Traditional Muzzle loading?

[Kpete]

I have a T/C percussion .45 I built from a kit while in high school. Many squirrels, and antelope and a few deer have fallen to a roundball from it.
I also built a southern mountain rifle-North Carolina style-steel furnishings and 38 inch barrel.  It is a flintlock and .45 Calibler.  Deadly on cottontails with 30 grains of black powder and a roundball.  Several turkeys(legal in WYO) deer and antelope have been taken with it and a charge of 65 grains and a patched roundball.  I built a cowhorn, buffalo horn powder horns for it and a bison horn priming horn.  Short starter is deer antler fork.   

[Eric Krewson]

FLINTLOCKS! I love them.

I shot TC stuff until a terminally ill friend gave me his entire collection of BP stuff. One shot with a flinter made right and all my TC stuff was sold.

44cal Bill Large barrel, Bob Roller lock, same hole shooter at 50 yards.



Gustomsky 62 cal smoothie.



Being a bow maker I had to build my own rifle, took me a couple years off and on but I finished it.
 A crude copy of a Beck rifle, 54 cal, Rice barrel, deluxe Chambers/Siler lock. Might nice shooter, killed 5 or 6 deer with it.



My latest project is a 12 ga English fowler turkey gun. 38" jug choked Colerain barrel, Chambers English round face lock, iron mounts, highly figured American walnut stock. Got a lot done but struggled with the butt inletting plate for weeks. Time for stock shaping and finishing up what is left, trigger, ramrod pipes, side plate and I will will be able to make smoke.

Here are more hours work than I care to admit.



 
 

[Eric Krewson]

Fore those of you who appreciate special flintlock stuff, here is a shot of the wood in the flintlock my friend gave me, spectacular!

[Lee Slikkers]

Eric, what wonderful pieces!  The wood on that last one is stunning...wow.  OK, now I really need to think about building one of these...many days of reading and research I imagine??

[Eric Krewson]

There are 4 different levels of building Lee.

The first would be to buy a completed gun in the "white", everything is done, you have to add finish to the stock and barrel.

The second is an assembly kit like a Lyman or Thompson center, small amount of fitting, stock and barrel finishing and you are done.

Third would be a parts kit. The stock is 90% precarved  but the bulk of the final inletting and  fitting has to be done by you . Lots of metal work changing rough castings to the finished article as well as cutting dovetails and drilling holes for various bolts and pins. Pretty involved but doable by anyone with the basic knowledge of their tools and plenty of patience.

The fourth is a scratch build, a block of wood and a pile of parts. I do scratch builds but do send my barrel off with my stock blank to have the barrel inletted and have the ramrod hole drilled.

[mullet]

Those are some beautiful rifles, Eric.

[Kpete]

Woof!  Nice steel, nice wood!

[Lee Slikkers]

Thanks Eric, I'm a sucker for a steep learning curve and head scratching so I may lean towards #3 or #4    Probably #3 to cut my teeth on a project and see how much I enjoy it (I am sure I will) so thanks a ton for the info and help, much appreciated!

[Eric Krewson]

I recommend #3 for your first Lee, you will still have 200hrs in the build.

There area bunch of companies that put together parts kits with one head and shoulders above the rest, Chambers kits, http://www.flintlocks.com/

This is a pretty pricey hobby. In the past I would sell bows to buy parts, sell a bow, buy a barrel, sell a bow buy a lock and a stock blank etc.

I recommend you buy the assembly video first to see what you are getting into.

Yesterday I started making my trigger plate. The picture shows a trigger I cold forged(lots of clean-up left). I like to make some of the parts if possible.



I remove a bunch of wood off the butt stock yesterday as well. I am working from a pretty detailed drawing of an English fowler that gives all the profiles.  Because people use different parts and measurements  in these drawings you can't use them verbatim so to speak because they won't fit the parts you have on hand.



On my Beck rifle I followed the blue print exactly. Good thing I left about an inch of extra wood on the end of the butt stock. When I started fitting my trigger I found a full inch shorter distance in the sear/trigger relationship in the drawing opposed to what I had to work with. Had I cut my stock blank off like the blue print showed I would have made a rifle with a small woman's length of pull.

[Lee Slikkers]

That is excellent Eric, that trigger plate form is really elegant and flows really well...I would love to add those personal/custom details to a build at some point.  I was already "deep diving" the research end of this on the #3 option last night (until 2 am, lol) and had already settled on a Chambers build, read nothing but highly positive things about his products.  I almost started this hobby 4 years ago and have the "Gunsmith of Greenville County" and I think a DVD that goes with it as well so I will watch that and read the book again.

I am considering the Chambers' Haines kit...or the Mark Silver at the moment but probably need to call them since I can't determine whether choosing a different lock is possible with a given kit or if that is locker in stone since they are all pre-inletted to start with...did you choose any upgrades in wood or anything with them before?

[Eric Krewson]

I have the Gunsmith of Greenville County, 5 VHS tape set, not all that great, poorly edited,one tape may stop at a crucial point and replay something completely unrelated.

I also have the Ron Ehleart two set VHS tapes on building a Chambers kit. These are really well done.

Russell Aradine just bought the Chambers Haines kit, he posts a lot on the stickbow and has a build-a-long going on over there now on a knotty osage bow. He got his kit from Chambers yesterday and posted pictures of it on his knotty osage bow thread.

Because I have only done scratch builds, no kits, and buy my wood from Dunlap woodcrafts, I pick my wood grade from them. My first was a pretty low grade blank, about $90,  the figured walnut blank for my fowler was way up there, $180 normally but he dropped it to $150 because of a knot. The knot disappeared when the barrel was inletted.

They say you will never regret buying fancier wood.

David Keck from Knob Mountain Muzzloading does Chambers shaping and inletting, he could inlet for any lock you prefer.

[Lee Slikkers]

I'll have to pick up the Ron Ehleart tapes on a Chambers kit, sounds like they are the right medicine for the job.

Thanks for the heads up on Russell's post...I'll be sure to check it out.

(Good or Better wood is never a mistake  )

I need to look into some basic inletting chisels/tools also...

[nclonghunter]

Hmm..I have owned a 45 cap. Hawken and 54 cap Renegade by TC. Wish I still had the 54. Bought a Kentucky rifle made by Navy Arms back around 1975. Moved the front sight as far right as possible and the rear as far left and could not get it on mark. Called Navy Arms and they told me to bend the barrell in the forks of a tree..Really they did. Years later bought a Green Mountain barrel and replaced the piece of crap Navy Arms barrel in 45 cal. Killed several deer with that gun and sold it.
Got into 18th Century reenacting and built 3 rifles by buying the parts and putting them together. Bought a Caywood 20 gauge smoothbore kit in the Wilson gun. Built it and have taken turkeys, deer and squirrels with it. Last was a Chambers kit in the Mark Silver Virginia rifle, 58 cal.  Built one for a good friend also. It is a great gun. Killed a 9pt buck with my Mark Silver and several others, Also built an Edward Marshall from Track of Wolf kit. Nothing like hunting with a flintlock, except using a bow.

[Ifrit617]

I don't have any but would love to get started... JW do you think you could shoot me that PM as well? Thanks bro.

Jon

[Buckeye Guy]

Sorry folks
I got out of this stuff along time ago !
Just give me a stick and a string !
I did keep the side by side 12ga caplock cause its just plain ol fun !!
Guy