Thread: American long rifle

I came home this evening with a nearly complete American long rifle kit

7/8" straight octagonal 42" .50 caliber
Curly maple full stock
All the parts except for a touch hole plug or percussion breech block and nipple

Percussion lock but not what should be on a full stock Hawken's
Borrowed a siller flint lock from the guy I got the kit from to get it going





Everything there to get it all going



But and it's a big but
The owner who started the kit looks to have been special needs !
The lock and breech tang and trigger inletting is horrific





So he sold it on
And I got it from the subsequent owner who's had it for a few decades

My plan is to have it firing safely by next weekend and have him over to fire it himself finally

I have a plan for it that will require a completely new stock made from scratch and get all the in letting right this time

It only just fits across the back seat of the hilux door to door !

now THAT I would love to hunt with.....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

now THAT I would love to hunt with.....

.50 cal is really only a squirrel rifle in NZ
But with a 42" barrel it should get up a full head of steam

But a 50 cal ball is under 200 grains so runs out of steam pretty quickly

With a bit of sticky tape and some epoxy bedding I think I can get it together

A new flash hole liner to make from scratch shouldn't take too long

Arildite on the front and rear sights

I have a couple of 50 cal ball molds so I which one throws the right size for it

Bang !

That looks like alot of fun!
A curly Maple or Birch stock would look grand on that!

Originally Posted by norsk

That looks like alot of fun!
A curly Maple or Birch stock would look grand on that!

@norsk the stock is about grade 1 curly maple with about 30% curly figure
But it's fucked with the bad inletting

I have a plan and can get well seasoned curly maple in Christchurch and will go look at the quality and figure next time I'm in town
Even if I have to sort through tons of boards to find that one stock I need

And I have this butchered stock to practice aqua fortis treatment and staining and finishing

And the list grows longer!

So if a 50 cal is a squirrel rifle, what does that make a 36cal?!? Barely enough to knock a sparrow off a branch? At the time that got to have a decent play with one (over 30 years ago now) I thought it would be hugely fun to attempt to shoot bunnies with...

Originally Posted by Steelisreal

And the list grows longer!

So if a 50 cal is a squirrel rifle, what does that make a 36cal?!? Barely enough to knock a sparrow off a branch? At the time that got to have a decent play with one (over 30 years ago now) I thought it would be hugely fun to attempt to shoot bunnies with...

What I mean is that balls loose speed very quickly
And speed is power
So a 50 cal ball rifle is only a 50 meter deer rifle

58 cal is nearly twice the weight and would be a good ball rifle for hunting red deer

Conicals are entirely different with much higher weights and better B.C.s

Your a keen man! You’ll have to muscle up that forearm to hold a barrel that long!!

Originally Posted by akaroa1

.50 cal is really only a squirrel rifle in NZ
But with a 42" barrel it should get up a full head of steam

Boy you must have some really big squirrels.

Originally Posted by canuck hunter

Boy you must have some really big squirrels.

We sure do
Bloody possums the size of a medium dog
But they are nocturnal so hard work with an open sight flintlock I expect

[QUOTE=akaroa1;1122717]@norsk the stock is about grade 1 curly maple with about 30% curly figure
But it's fucked with the bad inletting /QUOTE]

It does look like it was inletted by a beaver.

Originally Posted by akaroa1

We sure do
Bloody possums the size of a medium dog
But they are nocturnal so hard work with an open sight flintlock I expect

Put a red dot on it oh bubba
Cool project DB

Originally Posted by akaroa1

And I have this butchered stock to practice aqua fortis treatment and staining and finishing

https://youtu.be/knSI5R5prxI
All you need to know.