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

Attachment 160450

Attachment 160451

Everything there to get it all going

Attachment 160452

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

Attachment 160454

Attachment 160455

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.....

Quote:

---

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!

Quote:

---

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...

Quote:

---

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!!:thumbsup:

Quote:

---

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.

Quote:

---

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.:oh noes:

Quote:

---

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 :D oh bubba :wtfsmilie:
Cool project DB

Quote:

---

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.

Got an hour on it early before contractors arrived for a job

Made a touch hole liner
1/4-28 high tensile bolt
Made the shaped inner on the lathe
But has to free hand the touch hole because the 1mm drill was to small for my lathe chuck
Attachment 160475
So now I have something to line the lock flash pan up with

Clearly the guy that started this didn't know what soot or layout black was
Because the inlet areas were clean

So smoked up the lock and on to that

Attachment 160476

Now that I have had my grubby hands on it you can see more of the curly coming through in the wrist and butt

Attachment 160478

And then I got interrupted

Regarding the buggered stock, would it be possible to put inlays of some different timber such as Rosewood / Rata etc on it rather than making a whole new stock and without it looking 'tacky' like a Weatherby stock ? Brass inlay plates ?

Fitted the lock and trigger plate as best I could in the gapping holes

Attachment 160486

Put some FFFG in the pan after I dressed the flint edge
Good ignition
So did it again with loose Powder down the barrel and it worked just fine

Now i need to find the right ball mold among my tonnage

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Regarding the buggered stock, would it be possible to put inlays of some different timber such as Rosewood / Rata etc on it rather than making a whole new stock and without it looking 'tacky' like a Weatherby stock ? Brass inlay plates ?

---

I have a cunning plan for that

Put 5 rounds through it this evening
Need to set up the flint a bit better and was using FFFG because I don't have FFFFG
But it went bang and put 3 shots into 3" at 30 yards off hand
40 grains FFG and a tight patched .490 bullet
And that is with the sights sticky taped onto the barrel

Now I'm cleaning the barrel and man is it tricky with a 3 1/2 foot barrel and a 4 foot cleaning rod
Only just fits under the kitchen ceiling

Need to find a glue that will hold onto the metal

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by akaroa1

@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

---

If the inletting is made too big for the item you wish to place in the inlet ... simply enlarge the item to be inletted.

Seems the less hassly way to go about it. Either manufacture a bigger plate, or think of some wood/brass beading.

This would work to take up the bad lock inletting
It would take some time to get it re profiled and fitted but at least I could create a shelf to support the lock plate

Attachment 160560

Then some contrasting wood inlays around the tang and trigger plate to take up those bubba moments

American long rifles often had deep relief carving and stock inlays anyway
So if a sprinkle in some other inlays it could look like it was meant to be

@akaroa1

Also some merit in just beveling all edges around the inlay at 45 degrees and rounding them.

Attachment 160581