Author Topic: W. M. Large - flintlock rifle (Read 34519 times)

bones92 · « **Reply #25 on:** December 21, 2015, 08:03:33 PM »

I know. But I appreciate your attempt to candy-coat the hard truth.

I was looking at pre-inletted stocks on TOTW. They are not exactly cheap, either.

Ky-Flinter · « **Reply #26 on:** December 22, 2015, 09:06:31 PM »

Bones,

If you have a suitable stick of wood, there are several members here that will inlet the barrel and drill the RR hole for around $125 I think. Pre-inletted stocks on TOTW include that fee, plus the price of the wood.

-Ron

bones92 · « **Reply #27 on:** December 22, 2015, 09:38:11 PM »

Yes, figuring about $250 for the inletted and drilled wood. Another $180 or so for a lock. Probably another $50 for trigger, another $50 in various brass parts.

In any case, probably $500+ in cost, assuming I do all the work. But, I would have a superb .40 caliber rifle with a Bill Large barrel.

moleeyes36 · « **Reply #28 on:** February 18, 2016, 07:33:19 PM »

Bones,

You might want to take a look at the Fred Miller pattern stocks that Dave Keck has http://knobmountainmuzzleloading.com/stocks.html. There are many choices and one may strike your fancy. For the $300 - $325 range you can get a pretty nice piece of wood, barrel channel and ramrod grove inlet, ramrod hole drilled, plus the lock panels, wrist and butt stock shaped. There are others that will do that also, but Dave Keck is worth checking out if your building time is limited.

Mole Eyes

bones92 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 18, 2016, 08:32:37 PM »

Moleeyes,

I think I may just have this barrel built into a rifle by someone who knows what they're doing. It could be a year or two before I venture into building my own, and I'll probably just get a complete kit from TOTW then. I think a Bill Large barrel deserves to have a competent gunmaker do the rebuild.

D. Buck Stopshere · « **Reply #30 on:** February 19, 2016, 08:27:32 AM »

If its any consolation, I bought a Bill Large .40 caliber 13/16" ATF, 42" barrel fitted with the tang, and a feller came along and waved $ 300.00 in my face. I was going to replace the barrel on my Bob Watts southpaw rifle, but he added another $50.00, and I succumbed to greed and sold it.

Wished I hadn't been so weak in the knees. That was ten years ago.

Consider the gunsmith in Raleigh that I recommended to you in the last e-mail.

bones92 · « **Reply #31 on:** February 19, 2016, 04:31:06 PM »

Thanks, Buck. I will give him a call.

Hungry Horse · « **Reply #32 on:** February 22, 2016, 11:10:41 PM »

Bones;

The Large rifle, and the Numrich, appear to have been built by the same hand, or was built in the same shop. The odd handling of the lock bolts are almost as good as a signature.

Hungry Horse

frogwalking · « **Reply #33 on:** March 03, 2016, 07:15:03 AM »

I used one of those locks in 1967 to build my first flintlock. It had a bridle, but no axle on the tumbler. It worked anyway. Your stock also looks like a Dixie precarve from that era. I used one on Ole Betsy (We were not too original in those days.) We had fun with that rifle, and it really makes me appreciate modern locks and vent liner. Ole Betsy used to go chccck.........ssss...Boom. If you could shoot that thing without flinching, you were either smoking funny cigarettes, comatose, or both. At the time, it was the most expensive and best rifle I had made to that point.

Eric Krewson · « **Reply #34 on:** March 03, 2016, 05:20:32 PM »

It would be interesting to see how the rifle would look if one were to shape the lock panels properly and take off the pound or two of extra wood from the buttplate to the nose cap as well as tig up the screw holes in the lock plate and put proper lock bolts in place.

EC121 · « **Reply #35 on:** March 03, 2016, 05:43:09 PM »

I think fixing the lock bolts would lead to more work on the sideplate side. Looks like the existing sideplate screw(wood screw?) is slightly lower than where the lock bolt would land. One thing would lead to another or maybe a larger sideplate. Take a file to it and slim it down for practice.

JCKelly · « **Reply #36 on:** March 03, 2016, 05:56:06 PM »

I used one of those Dixie (yes, it is Dixie) locks on a Grade F fencepost I built in 1960, using a Numrich .44 mag round rifle barrel. Ugly enough I sold it cheap few years ago. But it did spark - get thee a new flint, maybe try putting the bevel up or down, whichever it isn't. Leave the Dremel on your bench. My Grade F Fencepost would drop a squirrel like a stone.

bones92 · « **Reply #37 on:** April 14, 2016, 03:54:05 PM »

I have another .40 flintlock with a nearly-identical lock (I think it, too, is a DGW kit gun). The mainspring had been broken, repaired, and broken again.

So I took the mainspring from the Bill Large rifle and it seemed to fit fine in the DGW rifle. I really would not feel comfortable shooting the Bill Large rifle as-is, given that the pan-to-barrel fit is not good (and the bad things that can result from such things).

Given the photos provided, is it possible for me to have enough wood to fit a better lock? Maybe one a bit bigger.

Majorjoel · « **Reply #38 on:** April 14, 2016, 09:43:36 PM »

Bone's, Your pictures do not show the lock to barrel fit. I take it that there may be a gap where priming powder can get in behind the lock?? If so, you can either re-inlet the lock plate to close the gap or you can make a gasket out of leather to snug up the plate and fill the gap. I have seen this done on a couple of old builds from my past collecting. Then take it out to the range and see what that ole Bill Large barrel is capable of! One of my first flintlock rifles had a lock that looked a lot like yours. It had a Douglas barrel in 45 caliber and was built by an amateur in a hurry. I bought it at a local gunshow for less than the price of a good lock at the time. It was butt UGLY but boy it out shot a lot of fancy stuff!

bones92 · « **Reply #39 on:** April 14, 2016, 10:05:51 PM »

Major Joel,

Yes, the fit could allow for priming powder to fall into the inletting between the lock and barrel.

In truth, if I can fit a new lock (and maybe new DST), it would be ideal. The hard part is knowing if a new lock would fit, which I suppose is dependent upon whether there is sufficient wood to inlet a bit bigger lock. Of course, the new lock's pan would have to align correctly before knowing if the shape would work.

Bob Roller · « **Reply #40 on:** April 15, 2016, 01:08:41 AM »

Quote from: bones92 on April 14, 2016, 10:05:51 PM

Major Joel,

Yes, the fit could allow for priming powder to fall into the inletting between the lock and barrel.

In truth, if I can fit a new lock (and maybe new DST), it would be ideal. The hard part is knowing if a new lock would fit, which I suppose is dependent upon whether there is sufficient wood to inlet a bit bigger lock. Of course, the new lock's pan would have to align correctly before knowing if the shape would work.

Get a Chambers lock with rectangular plate and alter it to suit the need.
I think it's called a Gunmakers lock.

Bob Roller

bones92 · « **Reply #41 on:** April 15, 2016, 01:51:33 PM »

Bob, that's a good suggestion. Thank you.

bones92 · « **Reply #42 on:** April 18, 2016, 10:03:59 PM »

I thought you all might get a kick out of this trigger. Any idea when and where it may have been made?

It had a reeeeaallly touchy rear trigger, but Bob Roller gave some good advice and it is much better.

Bob Roller · « **Reply #43 on:** April 19, 2016, 12:10:54 AM »

Quote from: bones92 on April 18, 2016, 10:03:59 PM

I thought you all might get a kick out of this trigger. Any idea when and where it may have been made?

It had a reeeeaallly touchy rear trigger, but Bob Roller gave some good advice and it is much better.

I'm glad it sorta kinda works. Looking at it tells me someone,somewhere made a good attempt at making a nice quality single stage trigger.

Bob Roller

bones92 · « **Reply #44 on:** April 20, 2016, 04:02:48 PM »

If the rifle turns out to be a decent shooter, how hard would it be to replace this trigger? Can I just find one with similar length and position of the sear?

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Author Topic: W. M. Large - flintlock rifle (Read 34519 times)