My Smoooootttthhhh Rifle

[Hawken62_flint]

OK, I wasn't going to post any pictures of this smooth rifle that I built and finished last November, but I saw a Bucks County smooth rifle built by Eric Kettenberg on the CLA site for sale and it reminded me a lot of my rifle, although I am not in the same league or even ball park as Eric.  Anyway, I decided to post these and please let me have it with both barrels.  Let me start by saying that no matter how bad this rifle might be, I am in love with it.  It shoulders great and so far, with shot and ball, I have been pleasantly surprised.  I even took it turkey hunting this spring, but no gobblers walked in front of the muzzle.  I started this rifle with a stock I picked up for reasonable with a right hand cheek piece, which I did away with, and an Ed Rayl .50 smooth barrel, straight ocatgon (7/8") that a friend gave to me.  He had shot it on a rifle and didn't like the way it loaded or shot.  He is a rightie and I am a lefty, so had to cut it off about an inch and rebreach it (thanks Ed Cain) to be able to move the touchhole from right to left.  I had the L & R round faced English lock, which I bought from a nice fellow from NC here on the forum.  I had the trigger guard and side plate.  The butt plate came with the stock.  I made the thimbles from sheet brass and my buddy Steve made the trigger and bar for me.  My friend, John, did all the engraving.  All else was done by me.  The touch hole is direct drilled and coned on the outside, and so far has given great ignition.  So here she is and open for your comments.

[Acer Saccharum]

First of all, congrats on a successful build. Secondly, you did a great job re-purposing parts, making a leftie from a rightie stock.

There are several things that stand out to me that you could have done differently.
One is that the front extension of the guard should be inlet into the wood so that only the facets are above the wood.
Second, there is a flat area ahead of the guard, and that should be gently rounded. There should be no flat spot at all here.
Third, the panels around the lock are bigger than I like to see. The opposite side from the lock has the same issue.

One thing that really helps so much is to visit a builder or a gun shop that carries other muzzleloaders, and look at how the items above are handled.

I live in a muzzleloader vacuum in upstate NY, and hadn't seen a decent muzzleloader, much less originals, until I had gone to Dixon's Gunmaker's Fair. That has been, and continues to be, an eye-opening experience for me.

All in all, this is a good rifle, one that you can be proud of. I like your creativity and your 'can do' attitude. Thank you for posting!

Tom

[Hawken62_flint]

Tom, thanks for your comments.  My friend, John, who did the engraving also told me that the stock was too flat in front of the trigger guard.  And for whatever reason, I always have trouble with slimming down the lock panels.  I suppose if I cut them down, then I could get the stock more rounded where it needs to be.  On my latest build, I did get the guard inlet deeper into the stock.  I am definitely learning as I go, but will never be as good as you and some of the others on the forum.  I appreciate your critique, as I value your opinion.  Thanks again.

[Acer Saccharum]

I'm glad you have someone nearby who can look over your shoulder now and again.

I always look at my work, each and every gun, as my best gun I ever made. I always try so very hard, and then feel crushed when I learn I didn't do something 'right'. I feel crushed, then I pout and gripe, then angry, and eventually come to be able to understand that the criticism was really helpful.

You might have an easier time with criticism than I do. 

Speaking from personal experience, I find it oh, so helpful to get criticism DURING the build. You can tweak the contours, remove more wood, etc. It's far better to make adjustments before the finishing stages, when you're really committed. For your rifle pictured above, I'd leave it as is, and make corrections on your NEXT gun.

For you WILL be making another one. You have the abilities it takes to do this, and have the momentum. Keep up the good work.

Tom

[rich pierce]

I love the color and finish.  Inletting looks superb also.  You've got the skills to do very high quality work. Believe me, many aspiring builders would love to be able to have your inletting and finishing skills.  Hard to judge when not in hand but the fore end looks nicely rounded from here.

The lock panels and the breech area are where you can get the most improvement on your next build. They a a little clunky. I don't know when and where you were first exposed to muzzleloaders, but we all tend to ignore that we've been influenced, unknowingly, if we spent years with factory guns that were mis-shapen.  Somehow it's hard to shed those exposures, and fat lock panels, well rounded rather than elliptical at the front, and a hard-nosed comb can sometimes be traced to TC Hawken rifles and the like.  It can be a very hard concept to shape the wood beside the tang to slope in a way that reflects the angled flats of the barrel.  But study some originals and you'll see that there is very little wood "standing" where the lock panels meet the barrel right at the breech.  This can and should also impact your shaping of the wrist.

Another area tough to get at first is the smooth transition from the lower part of the wrist through the area beside the trigger and guard. Here I let tools help me lately.  I use a spokeshave and this helps make the transition flow.  In general now I find that the tools I use either help or impede flow.  If I use planing tools such as planes or spokeshaves, I get flow.  If I depend on curved rasps to shape an area rather than finalize an area, I am likely to get clunky transitions.  Because a rasp can dig in whereas a plane or spokeshave rides the surface like a sleigh.  To create an abrupt transition with a planing tool is hard work and must be intentional.  Never happens without intent.

If I'm not piling on here I'd offer that your 2 sides of the buttstock don't look the same.  Often this is the light of photography.  But on the lock side, there's a hint of a line or ridge that goes all the way to the corner of the buttplate.  I'd probably have feathered that out a little more.

Don't get me wrong, you've done an interesting build and that doesn't happen every day.

[smallpatch]

Nice effort for a first build. Wish my first had gone so well.  However, as ugly as my first one was, it's still out there shooting like a champ.
I wholeheartedly agree with what Acer has said, with only one thing to add........take off more wood next time.......everywhere. Like my dear mentor has said........take off wood till you're scared, then take off a little more.
Like Acer said.....when you get to finally hold an original, you will be amazed at how skinny, they are.

[Pete G.]

I cannot add much to what is already said except that if you will continue the flat plane of the oblique flats on the barrel rearward into the wood behind the barrel it will help a lot with slimming the lock panels.

Great job on a first build. Shoot it a while and then start planning the next one. There will be more.

[Stuartg]

Hats off for taking a righty stock and using it for a south paw - pretty creative!

[Algae]

I wish my first rifle looked that good! Very nice work!
Al J.

[Hawken62_flint]

Thanks everybody for the comments---all are helpful as I go along.  Not sure how the misconception that this was my first rifle came into play, but this is not my first, but my 4th rifle and I built 3 pistols before I started my first rifle.  My second rifle is for sale here on the forum by bads1buell---it is a poorboy that I built last year also.  Rich, I don't believe that there is a line on the lock side, I believe it to be my bad photography, but I am going to pull the rifle out tonight and look at it.  That is the side that I had to take the cheekpiece off of to make it into a left hand stock, and I may not have gotten it exactly like the other side.  Lots of things show up after the stain goes on and then more show up in the pictures or so it seems.  Thanks again to all.

[Acer Saccharum]

As you know, photography can be really tricky. Guns are one of the hardest things to photograph because of their size, surfaces, and lighting difficulties. Add to those difficulties the camera itself, and you have a very complex problem of conveying the true shape and surface of your gun.

This is why on-line critique can be very difficult. A small issue may look huge simply because of the lighting. Or a huge problem can be missed because of the angle of the shot.

Critique while the gun is still in the white is best, because you can make changes very easily. Once a gun is finished, forget about re-working it. Critique can only serve at this point as mental notes for the next gun. Critique of gun stock shape after it's finished is not as effective as critique in the earlier stages.

This applies to everyone who builds guns, everyone who gives critique. It's a tricky business. And addicting.

[DaveP (UK)]

It possibly doesn't mean much, coming from someone as untutored as I am, but there's something quite pleasing about this gun. Even after having my attention drawn to some imperfections, it still comes across as a serious everyday sort of gun, built to shoot rather than to talk about. And it fits you as well... I'm jealous!
Since you invited comment, the feature that caught my attention was the side plate panel. The side plate itself isn't well centred on the lock bolts, which I imagine you will have noticed for yourself, and I think there is something a bit "off" about the alignment of the plate and the edges of the panel, which you might not have picked up on. If it was mine I'd just tell any enquirers "Its all handmade, you know...."

You got some good advice here:

Here I let tools help me lately.  I use a spokeshave and this helps make the transition flow.  In general now I find that the tools I use either help or impede flow.  If I use planing tools such as planes or spokeshaves, I get flow.  If I depend on curved rasps to shape an area rather than finalize an area, I am likely to get clunky transitions.  Because a rasp can dig in whereas a plane or spokeshave rides the surface like a sleigh.  To create an abrupt transition with a planing tool is hard work and must be intentional.  Never happens without intent.

There's an important and often overlooked point  in there.