Trade Pistol, sort of

[frogwalking]

I bought this cheap 20 ga. barrel, on sale from Dixie,  I had to cutt off the breach end and reinstall the plug it due to a terrible fitting breach plug.  Then the muzzle was shortened by an inch to make the gun look reasonable, a round face queen anne lock from Chambers and a chunk of wood left over from one of Rich's long guns, and it is beginning to take shape.  Oh yes, David Keck inlet the barrel for me.  The front lock screw missed the ramrod hole cleanly.  David drilled the rr hole perfectly.
 



My question is...................should I cut the butt off parallel with the barrel before installing the butt cap or leave it as is?  I have seen guns made both ways.  I am tending to cut it off.  What do you think?  It is to be iron mounted, and the sideplate is a rounded military looking job coming from MBS.  Thimbles are short cast steel for a pistol.  Of course, half the wood now on the stock will eventually be shavings on the shop floor.  I plan to attempt to carve the tang on this one.

[gregg]

Well I don't know . But you have a good start on a interresting pistol build.

[Dave B]

It really depends on what the style of but cap you intend to use.  You kind of have  the birds head style going right now but I think its a bit late of a style for the round faced Queen Anne lock. I have a couple trade pistols in my archive of photos and they both have the  but section tipping down towards the opposite from what you have. The pommels are of the half rounded type with a tang going up the back of the handle.  They remind me of a soup ladle.


These bits are from a trade pistol IMHO

[frogwalking]

Dave,

That butt cap is similar to the one I have.  I probably did cut the stock into too much of a curve.  I think I can straighten it out a little by cutting the butt parallel with the barrel if I bend the tang of the butt cap into a sharper curve. 

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I wouldn't cut the back of the handle nor the bottom of it until I had the wood off under the lock and the wrist...then I would shape the back and pommel.... I don't know if that is helpful but it makes sense to me as I find it hard to visualize with so much wood under the lock etc..

[whitebear]

I agree with Dr. Tim there is a lot of wood that you already know will have to be removed.  I would remove most of it and then look it over again, You might change your mind.  Also there is no saying that you can't put the but cap on the stock as is.

[Glenn]

Interesting that you pointed this out.  I have often wondered if way back when some of these didn't start out as spoon/ladle "rejects" from a local silversmith/metalsmith and were later pounded out and reshaped as pistol pommels.  Just a thought, anyway.

The pommels are of the half rounded type with a tang going up the back of the handle.  They remind me of a soup ladle.


These bits are from a trade pistol IMHO