Southern Iron lefty

[bama]

I jut finished this for a customer down in Mobile Al. Sorry for the bad photo's but I left my good camera at home the last time I was there and all I had here in Baton Rouge where I am working is a litte cheap Cannon digitl.

The stock is maple stained with Nitric acid and has a hand rubbed oil finish. I used Pilkinton's Red Brown gunstock oil. This gun has about ten coats of oil finish and then I used paste wax for the final coat.

I know there has been a lot of talk about to age the metal or not to age. I did age the metal on this rifle some but I have not made up my mind if I will do more like this or not. I look at the process as just another type of metal finish, same as brown or blue. It is what the customer asked for and that is what he got, so like it or not there it is.

This is a 7/8" 42" 50 cal. GM straight barrel. Slightly modified Davis triggers. L&R lock.

The butt plate and trigger guard are castings that I got from TOW and modified.

The patch box, side plate, toe plate, thimbles, front sight, patch box release and springs are all hand made.

I made no real attempt to line up the screw slots, some are and some are not.

The inlays are sterling silve and are engraved but I could not get good pictures of the engraving.

The nose cap is poured pewter.

[David Rase]

That is one great looking gun.  Your customer will really enjoy the 7/8" .50 cal barrel.  I have the exact same barrel in my iron mounted late southern rifle and it is one of my favorite guns to shoot.  It is very well balanced.
DMR

[Rasch Chronicles]

Now, that's the kind of wood finish I like!

Happy Holidays!
Best Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Albert A Rasch In Afghanistan

[Bart]

Nice little rifle- its especially nice because I'm a southpaw.

[Tim Crosby]

 Great look'n rifle, nice work.

 Tim C.

[Old Ford2]

Nice rifle!
I really like your inlay work, the nose cap is great looking, but much more appealing than a straight poured pewter cap.
Please show us more.
Old Ford

[willyr]

That is one good looking rife, Jim.
Merry Christmas.
Bill Ridout

[G-Man]

Nice work Jim - some Bogle, some Bull, some Jacob Young and Thomas Simpson all showing up in that gun!  I have seen those triggers somewhere on an original as well - can't put my finger on it - the Edward Reid rifle maybe(?)

Your customer must be very pleased with this one.

Guy

[bgf]

Very pretty.  I like the toeplate and the sideplate especially, both are very striking.  To copy Guy, I can also see a Woodfork reference in the inlay over the cheekpiece.  Whatever you did to the metal is different than I'm used to seeing -- it has a "warmer" tone than the usual chlorox-boiled cold blue.

[northmn]

Very nice rifle.  I hold to the theory that the best aging is use and make them like a new one as all rifles were once new. Different strokes.  Also good to see one built with the long and cheek piece on the correct side instead of backwards like most are made.  Keep em coming.

DP

[tallbear]

Nice job there Jim

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Mitch

[bama]

Thanks everyone. Yep it's a mixture of my favorite things I like about several of the southern guns. The bogle box would be hard to miss. The side plate and the diamond cheek inlay I copied from my Simpson.

I delivered the rifle this morning and the customer was very pleased with the way it looked. He was even more impressed with the way it shot. I will have to say that little lock took a lot of polishing to get it to function as smoothly as I wanted but it is a very fast lock. That combined with a White Lighting TH liner and I believe this is one of the fastest igniting rifles I have ever built. The GM barrel was putting them in the 10 ring at 50 with ease. Yep the customer is a retired Marine and a Law officer, when I seen him grin ear to ear after the first shot I knew I had done good.

Thanks again for the kind words and Merry Christmas to all, May everyone have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year.

[northmn]

I have that style lock on my 25 and it took a bit of interior polishing as the fly hung up and it went to half cock.  Now works fine and as you say is very quick.

DP

[bama]

The Fly design of this lock leaves a lot to be desired. It is real easy to get it in backwards plus it will fall off its pivot pinin during a ssembly if you are not carefull. I put a little dab of grease on the pivot pin and that helps hold the fly on during assembly. It would be a better design if the fly was moved to the top side of the tumbler. But, hey it is much better than having to make the lock, so I can deal with polishing and a tiny fly and big fingers.

[bgf]

Don't you know you are supposed to "note the orientation of the fly" before disassembly .   Hard to do, considering where it is, if it is like my Durs Egg.   I e-mailed L&R to double-check, after mine fell in a baggy I had (luckily) placed under my vise before I could even see exactly where it was and what it looked like on my lock.  Holding it on with grease during assembly is a good idea.

[omark]

Don't you know you are supposed to "note the orientation of the fly" before disassembly .   Hard to do, considering where it is, if it is like my Durs Egg.   I e-mailed L&R to double-check, after mine fell in a baggy I had (luckily) placed under my vise before I could even see exactly where it was and what it looked like on my lock.  Holding it on with grease during assembly is a good idea.

BAGGY???         i think thats cheatin, aint it??        mark

[JB2]

yep, s'cheetin'.  s'posed to hit the 110% energy return matt on the floor and launch into geo-synchronous orbit, gone forever!

Still a beauty of a gun, and it's got the lock on the 'right' side too.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Jim,

That is a real beauty!!  Your work just keeps blowing my mind!

Have a Happy New Year!!!

[gusd]

That's a fine looking rifle!!!
Gus

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Looks like a very fine rifle.  What impresses me is that you have taken away every bit of unnecessary wood, finished what's left very nicely, and have a great looking rifle.

[A.Merrill]

    Fine looking gun. Nose cap looks great. So what is next?     AL

[msw]

Great looking rifle!

[bama]

Hi and happy new year to everyone. I have been gone on a week long deer hunt after the Christmas holiday so I am just now getting back to the board. I hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas.

This is about the 5th left hand rifle that I have built and I enjoy building them. It keeps you on your toes remembering that every operations is opposite of what you normally do.

I worked real hard at slimming this rifle up, believe me when I say that I left little excess wood on this rifle. I am sorry that I could not get better pictures than what I posted. Hopefully I will be able to visit the owner in the spring and get better pictures.

I had a great hunt and took two nice bucks and missed a big fat doe at forty yards. I got a late start that morning so I did not shoot the previous days load out and reload before I started my hunt, big mistake. I had a clack, whoose and about a second later a boom. Needless to say that big fat doe was waving bye bye with her pretty white tail long before the BOOM!

Dr. Tim thanks for the kind words and good to here from you. Your work is coming along very nice too.

I have a Lancaster to finish that is about 80% done an original double barrel shotgun to restore and a Jacob Young rifle on the drawing board that I hope to have finished by the CLA show.

[greybeard]

WOW !!!  Kind a makes me wish I were born a lefty

[Darrin McDonal]

Jim that is a beauty. It looks like it would handle like a dream, if I were lefty. I too finished a left handed Lancaster recently and luckily the owner stopped by every month or two for a "fitting" so to say which really worked great.
As for the deer story, I was laughing real hard because I can see it sooooo clear.
Take care buddy
Darrin