Planning my first build

[Minuteman1775]

I am in the planning stages of my first build so here’s a little background. I want to build a reproduction long arm that a militiaman from Massachusetts would have taken with him as he rushed off to the Lexington alarm in spring 1775.

My first thought was a long land pattern Brown Bess. I couldn’t find an assembled version of this gun that was authentic enough for my tastes. So I started looking into the TOW long land pattern Brown Bess kit. I was a little intimidated by the comments I was seeing on various forums about this kit that it may be too much for a beginner.  Another option is to buy the kit and have a gunsmith assemble the kit but that seemed a little too expensive.

Then my thought was would a responding citizen-soldier really have a Brown Bess? It is possible, maybe one left over from the F+I war. I’m not quite sure which specific guns the colonists were stock piling during the decade leading up to the Lexington alarm or of where those weapons came from. Then I found George Neumann’s article from American Rifleman, “Hunting Guns in Colonial America” and I was off looking for a New England smoothbore hunting gun. This seemed to be the most logical gun to grab as one runs off to war.

That led me to Jim Chamber’s New England Fowler kit so I read up on Chamber’s kits. It seems to be a premium kit so that is currently the current plan. I haven’t placed my order yet but, I am looking to order an 11 gauge in late November.  To prepare for my first attempt at building a gun I am reading through “The Gunsmith of Grenville Co.” and will read through “Recreating the American Longrifle” as well as Kit Ravenshear’s 8 pamphlets. I also plan to order Jim Chamber’s DVD about assembling one of his kits. Any other suggestions would be great.

I plan to take my time and only build as time permits. I have been watching Duelist1954’s build on youtube which has given me some understanding of the challenges I’ll be facing.

[galamb]

I can't help you with your choice of what to build but I was at the same stage you are about a year ago.

I started at looking at "off the shelf" rifles (Pedersoli, Lyman, T/C). Thought some were "ok" but could be "tweaked" a bit to better fit my taste.

Then, like you found TOTW etc and figured a precarve/pre-inlet and a "box of parts" would do it for me but ended up not totally liking the restrictiveness of the pre-inlet (what if I wanted a different lock to look more like a specific builder?).

So next looked at precarve - shaped with barrel/ramrod inlet done but not the lock, trigger etc.

Ended up figuring if I could go that far may as well just pick up a chunk of maple and go at it

To be fair I already had a fair bit of woodwork experience and all the tools so that part wasn't too scary - it was more fitting the breech plug and cutting a patch box from scratch - stuff like that, that seemed daunting.

My suggestion to you would be look for a "level of completeness" that you are comfortable with but you will still find challenging to build/finish as the case may be. The less that's done for you the more of your own flavour you can add to the build unless you are going for a (copy) as close to a specific original as you can get. If you are simply looking for something "in the spirit of" or a "generic" New England gun you may enjoy doing a little more than simply cleaning up an inlet and bolting the part in.

At least from all the prep work you have been doing I get the impression you may not be totally satisfied with a "ready to assemble" piece if it doesn't challenge you.

For me it was all over when I saw a Daniel Marker fullstock rifle that he built during his days in Ohio. Saw that National Roads patchbox and just had to have one - no "kit" available, so I got out the saw and the chisel

[Vomitus]

  There were some nice rifles available too,me thinks.  Nice English fowling pieces!New Englanders,lots of choices.

[Model19]

As a Yankee and a fan of that period in New England history I applaud your idea!  Pretty much the  same reason I built my club butt fowler.   I did a Sitting Fox precarved and inletted kit.  I'll not go into detail, but I'm happy with the results. Took three years but who cares.  I took my time       You'll have lot's of fun imagining what the day was like on Battle Road as you work on it.   
 

[Rootsy]

Have one in 12 gauge.  Nice gun.  Will finish it one of these days once I am finally moved, the other house is renovated and on the market and I have some time to break out the tools again. 

Before you settle on caliber you may want to ask what they have in stock for barrels.

 

[satwel]

The Chambers Colonial Fowler/Militia musket is a great choice for an embattled farmer experience. If you want to go the full monty, consider converting it to carry a steel ramrod. Massachusetts Militia regulations at the time allowed militiamen to bring their fowlers, but they had to be converted from wooden to steel ramrods, the ramrod thimbles bushed, and a retaining spring added to the lower entry thimble to secure the ramrod and prevent ratteling. The forends of some fowlers were also cut back to accommodate a bayonet. I once worked with a guy who specialized in doing the conversion for the Lexington/Concord re-enactor community.

[WadePatton]

I am in the planning stages of my first build so here’s a little background. I want to build a reproduction long arm that a militiaman from Massachusetts would have taken with him as he rushed off to the Lexington alarm in spring 1775.

My first thought was a long land pattern Brown Bess. I couldn’t find an assembled version of this gun that was authentic enough for my tastes. So I started looking into the TOW long land pattern Brown Bess kit. I was a little intimidated by the comments I was seeing on various forums about this kit that it may be too much for a beginner.  Another option is to buy the kit and have a gunsmith assemble the kit but that seemed a little too expensive.

Then my thought was would a responding citizen-soldier really have a Brown Bess? It is possible, maybe one left over from the F+I war. I’m not quite sure which specific guns the colonists were stock piling during the decade leading up to the Lexington alarm or of where those weapons came from. Then I found George Neumann’s article from American Rifleman, “Hunting Guns in Colonial America” and I was off looking for a New England smoothbore hunting gun. This seemed to be the most logical gun to grab as one runs off to war.

That led me to Jim Chamber’s New England Fowler kit so I read up on Chamber’s kits. It seems to be a premium kit so that is currently the current plan. I haven’t placed my order yet but, I am looking to order an 11 gauge in late November.  To prepare for my first attempt at building a gun I am reading through “The Gunsmith of Grenville Co.” and will read through “Recreating the American Longrifle” as well as Kit Ravenshear’s 8 pamphlets. I also plan to order Jim Chamber’s DVD about assembling one of his kits. Any other suggestions would be great.

I plan to take my time and only build as time permits. I have been watching Duelist1954’s build on youtube which has given me some understanding of the challenges I’ll be facing.

Your approach is to be commended.

Do not underestimate the value of a good, properly-padded, vise or holding fixture-especially when starting with a shaped stock.  School-up and Tool up!  Then ...learn how to fix the screw ups!  Screw-ups are not limited to any school of gun or level of experience or study, just roll with them.  I'll be posting pics of my first complete series of screw-ups this afternoon. 

but first I go shooting!