Want to try a swamped barrel stock

[John D. Dennison]

:stir: I am new to Muzzel loading but have a complete wood working shop and a small metal lathe.

Have watched the Collin's 10 bore video to date and could not even think of doing what he does with the metal. Have read The Gunsmith of Grenville County, by Peter Alexander and several others on gun smithing and have a lot of wood working experience.

Not naive enough to believe that the first attempt will be completely successful, however each successive stock blank should start to look more and more like a rifle. I am also hard headed and will try anything 4 or 5 times.

Like the small engine - I think I can..I think I can..I think I can.

Want a percussion high quality lock; I like brass hardware; plan to shot round ball and want a truly vintage rifle if and when I am successful. I want the stock to be only a blank, but it needs to have some figure. With my luck if I bought a cheap blank it would guarantee success???

Need suggestions on choice of rifle. Hardware kit or parts list with sources? Type of wood to match the chosen rifle style and best source for the blank(s).

I really do need help in planning a project like this and welcome all suggestions.

WVJ

 

[bennypapa]

You have left the door wide open as to style. Brass hardware narrows the choices down very little so you need to settle on a style and ask yourself the question "Do I want a rifle that is historically correct?"
Percussion lock also doesn't limit your choice much. Many original rifles that started their lives as flintlocks were later converted to caplock. As a shopper that is a good thing. You have more choices.

Look at the different styles offered by the various online retailers. (Jim Chambers, Pecatonica, etc)

Find a style that you like the looks of and get back to us.

Many others with more experience will be sure to chime in with info specific to certain styles and their experiences with specific retailers parts sets.
Ben

 

[54ball]

OK....

First off flintlocks are easier.

I personally think your best bet would be to start with a pre-shaped barrel inlet stock, kind of like this stock from Track.

I guarantee you will have more than enough wood and metal work to do with such a stock.

If you wanted to go from a blank you could use a service or supplier like David Keck at Knob Mountain.
Link

With a service like Knob Mountain or Jack's Mountain Stocks, you send a barrel and your wood, they will inlet the blank for you and drill the ramrod. This is what a LOT of custom makers do. I do know you can purchase blanks from Keck.

You also can get a stock with the barrel inlet and the profile shaped from the lock panels back. For instance Keck has a lot different stock profiles from the Fred Miller collection. Most if not all these profiles were duplicated from original rifles.

So what I suggest you start with is a stock with the barrel inlet, the butt and rear of the lock panels shaped and the ramrod drilled. This will the leave PLENTY of work for you to do.

Basically you are constructing your own "parts set" which can be a fun en devour in it's self as you can build a rifle that's not commonly available in "kit" form.

With a percussion you have to get the lockplate/drum/barrel/breachplug/ interface perfect. Thats a lot of ducks to put in a row. The flintlock on the other hand needs to be square with the barrel flat and the vent in front of the breach plug. That's pretty much it.

The vent could be a simple drilled hole. That works as good now as 200 years ago.

 

[kaintuck]

I have only one sugguestion......remove the clock from the workshop!


everything else will be fun and fall into place.

 

[mikemeteor]

Need suggestions on choice of rifle. Hardware kit or parts list with sources? Type of wood to match the chosen rifle style and best source for the blank(s).

I really do need help in planning a project like this and welcome all suggestions.

You're in TN - take a day and drive up to Tip Curtis's shop.
Tip Curtis Frontier Shop
Cross Plains, TN 37049,
(615) 654-4445.

handle some guns and see what ya like.
what you spend in gas you may save in shipping costs (and will give you peace of minds in hands-on knowledge of what you want).
/mike

 

[John D. Dennison]

Thanks for the reply. Plan to drive up to Tip Curtis' Frontier Shop and have a look. Also heard about a CLA ??? meet in Norris TN on April 19/20. I am so new that I did not know and do not know which style would be best for a swamped barrel. Historically correct is also a good thought. If flintlock is an easier first mechanical effort would also tend to look in that direction.

 

[John D. Dennison]

I like your suggestion. When the selection is final would it be possible to buy this type of preformed stock and the hardware for the choice made; and then also buy a complete blank. Work up the blank using the preformed as sort of a guide as to the first steps.

Would really like to ramp up to using blanks while minimizing the learning curve. I have or can buy the needed shop equipment. I do not plan to go commercial but really enjoy the woodworking. Building rifles will provide a new set of problems to an old woodworker who likes to shoot and has grown tired of making furniture.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Go to the Pecetonica web site ( http://www.longrifles-pr.com/stockscomponents.shtml ) They have meny styles to choose from and as roughed out as you want it. Great outfit!

 

[Col. Batguano]

Your OP said you wanted to do a swamped barrel. That is more difficult to inlet than a straight one, so getting Dave Keck to do that for you ($75) might knock about a year off of your building time for your first build.

 

[jdkerstetter]

....When the selection is final would it be possible to buy this type of preformed stock....and then also buy a complete blank. Work up the blank using the preformed as sort of a guide as to the first steps....

I wouldn't as I don't feel it would help much. When building from a blank one doesn't turn it into a "precarve" stock and then complete the build because the precarve isn't an intermediate step, it's a short cut....there's still much wood to remove.

Building from a precarve helps you get the basics down but can offer a lot of headaches you don't encounter in a build from a blank.

I feel the best thing you could do to aid in building is to buy or borrow a good original or a very good contempory piece and use that as a guild.

It's hard to get where your going if you don't know the destination. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[LRB]

I would suggest a Jim Chambers kit. The things that are most likely to cause headaches are either done or well started for you, and you get some of the best components available.

 

[John D. Dennison]

I will need to come up with the formula for the drop/fit for my build and a set of full size plans. I can make my own if needed using Orcad but it takes a while and is not woodworking. One must have the measurements from an original or access to one to take the measurements??? Are these plans available? Are the measurements/plans of original rifles available? Sources?

 

[mikemeteor]

TOTW Plans
are these good? Caveat emptor.

another popular method is to re-size photos, using a known landmark length on the image.
again, nothing like shouldering a few at Tip's (or wherever), to see what fits both your body and your eye.

 

[jdkerstetter]

.....I can make my own if needed using Orcad....

Yep. That's just the way they did it in the old days! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: Enjoy, J.D.

 

[bennypapa]

JD, What's wrong with using CAD? Oram I misunderstanding you?
After all these aren't the olden days and we aren't using the olden ways.
Cad is the current pencil and paper.

 

[jdkerstetter]

Designing a flintlock on a computer? I think it funny. That's all.

And pencil and paper is still pencil and paper.....CAD is something else. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[bennypapa]

It is a bit anachronistic but why wouldn't you use the tools that allow you to achieve your best results?

 

[jdkerstetter]

The tools that contribute to creating a longrifle with all of the character and soul of the originals are the tools the makers of the originals used.

But to each their own. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[nagant]

I don't think a piece of paper will turn it into a wallyflint, enjoy

 

[John D. Dennison]

Did not mean to offend anyone by using CAD software.
But it seems to me as an engineer that everything that is used by today's gunsmiths and builders has been contaminated. Molds for castings, sawmill blank cutting, even your hand tools are made using CAD.
:surrender:
I just want to learn the craft. I am old. I already know CAD, plan to use it to maybe allow me to spent a few more hours at the bench instead of at the computer, oops, drafting table, oops, kitchen table, oops...