Nose Caps

[LURCHWV@BJS]

 Quick Qestion,

   Is it wrong to not use a Nosecap?  Personally I don't like to see them on a rifle, relizing they protect the wood at the business end.  I just don't like them.

                          Rich

[msw]

I suspect that it's (a) a matter of how HC / PC you want or need to be and (b) a matter of personal preference.

I don't worry too much about the whole PC / HC thing, but that's just me and i certainly would stand up for the right of anyone who does think it's a big deal to hold his or her opinion.

I'm partial to horn, but most of my builds are dangerously close to the 'fantasy gun' style.

Put the muzzle the way you want it- heck, if you don't like it, you can always add a muzzle cap later (as opposed to the other way 'round).

Just one guy's free advice- no doubt worth what you paid!

[Old Ford2]

I doubt that nose caps really save the forstock from any real damage, but they do add closure to a piece of wood.
Take a look at any well made "Hawken" as compared to some of those early Italian hawkens with the poorly made cast nose caps.
The Thompson Center rifles ie: New Englander, and other 1/2 stocks, nice rifles but missing something.
There are many Fowlers without nose caps, and yet the fine design allows for it.
These particular guns prove, that there is no real need for a nose cap.
It is a matter of taste and design preference.
A well done poured nose cap certainly ads appeal to a well made 1/2 stock.
Horn or antler caps can well to fine rifle.
Old Ford

[billd]

It's your gun, do what will make you happy with it. Every time you load it you're the one who has to look down the muzzle.

Bill

[ken]

Store bought nose caps are too wide anyway. Make the rifle to please you . You can get it much more slender with out the cap and still be PC

[flintriflesmith]

The overwhelming majority of American Longrifles (note name of this forum) had nose caps, AKA nose pieces or foreend caps.
The surviving exceptions are often restocks or the supper plain and cheap 19th century rifles -- so called barn guns or southern mountain "poor boy" rifles.
When folks say "its your rifle, do whatever you want" they are certainly correct. Freedom of choice and all of that, but if you want your work to be representative of period pieces you need to work within period design parameters. If you hate nose caps you might want to consider building something more in the style of a fowling piece.
Gary

[Roger Fisher]

Quick Qestion,

   Is it wrong to not use a Nosecap?  Personally I don't like to see them on a rifle, relizing they protect the wood at the business end.  I just don't like them.

                          Rich

Kinda odd that you dislike/hate those nose caps after all the old masters used them.....  Have a look at JWH post (with the young gal apprentices) on over the fence...
Photos there of a new built without a nose cap and with a distinct flare to that part.  Do you feel that is better looking than a well made piece with a well fitted nose cap I refer here to the rifle not the gal!

That rifle may have been made at Jacobsburg recently not certain.....

[jwh1947]

Yep, the caps are on lots of originals, and they were one of the first things to go when they streamlined and scaled down for economy in the later 19th century.  Yes, again, you can tell a store-bought cap using the 30-foot/MQR rule....that is, from across the room, under the influence of mass quantities of Rakija.  Actually I would prefer to see a bare front as opposed to a store-bought cap of any kind, as none that I have seen for sale are correct.  Learn to make your own.