Chamber Edward Marshall Rifle Build Question

[Nailcreek]

I've picked up the Chambers Edward Marshall Rifle kit, in .58 and welcome the group's thoughts about perhaps making the rifle a bit different than the original.   While the kit has a brass muzzle cap, would a horn cap be out of the realm of possibility?  If so, where might be a good source of horn material?

[Mike Brooks]

Horn grows on cows.

[rich pierce]

If a horn nosecap floats your boat, and you need a piece of horn, you could post an ad here for a horn tip of the size you need.

Horn nosecaps are almost unknown (except by rumor) on early American guns and fairly rare on European rifles of the third quarter of the 18th century compared to brass. I’m guessing you’d need to glue and dowel a piece on that thinnest and most delicate part of the stock. For me that would be a nightmare on a precarved stock, but it’s been done.

[Birddog6]

First suggestion is use the muzzlecap intended. If it is damaged, buy a replacement cap from Chambers.

2nd thing is will there be enough wood there when you cut the cap area for 2 small nails ? Don't
take much but it needs something to anchor it & secure the bond & align & etc.

If horn is what you want, buy a piece of black bullhorn from a knife builder supplier place .  I have
bought allot of it from them & it is nice stuff. You can buy whatever length & size you want normally.

This is how I attached the horn & it worked well on 3-4 I have done.  A friend of mine that builds pistols
does it the same way, as I told him how to do it & he has done 5-6 pistols this way.

Fit a piece of horn to the barrel octagon where it is going to be.  Have the barrel fitted into the stock,
tang inletted & all that.
Drill 2 small holes in the end of the horn (one on each side) for a #3 finish nail, about 1/2" deep.


Need about 1" shank of nail & put half way in drill or drill press chuck. Tighten chuck, spin nail
& take piece of 220 emery paper & round the nail end slightly, also barely rub the shank & that puts
lil tiny grooves for the epoxy to grip to.  Now take the nail shank out & reverse it in the drill chuck &
do same except this time you want a point on the end of the shank. Brush shank again with 220
paper, with drill spinning to make lil grooves in shank. 

Mix some Acraglas gel , die it brown, & put a tiny bit in each hole with a exacto knife tip & put a tad on
each nail shaft & push the rounded ends of the nails into the holes on the horn. Wipe off any excess with rag
& Qtip, don't want any excess glue remaining.  Let it dry over night.

Now you have the piece of horn with the 2 nail points sticking out.  Put barrel back in the stock & slide the
horn piece on to the barrel up against the wood & slightly tap & mark the stock where the holes will go.
Remove horn cap  & barrel & drill the two holes in the stock where the nail point marked.

Were it me,  I would Stain the end of the the stock that is to mate to the horn. I use a tad of dyed Accraglas
gel with exacto knife tip & put some in stock 2 holes.  Now put some Accraglas on the horn & 2 nail shanks.

THIS IS IMPORTANT>  Grease the barrel or Use the Acraglass Release agent or a piece of shrink
wrap around the barrel.  This is NOT a time to glue the barrel to the stock.  THIS IS IMPORTANT

Now put barrel back in the stock & held in securely tightly with rubber bands or clamps.
Now slip the horn cap on & push it up snug & squeeze out all the excess Acraglass.
Now rubber band it into place & let sit overnight.  Make sure it is snug up against the wood or it will not look neat.

After it drys, remove the rubber bands & carefully file off the Acraglass.

Finish sanding with the sandpaper on a board or rubber block as to try to keep the wood/horn joint even.
Polish horn with 220, 320, 400, 600, final with 1000 auto Wet/Dry paper & it will shine like a new penny, except it
will be black.

Worked for me.  You might want to try a Test/sample piece before you actually DO it.

Good Luck

[heinz]

My circa 1760 Jaeger has a horn nose cap and a horn cap on the ramrod.  The horn cap on the ramrod is an easy to do touch that looks good. .  The nose cap is fairly difficult.  This nose cap has a pronounced "swoop" toward the bottom and is about twice as long at the ramrod channel as it is the the top by the muzzle.  These are the best photos I have and the rifle is with mine son in Minnesota and I am in South Carolina not freezing my tail off.

[Ted Kramer]

Not on a Jaeger but I made the cap for this little Southern rifle and it’s fastened to the wood with a copper rivet. It’s made from one piece just like you’d make a one piece brass or iron cap only a bit thicker, around .093” or so. The end was formed using a heat gun to soften and bend enough material in to be able to cut the octagon shape. GREAT care was used when riveting it on for obvious reasons. Go for it if you want the horn muzzle cap. Good luck.
Ted K

[Daryl]

This one is also horn, as it should be.