Up coming builds?

[n stephenson]

If you need any script , my teachers always said my writing looked like chicken scratch 

[Mike Brooks]

Need a larger lock, wouldn't you, Mike?

Or smaller footed turkeys....

[Pennsylvania Dutchman]

David, thank you for the kind words. Here are some dimensions for you.
OAL   9.719"     Octagon length  4.469"   Round length   4.938"  Wedding Band length  .312"
Across the flats; at the breech 1.00", at the fore end of the octagon .870
Diameter; at Wedding Band .858", at the Waist .768", at the Muzzle .806"
The flat area of the corner flats behind the wedding band length .938"
Bore .620
Brads barrel scaled by the photo; OAL 8.25", Oct length 3.719", Rnd length 4.312", Wedding band length .219"
Across the flats; at breech .875", fore end of oct .769", wedding band .750", waist .670", and muzzle .725"
Thanks again, Mark

[David Rase]

David, thank you for the kind words. Here are some dimensions for you.
OAL   9.719"     Octagon length  4.469"   Round length   4.938"  Wedding Band length  .312"
Across the flats; at the breech 1.00", at the fore end of the octagon .870
Diameter; at Wedding Band .858", at the Waist .768", at the Muzzle .806"
The flat area of the corner flats behind the wedding band length .938"
Bore .620
Brads barrel scaled by the photo; OAL 8.25", Oct length 3.719", Rnd length 4.312", Wedding band length .219"
Across the flats; at breech .875", fore end of oct .769", wedding band .750", waist .670", and muzzle .725"
Thanks again, Mark

Mark, Thank you for taking the time to take all the measurements.   I appreciate the detailed measurements, they are exactly what I wanted but I did not want to ask you to go to all the trouble.  I have saved the photo of your barrel as well as the measurements.  Looking forward to following or seeing your completed pistol.
David

[grabenkater]

Mr. Kibler's next kit

[Robby]

Small barn.
Robby

[oldtravler61]

  Just acquired a 16 gauge oct/round barrel from one of our member's.
  Any ideas an input would be appreciated. Never built a fowling gun before. Do have a very nice curly maple stock an a beech I could use.
  But not sure if the maple wood be appropriate. Shows yeah what I know. Oldtravler

[n stephenson]

OLDTRAVLER, What barrel length , Type of lock , hardware etc.  ?

[Mike Brooks]

  Just acquired a 16 gauge oct/round barrel from one of our member's.
  Any ideas an input would be appreciated. Never built a fowling gun before. Do have a very nice curly maple stock an a beech I could use.
  But not sure if the maple wood be appropriate. Shows yeah what I know. Oldtravler

If it's more than 38" long put it in a piece of walnut. Maple isn't the right way to go. for an English gun. Take a look at my website for example of English fowling guns. Here's one I did this year.


Here's  more pics on photobucket if you want.
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Gunmaker/library/356%20Cosby%20turkey%20gun?sort=3&page=1

[Chowmi]

I want everyone who has responded to this thread to report back in 6 months with either results or excuses- hopefully with pictures

What a great idea! 

Challenge also accepted.  Of course, for me, six months means I will have partially completed filing the lock, the trigger guard, and maybe the butt plate.  I'm slow and have poor technique...

life is hard for those of us who are un-skilled.

Norm

[Joe S]

I am contemplating a 1750-1760 ish English fowler.  I’m looking for some photos of guns from this period, but I’m not having a whole lot of luck finding any.  I have Neil and Back’s Great British Gunmakers 1740-90, which is great for locks and sideplates, but has very little on the rest of the gun. Any suggestions?

[Joe S]

PS – I just looked at this book on Amazon.  They have a used copy listed for the low, low price of $1,820.00.  I will let my copy go for the bargain price of only $1,500.  Please buy this book from me.  If you do, I will only need to raise another $ 998,500 to pay Mike Brooks to fix the engraving Dave Rase inflicted on my lock.

[oldtravler61]

  Mike the barrel is 36". Do like that gun you built for Tim. Nice job!
 Oldtravler

[Elnathan]

PS – I just looked at this book on Amazon.  They have a used copy listed for the low, low price of $1,820.00.  I will let my copy go for the bargain price of only $1,500.  Please buy this book from me.  If you do, I will only need to raise another $ 998,500 to pay Mike Brooks to fix the engraving Dave Rase inflicted on my lock.

There is always that one guy....

In all seriousness, I just bought a copy a month or so back for about 70 bucks or so. Mine came from England, where copies are a lot more plentiful, and despite much greater shipping charges are a lot more affordable overall.

[Mike Brooks]

  Mike the barrel is 36". Do like that gun you built for Tim. Nice job!
 Oldtravler

You could still probably make that work for a full stock, although it's just a bit short. You could always build a 1/2 stock with it. The Brits were doing that in the 1760's.
 I think the barrel on Tim's Turkey masher was a 40" 10 bore with a whole bunch of jug. Big brute of a breech with a nice taper and flare to the rest of the barrel.. Gave the gun excellent lines. If you can, use Chambers early Ketland. Super fast lock.

[Gaeckle]

I have 4 projects in the works, two will be halfstocks. One of these will be a slim Ohio style rifle in walnut, 32 caliber sporting a very petite 3/4 to 11/16 tapered barrel. I will mount it up in brass and will craft a patchbox typical of what was found on many Ohio rifles at the turn of the century. I have yet to decide on the patchbox or any decorative elements.

The second one is a 50 caliber halfstock utilizing a barrel I rifled years ago. It will have old original mounts of brass that I found at gunshows. I plan on putting a patchbox on it that I copied from an original, it is sort of a 'beehive' looking affair. Other decorative items I have yet to determine, it is basically making shapes from paper and placing them on the stock to see what sort of effect the shapes bring to my mind.

The other two are started, barrel in the wood, but I am not really sure what direction I want to go in. At this stage I am in the process of thought as to what these two will say as an artistic statement and I am researching elements and ideas as to where they willend up. One will definetly be a full stock early Ohio rifle in flint that has the trappings of those found along the National Road. I have access to an original that I can use as a platform to build ideas off of. The other is a 50 small length affair that startedas a Green Mountain 36 inch 1 1/8" across the flats barrel that I hand swamped and reduced in overall length, it's about 30 inches long. The idea is that this would be a piece built with German influence but with local early American elements such as trigger, guard, butplate, kinda like a bastard child from a wayward Hessian that found romance with an American woman during the revolutanary war sort of thing. A reverse  transitional rifle. It probably never exited, but what the heck.

[deepcreekdale]

Just finishing up an early Virginia rifle, C wt 50 cal Rice barrel, Early Ketland lock, was supposed to be delivered this weekend but the  customer had to evacuate from Irma. Also on the bench is a left handed flint trade gun in a spectacular piece of quilted maple provided by the customer in 50 cal. Only sad thing with this gun, he is a full time professional gun engraver and wants to do that part himself. I think I build guns just so I can engrave them. But, he does beautiful work so it is pushing me to do equally good work with the build. Hardest piece of maple I have ever seen, cuts like O-1 steel. Also on the bench is a generic 20 gauge fowler, with round faced English lock from Chambers. Sadly, this gun was commissioned by a gentleman that suddenly passed so I am completing it for his brother at his request. Following that, for myself, I have been working on a Alexander Henry style long range target rifle, got a spectacular piece of English walnut years ago from Dunlaps and Jason at Rice made me a beautiful Harry Pope replica barrel in .38 cal. I am in the planning stages of a Spanish Fowler using a Miquelet lock for no particular reason than I like unusual styles of guns and that type of gun would have been used here in Florida in the early 1700's. All this, is contingent of course of Irma leaving me more than a cement slap where my shop now stands.

[Hemo]

I have two projects going on simultaneously, both nearing completion--one is a circa 1700 English horse pistol, .60 caliber smoothbore, stocked from a blank of burl maple, using an Andrew Dolep lock I built from Jim Kibler's castings of the original lock.  About to pour an ornate sideplate and thumbpiece in brass using Delft clay for this gun--my first casting experience.  Then just some engraving and wood finishing, and done.

The other is a restoration of an original English 20 gauge fowler, circa 1790-1810, completely broken through at the level of the lock inlet. Lock and sideplates/washers were missing. I replaced the lock with castings from an original Ketland flintlock supplied by Jack Brooks, using new finished Siler internals. Sideplate/washers have been replaced with thick sheet brass. The major break through the stock has been repaired with epoxy. Still need to replace a missing front pipe and patch a couple of small bits of missing wood and cracks.

I'll post pics of both when done.

Gregg

[mchulse]

Hey! I'm new here as of today. I'm planning to build three 'hawken' rifles for my grandson's graduations gifts and I've come up against a problem. If Morse didn't invent the twist drill bit 'till 1861 how were the holes made in a barrel to stake loops or to tap for screws to rivet under ribs? Could under rib and rod pipes been assembled as one piece and soft soldered on to the barrel after riveting with a dovetailed rivet? A solder iron, heated in the forge, doesn't seem to be adequate to the task either. Could the entire barrel assembly have been heated in the forge fluxed then, soldered? The hawken barrels are said to have been 'plain dead iron' could this be because they were annealed? A product's shape, style and function are determined by the tools available to produce it. Thanks in advance for any help you have to offer.

[Mike Brooks]

Hey! I'm new here as of today. I'm planning to build three 'hawken' rifles for my grandson's graduations gifts and I've come up against a problem. If Morse didn't invent the twist drill bit 'till 1861 how were the holes made in a barrel to stake loops or to tap for screws to rivet under ribs? Could under rib and rod pipes been assembled as one piece and soft soldered on to the barrel after riveting with a dovetailed rivet? A solder iron, heated in the forge, doesn't seem to be adequate to the task either. Could the entire barrel assembly have been heated in the forge fluxed then, soldered? The hawken barrels are said to have been 'plain dead iron' could this be because they were annealed? A product's shape, style and function are determined by the tools available to produce it. Thanks in advance for any help you have to offer.

Have you ever built a muzzleloader before? Hawken rifles are not easy to build.
 Drill bits have been around since cave man days in one form or another.

[mchulse]

Mike, I built a 'Bridger' Hawken using TOW parts and two Orion barrels, one fast and one slow, and a late English flint from L&R back in the early 90's. I wanted to make the furniture this time. I have freed myself from trying to copy a particular piece. If the form suits me as it comes from the forge and is cleanly made these boys won't mind. I would like to know the order in the process by which the firearms were assembled and if one man made butt plates and escutcheons entry pipes and the like while others shaped stocks and inletted from stock made ahead. T. Campbell was their engraver as I understand it surely others specialized also. This would promote consistency and uniformity something that became more apparent after Jake died and Sam began to purchase more parts to meet the increased demand during the gold rush and westward expansion. Sure, there were variations but the overall form followed the parts used. The tools used to produce a product determine it's form. Parts from the forge may have variations. Castings, generally, do not and, therefore, contribute to more consistent results. The tools used to make the parts will guide me to a more 'original' early example of the hawken style. I just have to figure the how and the why. Boy, do I need help. Mark