Making an early Peter Berry

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

That's nice work Dave.  I think you are going to find that once you cut the molding lines along the bottom of the buttstock, the box will suddenly be correctly positioned. 

[smart dog]

Hi Taylor,
Thanks, I think you may be right about the molding lines.  And Taylor, those moldings extend past the trigger, all the way to the front of the guard and attach to carving in front of the guard.  This is going to be really fun! We will see how it all works out.  The rifle fits extremely well.  Berry's stock pattern is sleek and really functional.  It beats any of the Lancaster pattern guns I've built to my build for fit. It is going to be a good shooting rifle.

dave

[Osprey]

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=68314.0

That profile shoots really well on stags!  You're making me want to build another and do the brass box next time...

[davec2]

David,

Fabulous work (as is always the case) !  However, on the 12th of October while you were talking about the hinge on the patch box you graciously said..." It is always wise to listen to Dave Crisalli."

Would you mind engraving that on a brass or steel plate and sending it to my wife ?          She often says I'm full of....well....she says "wisdom".... but the long pause between the "full of"  and the "wisdom" parts lead me to suspect that she doesn't really mean "wisdom".   

Thanks

[smart dog]

Hi Dave,
I've always noticed that wives struggle to tell the difference between wisdom and "wisdom".  It is wisdom when it agrees with their aspirations and "wisdom" when it doesn't.

dave

[smart dog]

Hi,
The limited time I have right now for gun work is really frustrating me.  I am definitely making adjustments for next year.  I completed the patch box for now.  I constructed the catch. latch, and lid spring.  Flinchrocket posted a nice photo of the kind of catch probably used on the original Berry and I examined photos of another rifle with a similar system.  I saw problems with each and also wanted to make sure I could remove the butt plate without having to remove the entire assembly with the plate.  So I got to thinking "what would Dave Crisalli do?"     So I engineered this solution.  I don't like whimpy patch box latches and releases.  I want a solid click.  I also did not want something that released when I snugged my shoulder into the stock.  I assume there is a reason why few gun makers used this design and it appears Berry only used it once.  So the latch spring is sturdy and I made a latch that locks solidly into the catch on the lid. The latch joins the spring with a threaded rod anchored by a nut.  That way I can separate the latch from the spring to remove the butt plate.  The knob on the outside of the butt plate is threaded onto the latch but also soldered in place.  I can remove it if I need to to finish the gun, and then solder it back in place. The system snaps closed with a distinctive sound and I think I could hang a 20lb weight from the lid and it would not fail (I over engineered it).  It releases crisply and easily when needed but is not going to open inadvertently when I shoulder the gun. 











When I cut the cavity, I broke into the inclusion and knot on the inside.  I had to really sharpen my mortising chisels to cut that stuff away cleanly.

Finally, I cut the lock and side plate moldings.  I used one of the Berrys as a model for the rear beaver tails but am hedging on the front aprons.  I cut the larger funky apron seen on the early Berry shown in Kindig.  However, I think I will cut it back to the shape of the one in Hansen's book (the same one I pictured originally).  It is funky but I will wait on it a bit.  The other Berry of this design has no forward apron.
 



dave

[Kiltman20]

Beautiful.  I look watch these guns come together.

[Gary Ruxton]

What about inletting a piece of wood in the patch box cavity to overlap and cover the inclusion area and glued in place to give it a better usability. I'd be worried the 7 dwarfs would get in there and start excavating for a mine

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I like the 'inclusion' and wouldn't do anything to disguise it.  Such imperfections add interest to the rifle, in my opinion, and reinforce the saying:  good stock wood doesn't grow on trees.  If I did anything to it, I'd just give it s shot of very thin CA, let it 'take up' and plasticize the soft wood.

[smart dog]

Hi all,
Thanks for commenting.  I will eventually shorten the lid pop up spring to make more free space in the cavity.  The inclusion is very hard and dense. I don't think it will need anything but thinned CA or Acra Glas if anything.  Moreover, I am in no rush to "fix" it.  I will wait until after staining and before applying finish.  There is one tiny crumbly spot that may interfere with carving behind the cheek piece that might need attention before finish. 

dave

[smart dog]

Hi,
I got a little more done.  It will be a few days before I can get back to the Berry. I shaped the fore stock molding.  It was fun.  I believe Berry used a gouge to give it a concave surface.  The unevenness of his molding suggests to me it was a gouge not some sort of molding plane.



The first task was making sure my initial simple fore stock molding was even along the ramrod channel. Many folks use jigs and guides for this kind of task but just used a gouge like Berry.  My photos are after the fact so they just show the tools.  I often get the task done before remembering the camera.  My gouge is razor sharp and sliced through the maple very evenly like cutting butter.




I smoothed the cuts with a round scraper and then cut the parallel line with a Gunline 60 degree double checkering cutter. 





Then I widened the border line with a 90 degree Dembart bordering file and I was done.  It appears that Berry just let the molding peter out at the muzzle, which I did.









The rifle looks very sleek and the fore stock is long and slim.

dave

[Osprey]

Starting to wonder if Dave has a side gig as Santa and has taken off from gun building until after Christmas.   

[smart dog]

Hi Osprey,
I had to put it aside for quite a while to complete a Brown Bess and take care of non gun related business.  The Bess is taking more time because I am completely restocking an old Pedersoli rather just reworking it, which was the original plan. I've posted a thread on the Bess here:
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/turning-a-pedersoli-bess-into-a-dublin-castle-short-land-musket.138872/

dave