Randall,
Very impressive work you have done! I missed your original post last January, as I was away from home and off line, but am very glad it has been revived for me to see. In my ongoing Kentucky double rifle study, I have examined RCA #33 as well as two other contemporary builds based on it. Yours takes the cake, for sure and by far! You are courageous and skilled to have built the swivel action as you did. I am in awe.
As for engraving, I stand with the old Reading builders who left the canvass clean. RCA #33 is very old by American swivel breech standards, and I think such a faithful copy of the early gunmaker’s work should remain faithful to and respectful of the original. There are several other swivel breech rifles of that early Reading time period, and none would look right in my eye with engraving. RCA #32 is an original single barrel rifle with the same carving and patch box as #33 that was engraved (and at a later date, I am sure). It just looks out of place and out of style to me. So I am solidly in the “stick to the style of the original” camp.
Your tumbler has a straight rather than concave foot against which the mainspring tip moves. Was there a reason for doing that?
You deserve accolades for your difficult and finely done build. Thanks for presenting it.
Bill Paton, Kentucky double rifle student.
