Chambers Edward Marshall

[bob in the woods]

My summer building plans are now confirmed.I was successful in ordering a Chambers Edward Marshall kit
From what I can gather from photos, I should be able to take a fair amount of wood off the precarve.
I was originally going to order a NE fowler in cherry, but the barrels are way out there re delivery.
This Edward Marshall kit has intrigued me for a long while, so I'm really looking forward to it's arrival.
If anyone here has built one, I'd appreciate any hints, re possible pitfalls in the construction process,and photos are always welcome.

[Dennis Glazener]

I have not built an Edward Marshall but I did build a Chambers Early Lancaster and also a Dunlap Isaac Haines and one or two others that I forget who made them. Here is what I run into on most kits that drives me crazy!

The lock/tang/sideplate mortise is pre-inlet which many builder love, not me! I absolutely hate trying to center a lock plate (tang/sideplate) over a mortise that is about .010 inch too small for the plate. If you do not take the exact same amount of wood off the walls of the mortise the plate will not center in the mortise and you will have a small gap on one side (plate shifts). It is so easy to remove too much on one side and have the other side of the plate slip into the pre-cut mortise. When you finish the plate is not exactly centered in the mortise and there will be a small gap somewhere around the plate. I would rather inlet the entire lock by hand than to fit one into a slightly undersized mortise.

I have run into this problem with pre-inlet barrels and have the same headaches.

Of all the kits that I have built the Chambers kit were by far best laid out.

This is not a reflection on the kit maker, if the mortise is too large it could end up having a gap all the way around the lock plate.

I don't think you can get a better kit that the ones Chambers sells.
Dennis

[Waksupi]

Something I ran into, the barrel channel was inlet too wide, and I had to put a filler strip in full length.

[frogwalking]

I set a lock into a Chambers smooth rifle and it was slick.  Very little wood to remove and it was positioned just right. 

Just my .02 worth.

Frog

[wogden]

You can order a drawing/plan of the original rifle from Muzzleloader Builder's Supply, which will really help with the carving.

[volatpluvia]

Bob
I did the Marshal kit from Chambers 1996.  Yeah a while back.  I had no trouble at all assembling the kit.  My buddy who bought the kit for himself gave me the only trouble.  He would not let me remove any wood on the outside, just smooth it up and finish.  In order to make a nice slick firearm one needs to remove some wood all around.  Buuuut...he liked it that way, still has it.
volatpluvia

[omark]

i am building a TOTW jaeger right now.i cant move the barrel back enough to get the touchhole in the pan right. wish the lock hadnt been preinlet. oh well!!  mark

[Birddog6]

i am building a TOTW jaeger right now.i cant move the barrel back enough to get the touchhole in the pan right.

Why can't you move the barrel back ? Every precarved stock I have ever used I have moved the barrel back, and I have moved dozens of them back. You just cut it out & move it back.   

Keith Lisle

[bob in the woods]

I've built 2 of the NE Fowler kits, and have no issues with them at all. I just was wondering / looking for hints re this particular kit. Example...on the first Fowler, i inlet the trigger plate with the "ears" on it.
On the 2nd one, I filed them off, and liked  the look a lot better. Also, am considering putting a sling on this
so will have to look at an attachment to the guard, or the installation of a button behind it.

[omark]

i am building a TOTW jaeger right now.i cant move the barrel back enough to get the touchhole in the pan right.

Why can't you move the barrel back ? Every precarved stock I have ever used I have moved the barrel back, and I have moved dozens of them back. You just cut it out & move it back.   

Keith Lisle

being a swamped barrel, if it moves back, gaps start to open up along the barrel.   mark

[Birddog6]

That depends on the barrel channel & the barrel, on how close the fit is.  I have had some you move them back & you still had to take wood out of the barrel channel to get the barrel in.  That being said, I would still much rather fill in a gap along a barrel channel than have a vent going into the breechplug.      But that is me, each has to make up their own mind of how they want it.  

Keith Lisle

[Dave W]

Bob,

I built a Chamber Marshall rifle a few years and did NOT remove enough wood from the forend.  I ended up removing the finish from the whole stock and redoing the shaping of the forend.  If you look at the pics of the rifle on the Chambers sight, the forend is not much different from any of the other rifles.  My Marshall rifle feels much better now.

I think your intuition about taking wood off of the Marshall precarve is correct.  I have built three Dunlap Haines rifles, a TOTW Haines and the Marshall rifle, and in doing these rifles I learned that in order for them to feel right you should have the forends pretty darned slim.

Dave W

[t.caster]

I built the Chambers Marshall last year and posted pics & sold it on this site, so it may be archived.
I had to set the barrel deeper and farther back to get the touchole ahead of the breech where I like it and centered in the pan.  I don't really like to have the lock pre-inletted. Maybe Jim offers that option.
Must have spent 150 hrs. on it, but I tried to do the carving and engraving just like the original....most guys do there own style or don't carve it at all.
Anyway, when completed I swore off kits for awhile. Besides I think I've got a enough of nice blank stocks to last me a lifetime!

[J. Talbert]

I finished one of Chambers' EM Kits a year or so ago.  The only area I remember any concern with was the inlet for the buttplate finial.  The curves made me wish that I was starting from scratch, but I managed to get it in without too much problem.
I remember removing wood around the lock and wrist, but can't remember if did so on the forend.
Here's a few pics:

https://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t99/jtflintlock/Picsfrom4909277.jpg[/img]]
https://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t99/jtflintlock/Picsfrom4909286.jpg[/img]]
https://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t99/jtflintlock/Picsfrom4909275.jpg[/img]]
https://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t99/jtflintlock/Picsfrom4909282.jpg[/img]]
https://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t99/jtflintlock/Picsfrom4909284.jpg[/img]]

I tried to finish as close to the original I could, never having seen the original in person.
Jeff

[Joey R]

Very nice rifle, Jeff. I have a EM by Mike Miller and it is very slim up front.

[Jim Filipski]

i am building a TOTW jaeger right now.i cant move the barrel back enough to get the touchhole in the pan right. wish the lock hadnt been preinlet. oh well!!  mark

While this is not relevent to  posting in this topic:
Omark You must move the barrel back up to 1/4 inch on these kits. Words of experience - I built a bunch of them for reenactors so I know. Gaps are nothing to fret about from this treatment. When the gun is done and the upper forestock is thinned to the proper amount you will never see them!
Jim

[omark]

i am building a TOTW jaeger right now.i cant move the barrel back enough to get the touchhole in the pan right. wish the lock hadnt been preinlet. oh well!!  mark

While this is not relevent to  posting in this topic:
Omark You must move the barrel back up to 1/4 inch on these kits. Words of experience - I built a bunch of them for reenactors so I know. Gaps are nothing to fret about from this treatment. When the gun is done and the upper forestock is thinned to the proper amount you will never see them!
Jim

my biggest problem is not planning far enough ahead. i finish inletted the barrel first, then the tang, before i realized i should have checked alignment better. now i have the experience, too, jw . i have gone ahead and moved the barrel back a little and forced the lock as far forward as i could. i think i can squeeze a liner in there now. thanks, mark

[t.caster]

Bob, you axed for pics, so here is a link to my photobucket file on the Marshall rifle I built. I hope it is of some help.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa43/REXTHOMAS2/MARSHALL%20RIFLE%2009/

[bob in the woods]

Thank you for all the help. I really appreciate it. Very nice photos as well. Really nice work.