Percussions

[northmn]

For some inexplicable reason I have this desire to build my 33 in a percussion.  My swamped 40 barrel will make a better Lehigh gun anyway.  Looking at my growing collection I have plenty of flintlocks and my 25 will do about anything I want the 33 to do.  Percussion caps are getting spendy but I have a few left, and some of the later halfstocks kind of appeal to me.  I have a sister stock blank to a shotgun I built for kicks so I could use it.  I hope to not be ostracized for this urge.  With the older eyes a percussion with a peep sight is looking pretty good.  Just cannot accept building one with one of those off the arm buttplates.

DP

[Kermit]

I will confess to increasing consideration of an underhammer with peep sights. And a .33 sounds good--shooting those little buckshot. My .25 has me liking those wee balls by the box.

[frogwalking]

I am considering an Allen Forge underhammer action with .50 or .54 barrel and, yes, receiver sights.  The old guy who originally got me into muzzle loading in 1965 used to tell me to "make it anyway I wanted" as it was my rifle and one of the major benefits was that I could do exactly that.  Not PC.  I made the first coil spring lock, (a back action) that I had ever seen.  This was before TC came out with theirs.  I imagine someone is still shooting that rifle.  The tumbler was made out of a grade 8 bolt.  Hey.  It worked. 

[Harnic]

I too am planning a cap-buster soon.  I have shot flintlock on & off for 34 years & currently shoot a Track fullstock flint Hawken in 50 cal.  I plan to start a Track Kit Carson Hawken halfstock .58 cal. in the new year to have ready for next season.  I'll still shoot flint, but the allure of a cap smasher is too strong to avoid & having a companion piece for my cap & ball revolver is another motivator.  These weird urges are what keep us building, no?  

[bgf]

It is a little wrong that you need to worry.  Percussion is just as historically valid an ignition system for ML'ers as flint, more so for some types of rifles.  Have fun with it.  Half-stocks also are fine -- I believe they were once considered more desirable (and expensive) than full-stocks.  Nothing wrong with looking at some different periods of long rifle development.

If you haven't, please try somebody's off-the-shoulder stock, if you can find one that fits; you might like it a lot more than you think on a small caliber, and a half-stock percussion rifle with a 2" wide buttplate is going to be perhaps a little too "unique". 

[Bill of the 45th]

Even Dickert built a few of them, as did the Baum's, Bull's, and Bean's.  Go forth and sin no more, get it out of your system.

Bill

[Mike R]

Flintlock shooting has attained a cult status and many would have us believe that percussions are neither historic nor fun--balloney!  Many many of existing original longrifles were converted to percussion in their using life [now many are reconverted].  Some of our favorite rifles were mostly percussion originally--like the Hawkens and Bedford rifles.  The flint culters would also have us believe percussion shooters are somehow less skilled than flint shooters--balloney again!  My 6 flintlock longrifles are balanced by the following percussions: a .32 Tenn rifle, a .45 PA longrifle, a .50 Hawken and a .58 1841 Mississippi rifle.  My .45 is the most accurate rifle I own and the one rifle that I want to take with me when I die  ......

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

You may wish to consider building the new rifle as a conversion of a earlier gun where the buttplate, furniture, etc. were fully satisfactory. Lon

[Don Getz]

This is for Taylor, and some of the other boys up that way.   I have a "percussion" pistol to build for your old nemesis,
Ken Steinhauer.     I'm building it for Ken's wife, who, unfortunately has had a stroke.   Am not sure how severe it has been but I think she is still able to shoot.   Ken wants me to keep it light so she can handle it.   Joy, Joy, I just love to build pistols.....ha, ha, ha...........Don

[Roger Fisher]

Even Dickert built a few of them, as did the Baum's, Bull's, and Bean's.  Go forth and sin no more, get it out of your system.

Bill

Well, heck I shoot both 'styles' although I get heckled some about it.  I just smile and blame age and stay at it......

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Don, I first saw your percussion pistol up in Fort McMurray Alberta a few years ago.  That's the style that Ken likes, as he is a one hand pistol shooter, and a good one.  But I have to tell you, he rarely beats my PERCUSSION Hawken pistol in .60 cal.  He wanted to buy it from me but wouldn't meet my price.  I think he just wanted to get it out of the competition.

Hazel seems to be doing very well.  She was at Heffley this fall, and did just fine.  They are wonderful folks.  She'll be a contender with one of your pistols.

I have a couple of percussion arms as well, and they are very much fun to shoot.  And I have all the components to build myself another .62 cal Hawken.

[smylee grouch]

Its good to see that the Steinhauer's are still shooting, I competed against them a couple different times at the Western Canadian Championships and they were top notch shooters back then. 1990-91 I think.    Gary

[northmn]

But now the decisions.  There were Tennessee halfstocks and Pensylvania halfstocks.  Even could make a shorter barreled scaled down English gun (kind of thinking about it as I have a buttplate that could be somewhat altered.  Definitely will not have a 2" buttplate on a 3/4 inch barrel.  Mostly its a matter of the fact that I already have plenty of flintlocks.  Sometimes it is fun to play with something else.  Been eyeballing my old 50 half stock percussion for deer season this year.  Stock was made for shirt sleeve shooting so I may just cut the thing down and use no buttplate but an insert where the tang was.  It is NOT one I am going to show pictures of as it was made as an afterthought out of a lot of spare parts that a person accumulates from building.  Won a few prizes with it in its day though.

DP

[Leatherbelly]

This is for Taylor, and some of the other boys up that way.   I have a "percussion" pistol to build for your old nemesis,
Ken Steinhauer.     I'm building it for Ken's wife, who, unfortunately has had a stroke.   Am not sure how severe it has been but I think she is still able to shoot.   Ken wants me to keep it light so she can handle it.   Joy, Joy, I just love to build pistols.....ha, ha, ha...........Don

  Don,
    Hazel shoots her flinters better than most men. Hope she's all right. Seen her in late August. Sensed things were off. She's a grande Dame and a wonderful addition to our sport. A cap lock?...well ok.

[westerner]

Welcome to AmericanLongrifles.org

Mission Statement
The mission of AmericanLongrifles.org is to promote, preserve and support the traditional art and craft of building and using the American Longrifle. This would include accouterments and related arms of the period.

While the term American Longrifle may include a large and diverse group of firearms including those made for military and experimental reasons; the focus of the board is only those arms made primarily as sporting arms and utilizing a side lock ignition system.

Forum topics or discussions not in the spirit of the site's Mission Statement will be deleted or moved to an appropriate forum at the discretion of the moderators. We wish to keep forum discussions very close to the Mission Statement shown above.

American Longrifles is the more accurate term for the class of uniquely American firearms better known as Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifles.  While the focus of this site is the American long rifle in all its incarnations,  it is also a home for all those crafts persons preserving a bit of the past by building traditional muzzle loading sporting firearms and their accoutrements. The mission of AmericanLongrifles.com is to promote and support the art and craft of building historically accurate long rifles, related firearms, and accoutrements of the highest quality and artistic merit.   

Whether you are an apprentice or a master at your craft, AmericanLongrifles.com has something to offer.   The  Books & Videos, Gun Building, and Web Links,  pages of this site, offer the novice gun builder all the information and resources they need to get started building historically accurate long rifles.  The Bulletin Board offers advice, encouragement, and camaraderie to the novice and experienced builder alike.  It is our hope that each visitor gets as much from AmericanLongrifles.org as we  have gotten by providing the site.


Some key words in this welcome are (sporting) and (Sidelock)


                    Joe.

         

[Harnic]

Welcome to AmericanLongrifles.org

Mission Statement
The mission of AmericanLongrifles.org is to promote, preserve and support the traditional art and craft of building and using the American Longrifle. This would include accouterments and related arms of the period.

While the term American Longrifle may include a large and diverse group of firearms including those made for military and experimental reasons; the focus of the board is only those arms made primarily as sporting arms and utilizing a side lock ignition system.

Forum topics or discussions not in the spirit of the site's Mission Statement will be deleted or moved to an appropriate forum at the discretion of the moderators. We wish to keep forum discussions very close to the Mission Statement shown above.

American Longrifles is the more accurate term for the class of uniquely American firearms better known as Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifles.  While the focus of this site is the American long rifle in all its incarnations,  it is also a home for all those crafts persons preserving a bit of the past by building traditional muzzle loading sporting firearms and their accoutrements. The mission of AmericanLongrifles.com is to promote and support the art and craft of building historically accurate long rifles, related firearms, and accoutrements of the highest quality and artistic merit.  

Whether you are an apprentice or a master at your craft, AmericanLongrifles.com has something to offer.   The  Books & Videos, Gun Building, and Web Links,  pages of this site, offer the novice gun builder all the information and resources they need to get started building historically accurate long rifles.  The Bulletin Board offers advice, encouragement, and camaraderie to the novice and experienced builder alike.  It is our hope that each visitor gets as much from AmericanLongrifles.org as we  have gotten by providing the site.


Some key words in this welcome are (sporting) and (Sidelock)


                    Joe.

        

[Kermit]

Apologies. Didn't realize the underside was action-non-grata. Won't happen again--from me.

[Harnic]

Apologies. Didn't realize the underside was action-non-grata. Won't happen again--from me.

Danged purists!   I can see excluding inlines & scoped "muzzle-loaders, but the mule-eared & underhammer actions are as old as the percussion cap.  Give us a break!

[westerner]

Apologies. Didn't realize the underside was action-non-grata. Won't happen again--from me.

Danged purists!   I can see excluding inlines & scoped "muzzle-loaders, but the mule-eared & underhammer actions are as old as the percussion cap.  Give us a break!

                 

[Joe Stein]

"Some key words in this welcome are (sporting) and (Sidelock)"

The key word you left out is PRIMARILY:
"made primarily as sporting arms and utilizing a side lock ignition system."  Since there is no comma after "arms" the modifier "primarily" would apply to the whole of the following phrase.  The meaning of the phrase then is that other types of arms are not excluded.  Therefore, underhammers are acceptable topics of discussion.  

[westerner]

"Some key words in this welcome are (sporting) and (Sidelock)"

The key word you left out is PRIMARILY:
"made primarily as sporting arms and utilizing a side lock ignition system."  Since there is no comma after "arms" the modifier "primarily" would apply to the whole of the following phrase.  The meaning of the phrase then is that other types of arms are not excluded.  Therefore, underhammers are acceptable topics of discussion.  

I KNEW THAT!  Thats why I didnt list it as a key word, assuming everyone knew that.   

That also means that since rifle scopes have been in use since about the time percussion caps were invented, we can also talk about scoped sidelock and underhammer rifles.  Correct? 

             Joe.

[northmn]

Mission Statement
The mission of AmericanLongrifles.org is to promote, preserve and support the traditional art and craft of building and using the American Longrifle. This would include accouterments and related arms of the period.
While the term American Longrifle may include a large and diverse group of firearms including those made for military and experimental reasons; the focus of the board is only those arms made primarily as sporting arms and utilizing a side lock ignition system.
American Longrifles is the more accurate term for the class of uniquely American firearms better known as Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifles.  While the focus of this site is the American long rifle in all its incarnations,  it is also a home for all those crafts persons preserving a bit of the past by building traditional muzzle loading sporting firearms and their accoutrements. The mission of AmericanLongrifles.com is to promote and support the art and craft of building historically accurate long rifles, related firearms, and accoutrements of the highest quality and artistic merit.  
                         
[/quote]

Please note the other key words, related firearms.  However,  I visit this web site and enjoy it, but can claim no real ownership as to its subjects.

DP

[northmn]

I was rather tongue in cheek when I mentioned being ostracized about building a percussion rifle. I did know a few that would be what is classed as "snobs" on flintlocks.  One of the best shots I knew liked to shoot flintlocks but occasionally liked to pull out a percussion.  He was an old bachelor and owned several rifles and was down right deadly.  He had a percussion 36 that made you lose hope of winning if he pulled it out at closer ranges. 
Probably the biggest thing about percussions and history is that in a general sense they did not last long as the percussion ignition opened the doorway to cartridges.  Hansen in his Trade Rifle Sketch book mentioned that until the 1840's flintlocks were preferred for the Western trade.Flintlocks were said to be in use for 200 years while percussions lasted about 40 years depending upon reference.  Ken Guy or Dennis Glazener probably could date Tennessee rifles made in to percussion as sometime in the 1900's.  There were percussion rifles made in the 1870s that were trying to compete with cartridge guns.  A lot of what we do as interest is compared to a significant time in history such as the Western fur trade or Revolutionary war, such that our references are based on those periods only. 
Also there is an issue of what is "typical" of the times.  I read somewhere in a BPC magazine that about 20% of the buffalo runners had scoped rifles.  They were used by snipers in the Civil War.  I doubt that they were common among the Mountain men.  When I started shooting every one that was anyone had a Hawken.  It has been determined that only a few mountain men carried them.  In some ways the Hawkens became atypical at Rondys because of that.  There were underhammer flintlocks, and mule ear side locks.  How typical were they and when were they introduced??? We see some people getting wound up over sights on smoothbores and peep sights, so scopes
Also too many people let competition rules control their thinking.  I have a peep sight on my percussion hunting rifle so I can shoot the thing accurately.  Its nothing more than a thumbscrew, but it is a peep sight.  I built a smooth rifle, which I enjoy but could not compete with.  Yet rear sights of some form or another were a very common after market add on on Trade guns.  If one wants to build a scoped underhammer that is his business, but like my smooth rifle, I do not expect a lot of  interest from others in it.

DP

[chapmans]

 This is the style of butt plate I prefer on a half stock target rifle, shoot against the shoulder.
  Regards, Steve Chapman

[Harnic]

That's a fine looking rifle Steve!  I bet even I could see well through those sights!