View attachment 27887View attachment 27889

Thanks to Larry, I am trying to duplicate his fine looking tube scope to mount on my .50 cal. percussion rifle.

 

[Treestalker]

That's some amazing rifles guys, thanks for sharing, it really shakes up the 'build one' juices. It gets one to thinking, 'I've got this barrel, and let's see, how about that old chunk of walnut out in the shop rafters? And furniture off that old broken Virginia stock? and how about a lock....!!!!

 

[nkbj]

This is an oldie. South paw second hand Lyman GPR fitted with a Rayl fast twist forty bore.

Now experimenting with patching a Lyman adjustable length core mold.

 

[52Bore]

This picture from around 1930’s has always fascinated me.
He was from TN and the NMLRA Range is named after him.

 

[Mark Herman]

I have a set of pictures, one of which shows Walter, at a chunk shoot in Portsmouth Ohio prior to Freindship being established. Also have a collage of targets shot at 40 rods about the same time.

 

[cannonball1]

This is a very interesting topic for myself and many others I am sure. I love the pictures. Keep them coming please.

 

[BillinOregon]

That's a wonderful photo of Walt Cline. I wonder what year it was taken.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Some of you may have run into Bruce Mckelvy in competition around the country, he shoots all classes but he loves heavy bench guns. I was at his shop the other day and he was finishing up a beauty. He is one more gunsmith and builds the action, triggers, sights and host of other parts on his competition guns. The gun he was building was for a friend and customer.

I am tilling his garden tomorrow, if he hasn't shipped the gun off I will get some pictures and post them here.

 

[Mark Herman]

I'm guessing the photo of Walter is from the late 20's or early 30's. I will try to post some pics from that period.

 

[Mark Herman]

A few pics of old photos. Walter Cline in white fedora hat near

rifle rack?

 

[toot]

the FEDORA is OK! but try shooting muzzleloaders today with a BOW TIE??

 

[Mark Herman]

Dressing for a shoot was typical of the times. Many of us do it for the annual York Over the Log match every year.

 

[Grenadier1758]

the FEDORA is OK! but try shooting muzzleloaders today with a BOW TIE??

The bow tie isn't much of a problem. I do something similar in the way I tie my roller around my neck when I wear the uniform. It's the fedora that crimps my ability to wear ear protection. Well, then I roll up the foam hearing protectors. My hearing may be going, but I want to maintain what I have.

Sunday attire for going shooting at most of the over the log or table shoots would be freshly washed bib overalls, white shirt, tie and a fedora hat.

 

[Canute Rex]

Rex, I think I saw that one on auction. I liked it then and I still like it. Let us know how it shoots.

Every time I think about buying another gun I have to remind myself of what a good friend once told me "you cant buy all of them"

Fleener

Fleener, it was in the recent Amoskeag auction. I had not thought that I was actually going to win it. It was preceded by about $50k of nice Schutzen rifles, so I think the relevant collectors had smoking checkbooks and took a break.

I tried it out day before yesterday on a bench at 50 yards with a .410 ball, .018" patch, and 40 grains of 3F Swiss. The first three shots could be covered with a nickel. Buuut, the rear lollipop sight was a bit wobbly in its threads, so when I tried to adjust for elevation it went all over the place. I went into the shop, found some scrap brass, and made a wedge and threaded disc to lock it down. Like so:

Today is sunny, so maybe I'll try this again with a stationary rear sight. I'll tell you what, a 41 caliber ball out of a 1-1/4" barrel makes for the recoil of a BB gun. That, plus a set trigger that goes off with a feather touch makes me a better shot than I am. I still need to make a palm rest for offhand shooting. Either that or take up Olympic weight lifting.

 

[fleener]

Looks like you are on the right path.

Fleener