A lot of you guys saw this rifle when it was first posted, and since that time, its been added to the Library as well.
This is a very nice and unusual rifle, given its two shot configuration. The owner didn’t want a full restoration, but instead wanted it stabilized to prevent further deterioration. To that end, none of the work I did was done with the intention of making the cracks and the breaks invisible, but rather made to look like a good simple repair, make the gun sound and strong again, while trying to retain the visible history of the gun as best as possible.
I know that I’ve been leaning toward this type of repair work as possibly being a viable alternative to a full on restoration, and some of you might, or might not agree. Of course if the gun is missing significant parts, a substantial length of barrel or forearm, you have to consider whether or not to replace those parts to return the gun to its original configuration, and each situation will bring its own questions and solutions.
With this rifle, there were several issues that needed attention, but the primary issue was a crack through the web between the ramrod and barrel channels. This crack had split apart fairly significantly, and ran from the muzzle cap practically all the way back to the ramrod entry pipe. Basically, the forestock was completely split in half down the middle, following the grain of the wood, and was being held together by the muzzle cap, a couple pins, and the ramrod entry pipe.
Another issue, was that originally, the barrel would be removed from the stock be removing the tang bolt, then, sliding the barrel forward to release the barrel under lugs from the stock pins, but this feature had been lost at some point. The original forearm inlays that would have covered the stock pins were missing, and copper inlays had been put in their place, with holes through them to slide the stock pins in and out, as would usually be found on a rifle.
Another primary issue was that the patchbox door was missing. Also missing was the back half of the lower PB side plate and a few of the narrow pieces of brass there, and also some of the narrow pieces in the PB finale. Some of the brass was just missing, or lost, while most of the narrow pieces had been dissolved by green verdigris. The green verdigris had also found its way under both of the brass lock plates, and was starting to fill the spaces between the lock plates and the wood there.
Also, at some point the toe of the stock had been broken, and had been repaired with a couple nails and a copper inlay on both sides of the stock over the break to help support it. The copper inlay was still on the patchbox side, but was missing from the cheek piece side.
There was also a couple other pieces of wood cracked out of the stock. The pieces from either side just ahead of the locks were still there, tacked onto the stock with small nails. I re-attached these more permanently, but didn’t try to conceal the original crack completely. Other cracks were glued to prevent further splitting and the few old splintered out pieces of wood along the forearm were left as is.
I did a little tune-up on the locks to help them to be a little more reliable, and also cleaned all the active rust off the barrel, and did some other little odds and ends. At this point, this rifle should be good for another couple hundred years of enjoyment by admirers and collectors!
The rifle looks like it was made by Samuel Morrison, and the last couple of pictures show the barrel signature, which at first glance look like S * M, for Samuel Morrison. But the owner questions, and I agree, whether the first letter is actually an S?
Hopefully some of you sharp eyed guys will have a good opinion.
This rifle would have been a real adventure to shoot! It holds two loads, one loaded directly on top of the other. To shoot it, if you cock the left hammer and pull the trigger, it shoots the top load. Then, if you cock the right hammer and pull the trigger, it shoots the bottom load. However, if you load both loads and cock both hammers and pull the trigger, it shoots both loads simultaneously,,, or more or less simultaneously!
John
Before After
These next ones are pictures of the locks, interesting and simple!
Here's two different color versions of the barrel signature. S*M, or ?*M
