Went for powder--- Jeepers, I must be a magnet .

[JJB22]

Well I went for powder today in Atlanta, I had the day off from doctors appointments so I made a trip to the shop where they have lots of muzzleloaders and supplies. I had been thinking of getting a 32 cal rifle so I asked if he had any, There was a few crockets in 32 and other rifles in cap so I just milled around a little and thought nothing more of a rifle. I went into the powder locker for a couple cans of 3F and took them to the counter. Well, that was when the trouble started, The owner had forgot about a 32 cal flinter on the wall behind the counter. He grabbed it from the wall and handed it over to me. I am weak and I must have a magnet attached to me because it is here at home.

Now for some pics.

Anyone know what kind of lock that is?

The front

The nose

The butt

And some 50 yard results after I got used to the sights and trigger.

and from a supported position

Well as you can see I had to go to my range a throw some lead. I shot about 20 rounds and of that I think the rifle failed to fire the pan (3 times)-- changer flints--cure that, Failed to fire the main charge (10-12 times)-- stared to pick the touch hole and it improved but didn't cure it all. All in all I knew I had some work to do so when I got home the rifle was stripped. Now I did run a patch at the shop and everything seamed o.k.---- BUT--- when I unscrewed the breech I found a half inch of crude in there. I noticed the touchhole liner projected into the barrel and was not allowing the jag or a scrapper to go to the plug. I worked on it for a while by taking the file to it and now that is fixed, I believe this is why I had some problems with ignition. The fellow who built the rifle kind of cut a few corners, the liner thing, he browned the barrel (looks to me the barrel was in the stock at the time) and the bottom was collecting some pretty nasty rust. The back of the lock looked o.k. but I scrubbed it anyway. I did have to make a rod for it, the one that I got with the rifle was short and it had no cap for attaching tools. I didn't get to nail down a load but that is what I will be doing this weekend. I used 20 grains of 3F, .310 ball, and a .015 patch. Looks like I don't have to monkey around with the load too much.

 

[RJR]

MORE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!

 

[RC]

partial payment?? only get part?? MORE!! :wink: :haha:

 

[Zoar]

I like what I see so far! Can we have more info and pictures? What year was it built (est), etc?

 

[JJB22]

You guys got me on the year, the shop owner didn't know when it was made but thought it is from the 70's.

I finished the post- sorry, my fingers are too big for this dang keyboard.

 

[JJB22]

One more pic

Here she is standing next to my 45 flinter.

 

[rabjr]

Nice find! :thumbsup:

 

[JJB22]

I think I found the lock, it looks like the John Bailes by L&R

it's the top one I think.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(w...d=14&subId=148&styleId=842&PageSize=10&Page=4

What do you think?

 

[rabjr]

I think I found the lock, it looks like the John Bailes by L&R

it's the top one I think.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(w...d=14&subId=148&styleId=842&PageSize=10&Page=4

What do you think?

Yep, looks like a Bailes to me, same one I have on my .36. Hopefully who ever built the gun, went all through the lock for ya and made sure it works right. :thumbsup:

 

[JJB22]

I do have to tinker with it. The rear trigger has to be pulled for the cock to go to full. I looked at the trigger while I had the lock out, it looks like there is no room for it the move it's full range. Advice?

 

[rabjr]

I do have to tinker with it. The rear trigger has to be pulled for the cock to go to full. I looked at the trigger while I had the lock out, it looks like there is no room for it the move it's full range. Advice?

It pulls hard when the gun is together? Or outside of the gun? It just maybe a simple thing as relieveing a tiny bit of wood where it fits into the stock or maybe just rusty. But I know nothing about double triggers and this is a question for the gun builders. I prefer the one trigger guns.

 

[nchawkeye]

It sounds like the trigger was inlet a tad too deep if you have to set it to come to full cock...

2-3 things you could do to correct...The easiest would be to remove the trigger assembly and put a small washer in the front to drop it down a tad...
You could do the same by glueing in a bit of wood or even file the trigger plate down a bit...

Anyway you can move that trigger down a bit will allow the cock to go to full cock...

 

[paulvallandigham]

I note you asked about the lock. Its obvious an L&R lock, from the initials on the inside of the lock. Check their website to determine what model it is.

I think you did find the ignition problem, and fixed it. The Vent hole may still be too small, and that may require being opened a bit. But. 20 grains of powder is a good average target load. The group shot from the rest shows that. At 25 yds, that will be in one hole. When you consider that most squirrels you will shoot will be less than 75 feet from you, this will be a find squirrel or rabbit rifle. Buy the end ferrule from Track or some other supplier, and fix the rod so you can screw in cleaning and loading jags, and a bore brush, and ball puller. Then you will be set.

You didn't say what you paid for this gun, but It looks pretty good from here. I am not fond of any patch box, much less those banana boxes, but I have to admit it does look good on that stock. Someone put some real effort in casting that muzzle cap on the stock. That will make this gun stand out among others.

 

[JJB22]

I got about 650 in it I guess. I swapped a Glock (I may swap a few more-- they had alot of nice rifles in there) and some cash for it. I actually did fix the rod, I got the parts when I got the rifle. I also picked up all the do-dads for cleaning. I did have to cut my other cleaning patches down to clean this one. I cut about 1/2" squares because the bore is tight. I did find that the breech plug is very easy to remove and you can swab the barrel nicely with it out. I'm not sure that I will do that everytime but it's an option.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I would suggest NOT removing the breechplug every time you want to clean the gun. It should be a tight fit, to be honest. Since you did get it out, you want to put marking dye on the face of the plug, and then run it into the barrel to see that the face is pressing against the back of the shoulder in the barrel where the rifling begins. You don't want a GAP between the face of the plug, and the beginning of the rifling, for safety reasons. Those small caliber guns produce very high chamber pressures- much more so than a .50, or .54 cal. rifle. All that pressure is pushing against the face of the plug, and the sides of the barrel around the vent. :shocked2:

You were very wise to fix the liner that extended into the bore, and prevented a jag from reaching all the way down to the face of the plug. That is a critical area to keep clean. :v

Rome was not built in a day. It will take you time to acquire all the gear needed for that gun, but you have made a great start.

Do Consider investing in a full-length metal RANGE ROD, for cleaning, and loading the gun at the range. Save the Wooden rod for use in the field.

My Treso Range rod is Stainless Steel, has a nylon muzzle protector, and is fitted with a CLEANING JAG. Such a jag has a flat face, and 3 grooves( or more) cut into the brass head. The better jags have a diameter that is .030" smaller than the bore diameter, and then, each band behind that first one is another .010" smaller. The grooves are undercut, so that each band acts like a fish hook, grabbing the cotton fabric as you pull the rod back out the barrel. The idea is to allow the fabric to slide down OVER the lands, to the bottom of the barrel, and then blouse out and be grabbed by the back edges of the bands of the jag as you pull the rod back out of the barrel. That way, You are NOT pushing crud down into the barrel. Instead you are pulling the crud out. Simple.

A loading jag, however, is closer to bore diameter- say, .010" smaller than bore diameter, particular in smoothbore guns where wads are pushed down the barrel to hold the powder, and then a ball, or shot against the powder. The critical portion of any smoothbore loading is the Edges of the Wads or cards, as the friction between the edges of the cards and the bore is what holds everything in place.

In rifled barrels, a concave faced jag is often used that matches the curve of the Round Ball, or the nose of a bullet that is being loaded. The idea is that the Loading Jag, so formed, won't distort the shape of the ball or bullet during loading, no matter how tight the fit in the bore.

I have a couple of Ramrods, carried in the pipes under the barrel of their guns, that have LOADING jags on them. They are not used to clean the barrel between shots. But they look nice under the barrel! :rotf:

Occasionally you will see a ramrod with the tip turned from a different, contrasting wood, and widening out at the end. Some are flat-faced, and others will be concave. I have seen beautiful rods made of hickory, with EBONY tips on their ends. Also, Antler, walnut, and other exotic woods have been turned into loading tips( or jags.) :hmm: :v :grin:

 

[Capt. Fred]

Great find. That's a real pretty gun. :thumbsup:

 

[Zoar]

Very nice gun. Excellent thread.

Yes it is a bit like archeology finding an old piece and discovering what the previous owner or builder did with it.

Alot of character with that gun.

And it looks like she'll shoot well. You solved most of the issues. I am concerned about that trigger situation and yet like others recommended either add a washer to lower the trigger assembly or take out a bit of wood above it to free that trigger: sounds like sage advice.

 

[texcl]

I've heard that some of the older l&R locks were built very well, when rice was still involved in the manufacturing of them, I know you can still send a new lock to rice and he will tune it properly.

 

[JJB22]

I normally do not take the breech plug out but I knew something was up down in there. the plug does make a good seal against the barrel, I didn't see any evidence of fowling getting into the threads. I do have range rods for my MLers but I do need to make a longer one for this gun. it is a pain trying to use a scrapper with a rod that is to short.

I just got back for the range. I shot 42 rounds and it appears that the gun does fowl at the breech after 10-12 shots. I spit swabbed the barrel and it seemed to help it out. I ran the scrapper after 20 rounds and felt some fowling come out. I do have a pretty descent jag and it seems to pull the gunk out and running 10-15 patches seems to clean the barrel nicely. I still had a few failures today so I need to look at the touch hole for enlargement,(I'll see after I clean it up). I went to picking the hole before priming and I shot the last 8-9 straight shots without any problems, I even primed with 3F to see if I can get away with it-- so far so good. The trigger thing is something I need to work on tonight, it is anoying and if other people were around at the range I would be kind of reluctant due to the trigger deal. I also found out that my new rod swelled a bit from cleaner so a little sanding will be in order.

I guess the moral of the story is you need some range time to work out the bug-- I almost forgot the rear sight need a ping to keep it from moving in it's slot. Oh boy--- still a ton of fun shooting this little rifle. Thanks to all for the trigger advise, I'm going into my garage for some rifle work after supper.

 

[JJB22]

Thanks I like the look too. By the way, I used to hunt down in Bath and down by Alfred when I did the college thing. I miss the hunting and the fishing but the snow--------- after the 2 inches on the ground to help track wounded game--- everything else was a pain. :rotf: