Critique my TVM Grand

[Mike Brooks]

I'd like to know how old the young man who built the gun is before I would give it a serious critique. I would imagine even if young , considering where he's working he's probably built quite a few guns.

[smokinbuck]

19,
I won't comment on the rifle as a whole except to say it is a very nicely done piece. My comment is a question relating to the rear peep sight. I have several original, as well as contemporary, rifles with similar sights. How do you intend to adjust the elcevation, and keep it where you want it? On mine there is some sort of an adjustable post with a screw attachment running down to the tang or wrist.
Mark

[Number19]

...There is one question about the architecture that I have. I see a lot more of the barrel near the breach and far less near the muzzle. The exposed part of the side flat is purposefully tapered on the gun (and on the drawing). I have heard of builders doing this in the opposite direction but was curious about your choice here...

This was not my choice; I didn't dictate the design, beyond a few broad strokes of the brush.

The sketch is not mine; it comes from Shumway. The dimensions are the finished dimensions of the gunsmith's design and were not dictated by myself.

so how does it shoot?

I picked up my powder today. I still have to order patches, balls, the aperture...

[T*O*F]

The exposed part of the side flat is purposefully tapered on the gun (and on the drawing).

I doubt that it was done on purpose.  Rather, he located the touch hole in the center of the flat, and inlet the lock.  Then he fitted the aftermarket nose cap.  When truing the forestock up, the only way it could slant was toward the back.

[Number19]

The exposed part of the side flat is purposefully tapered on the gun (and on the drawing).

I doubt that it was done on purpose.  Rather, he located the touch hole in the center of the flat, and inlet the lock.  Then he fitted the aftermarket nose cap.  When truing the forestock up, the only way it could slant was toward the back.

An interesting observation. Yes, the touch hole is located in the center of the flat. But the upper edge of the forestock is not true and straight for its full length. At the entry thimble, the line begins to slope down somewhat and then appears to level out just a tad, not completely, about 7" from the end of the barrel

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

In my opinion that would be a serious and easily avoidable flaw, as is the apparent thickness of the web, causing it to look slab-sided to me.. I sure do like that Black Walnut though.  Ditch the nose cap, bring the stock down the side flat to just below 1/2 and then make a nose cap to fit.  Taking more wood off the bottom at this point is probably moot, but a good lesson learned for your next gun.  Hey I am a hobby builder and don't get everything right on my guns, but it is important that we learn, from guns like this as well as "nearly" perfectly done guns like Tom's Lehigh.

[Don Tripp]

Hey I am a hobby builder and don't get everything right on my guns, but it is important that we learn, from guns like this as well as "nearly" perfectly done guns like Tom's Lehigh.

That's a good point. An example of what NOT to do can be just as enlightening as an example that should be emulated. I used nose caps and side plates bought from a catalog on #s 2, 3 and 4 and it was aggravating trying to make the gun conform to those $2 parts.

I have a real appreciation for contemporary longrifles that are not necessarily HC. IMO a well done rifle in the Woodbury School is as good as it gets. I'm open to the Corinth School classification although theses rifle do not appeal to me the way that Woodbury rifles do. The TVMs are not offensive to my eye, they are better than the Italian stuff we used to see in the 70s. I wouldn't buy a rifle of the Corinth School any sooner than I would buy a Bedford rifle, they are just not my thing, but to each his own.

[hanshi]

Is that a swamped barrel or did I miss that point?

[JDK]

Is that a swamped barrel or did I miss that point?

Yes, swamped.....from OP on page #1:  Barrel: 42" Rice, Golden Age/York series, B weight.

But that really has nothing to do with the topic at hand.  The guys are discussing the fact that the wood is not a consistent height on the side flat from the breach to the muzzle because an inappropriate pre-made muzzle cap was used...it being too big thus dictating a higher profile of wood on the forend at the muzzle than at the vent.

Enjoy, J.D.

[Acer Saccharum]

Sometimes the wood height on the barrel has deliberate variation, from muzzle to breech.

Tom

[Acer Saccharum]

I am also having a hard time giving 'third party critique', since the builder didn't request the critique, but the owner did. This puts me and the builder in a funny position, in my opinion. So I won't critique this gun.

[Don Getz]

Walnut stock?   To me the wood looks more like "Claro", with those beautiful colors, not usually seen in black walnut...
Don

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

He said it was  a premium black walnut stock and it looks to me very much like a black walnut blank I bought from the NW. What exactly is" Claro" Don??

[Acer Saccharum]

Black walnut rootstock grafted to English walnut tree.

[westerner]

I dont know enough about long barreled flintlocks to critique your rifle.  What I like is the walnut stock, the rear sight which suits me since I cant see open sights anymore. 
If I wanted a long barreled flintlock I'd like to have one just like yours. 

Okay,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I want it,,, bad. 

       Joe.

[Number19]

Sometimes the wood height on the barrel has deliberate variation, from muzzle to breech.

Tom

Here's photos to show the forestock. You can see the angle changes just ahead of the entry thimble If I hold a ruler on the bottom edge line and measure the distance between it and the upper straight edge, it is a constant 1 1/4". In the second photo you can see how it all lines up at the lock. The blank came from GOBY Walnut & Western Hardwoods, Portland, Oregon.

[Number19]

19,
I won't comment on the rifle as a whole except to say it is a very nicely done piece. My comment is a question relating to the rear peep sight. I have several original, as well as contemporary, rifles with similar sights. How do you intend to adjust the elcevation, and keep it where you want it? On mine there is some sort of an adjustable post with a screw attachment running down to the tang or wrist.
Mark

The elevation is not meant to be adjustable once you initially sight in, which is done by filing the front sight. I've never done this before and intend taking my sweet time. I haven't made up my mind, but I'll probably find my load and sight adjustment for 100 yards, then decease the load for best groups at 50 and 25. These are the distances shot by my gun club. The front sight is fairly well centered on the flat and there is minor horizontal adjustment capability in loosening one or both bolts  of the aperture. I think if need be, you could place a very thin shim piece at the rear screw. But these are my thought for now and may change before now and then as I take input from the forums

[Kermit]

Black walnut rootstock grafted to English walnut tree.

Not so. "Claro" is juglans hindsii. Read here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_hindsii

You're thinking of Bastogne walnut, also called "Paradox," I believe.

[Don Getz]

Walnut?   In view of the fact that the stock blank came from Gary Gobi, I will stick with my "Claro", I know that he sells
this type of wood.  I was hoping Dave Rase or Ron Scott might chime in here, they are from the same neck of the woods
and are more familiar with this type of wood.   This is not running down the wood, it's beautiful stuff, and still is a type of
walnut.........Don

[Kermit]

Some stuff I've made from Gobi scraps left from large furniture jobs. A candle box and a chunk of waste I sold for a stock blank. Claro is pretty highly figured and great color. It can be pretty amazing. Works about like American black.

[Acer Saccharum]

From Wiki:

Some confusion exists about the nature of claro walnut because J. hindsii is commonly used as the rootstock of orchard trees. The section below the original graft is claro walnut wood, while the section above is the lighter-colored English walnut. Some woodworkers have even taken advantage of this by making the change in color of the wood a feature of their work.

My mistake. Claro is used as the rootstock for the Eng walnut.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

OK Juglens Nigra is Eastern Black walnut.   Claro = Western Black walnut as Goby describes here:

Our walnut lumber is known by many names: Black Walnut, Oregon Black Walnut, Claro Walnut, and Western Walnut. In reality, our Walnut is a hybrid of Juglans Nigra and Juglans Hindsii and is commonly referred to as “Claro Walnut”. All of our walnut lumber is salvage or hazard wood and is ECO friendly.  Goby Walnut specializes in Large Walnut Slabs, Walnut Gunstock Blanks , Instrument Wood/Music Wood and more.
http://www.gobywalnut.com/

[hanshi]

The stock, and I do love walnut, looks very much like the wood on my 30 year old Win M94 and the equal to the wood on my Rem .350 mag special edition, the best I've seen so far.  Just an observation since the subject of walnut came up.

[axelp]

I fell upon a bunch of scraps of Claro walnut--- none big enough for anything but knife scales and maybe some pistol grips and small turnings, but that wood is quite nice.
K

[Kermit]

Gobi is sort of correct. My grandfather grew walnuts in the Willamette Valley, and his trees were English walnut grafted ("top worked") onto claro trunks, about 6' above ground. Those old orchard trees, where they survive, were all claro below the branches. All the slabs I buy from Gobi are claro, start to finish. We did a dining table in claro that was a single slab 48" wide and 11' long, and 3" thick. Big tree. Big table.