Going to build an Emmitsburg Long Rifle... any advice?

[Ron T.]

The President of our Long Rifle's Club is an experienced Long Rifle builder and has offered to mentor me in building an Emmitsburg (Maryland) Long Rifle in  .50 caliber (he's built four of 'em).  I've noticed that all the pictures I've seen of that rifle show it with what I'd call a "half" nose cap rather than a nose cap that completely surrounds and is flush with the barrel's muzzle.

Did John Armstrong or any of the other traditional builders of the Emmitsburg Long Rifle ever build it using a full nose cap that completely surrounded the rifle's muzzle and was flush with the end of the barrel?

Any other advice or suggestions you can give would certainly be appreciated.  This will be the first rifle I've ever built... and we're currently gathering "supplies" including a fancy-grade curly ("tiger") maple stock in the rough.

Thank you for your comments and advice.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[California Kid]

I'm building an Christian Hawkenesque rifle right now. I'm not sure what you mean by a 1/2 nose cap. Most of these guns have a traditional cap. Some grooved and some not. Their caps and rod pipes tended to be a little longer than other schools of gunmakers. Post a pic so we can see what you are talking about.

[Ron T.]

California Kid...

Sorry... never learned how to post pictures and am too old to wanna learn, but here's a web site address in which you can easily see that the brass nose cap doesn't go all the way around the rifle's muzzle... and that the upper half of the barrel is exposed above the nose cap.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(kn2ad355ughgxr55j4ab2e45)X(1))/Categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=13&subId=77&styleId=278&partNum=ARMSTRONG-LONGRIFLE-FLINT-PARTS-LIST

[California Kid]

That's a traditional nose cap. I don't think I've ever seen a cap like your description.

[Ron T.]

Kid...

Thank you for your answer.

Please go to the site and scroll down to the "exploded parts" including the unfinished stock, scan to the far right and you'll see six scroll inlays for keys escuetions.  Just below them, you'll see a "head-on" view of what appears to me to be the nose cap.  Note that it is only a "half" nose cap, the top is missing.  

Note too on the pictures of the whole rifle at the top of the page, the barrel's metal is gray, the nose cap is brass.  While it's kinda hard to see, it appears to me that the upper half of what could be the nose cap is GRAY, like the barrel.

In addition, the first picture of the rifle at the top of the site's page shows the nose cap with the gray barrel above it.  The 2nd picture (just below the 1st picture) shows a top view (looking down) on the top of the full gray barrel with a brass front sight.  The brass sight is easily seen against the gray barrel.  Note the end of the barrel is also gray... no sign of the upper half of the brass nose cap.  The 3rd picture down shows the brass nose cap at the end of the bottom of the barrel (bottom view looking up).

I realize I'm "picky", but I like a full nose cap and am wondering if what seems to be pictured on the Track of the Wolf's site is a half nose cap... and is a half nose cap traditional on the Emmitsburg style of Long Rifle or can a full nose cap (which is what you say it already is) be substituted and still be traditionally correct?


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[FG1]

What you are referring to I think is a band and not a cap . Something that surrounds the stock and the barrel in one piece like a tube of sorts ?

[Ron T.]

Ahhhhhhhh... so that's a "band", eh?  Yes...that is what I've been calling a "muzzle cap".  

I've seen what I thought were called "muzzle caps" on other Long Rifles that completely surrounded both the front of the stock's forearm AND the barrel, but as you pointed out, FG1, they are called "bands", not "muzzle caps".  

Are "nose caps" the same thing as "muzzle caps"... or is that another "dumb question"?  I'm NOT a "newbie" in life, but in building Long Rifles, I'm a NEWBIE !~!~!

And so, back to the original question... can I put a muzzle BAND on my Emmitsburg style Long Rifle and still have the rifle remain "traditionally correct" or must I use the muzzle CAP which doesn't cover the top half of the barrel?!?  


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[Osprey]

And so, back to the original question... can I put a muzzle BAND on my Emmitsburg style Long Rifle and still have the rifle remain "traditionally correct"?!?  

No.  Not even to mention that it would make a Maryland style gun look pretty @!*% ugly!    

[490roundball]

I think you may be confusing the muzzle cap- coverring the wood at the tip of the fore end with a barrel band

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=167759464#PIC

Barrel bands were normal equipment on military arms of the period,  they allowed for easier disassembly in the field. (and maybe cut cost in manufacturing)  I supposed reused parts would have found their way onto some civilian arms- smoothbores most likely, but I have never seen one on a longrifle

[The other DWS]

most military and military-style civilian muskets had barrel bands to help reinforce the whole structure because they were designed to function, with their bayonets mounted, as pikes once the gun had been fired.  In hand-to-hand close-quarters combat of the era. the musket was largely an impact and stabbing weapon.  As a result they had much heavier wood and metal supporting structures.  bands often also incorporated sling mounts; and in some cases stacking hooks on the front band.  Front bands also incorporated a front sight in some designs.  Barrel-surrounding bands were common well into the cartridge era for military arms.
A civilian rifle or smoothbore did not face those requirements in most circumstances so pins and wedges were used to attach the wood and barrel.  Eliminating the barrel bands also reduced cost and weight.
Nose caps, be any name, on civilian arms were seldom more than a light weight stylistic element. 
I am not prepared to say that there were not "some" civilian rifles and smoothbores of the flint/percussion era with barrel bands; but they'd be few and far between and putting one on a well documented "school" rifle would historically inaccurate and it would look ungainly to say the least.

[timM]

Ron T.
You may have overlooked an outstanding example of John Armstrong's work in the ALR Library? http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=5565.0

[louieparker]

Very good advice !   Study those  photos and your nose cap question should be ansered . Also any other concerning design .  Louie parker

[Ron T.]

Ron T.
You may have overlooked an outstanding example of John Armstrong's work in the ALR Library? http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=5565.0

Those are BEAUTIFUL rifles!!!

I definitely want the rifle to be authentic in every way.  Therefore, I'm willing to forego what I thought was attractive for what is obviously "normal" on a rifle made in the Emmitsburg style.  Certainly, the rifle is more than attractive enough if done with the nose cap which is standard on rifles of that school.

Thank all of you for your help and patience with a "newbie" in rifle building... it's been a real "learning experience" up to this point and I just keep learning more & more.  


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[Dphariss]

50 caliber is a little big for an Armstrong as originally made. Not impossible just not typical.
These were pretty slim rifles for the most part.  Note that the lock on the original rifle Ron T cited in this thread is listed as 13/16 wide.
It is also necessary to be careful when looking at photos of the overall rifle many of these have distortions due to the lenses used. Often making the rifles regardless of maker look "fatter" than they really are.

Dan

[Ron T.]

Yep !!!  Everyone was right.  Dphariss hit the "nail-on-the-head"...

I went back to several net sites and viewed a good many of the rifles I "THOUGHT" had full nose caps and it turns out as Dphaniss wrote, it was photo distortions that made it appear the nose cap went all the way around the barrel which it didn't!~!~!

Thank all of you fine gentlemen for straightening me out... a full nose cap would have been a grave mistake.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[jwh1947]

Dphariss...what, pictures don't tell the whole story?   Synapses just tried to spark in my aged and pickled brain...maybe that's why the standard first gun is way too fat up front.

Photographing a longrifle is not easy.  Ask any of us who published books on the subject.  Distortions and grainy photos are quite common.  Plus a photo could be of a gun that is 3/4 rebuilt/new and most could not tell by a photo.  A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it isn't worth 5 minutes of examination of an original by a student with an observant and critical bent.