Question about Berks Co. patchbox

[Gary Tucker]

I am in the planning stages of a Berks Co. rifle, circa 1800, and noticed that many of the catches in the patchbox lids have a double stud that you can see from the outside.  Does anyone have a picture or info on what the catch looks like underneath?  Didn't know if it was anything weird or just pretty straightforward.
Thanks
Gary Tucker

[flehto]

Read where 2 dias were used for one catch...evidently to prevent  rotation. ....Fred

[Hemo]

Hey, Gary,
I just finished a Berks Co. circa 1800 rifle earlier this year. As you said, Berks guns often have double studs on the patchbox catch, and I put one on mine. (Also double pins through all the ramrod pipes, another Berks County quirk.) Anyway, here are some pics of the build in progress:[][g]
...and a couple of the final product:][]

I realize the mechanism of the catch is a little out of focus, but basically I just cut out the catch from a piece of steel, drilled two 1/16" holes in the base, put two pieces of 1/16" rod into each, soldered them and cut them off. Then I drilled corresponding 1/16" holes in the patchbox lid, put the two rods through the holes, clamped, sweat soldered, peened, and filed everything flush. Pretty straightforward, although I guess I could have gotten into trouble if I'd drilled the lid holes off kilter.

Here's a picture of an original Bonewitz for comparison:
[][/img]

Good luck and enjoy!

Gregg

[Gary Tucker]

Thanks guys.  That is pretty much what I figured but didn't want to make a wrong guess.  Hemo, that's a nice looking rifle you built there.  Hope mine turns out as well.  It will be my first Berks Co.  Thanks for the heads up about the double pins through the pipes.  Little things like that make a big difference.  Thanks again for the photos.

[Hemo]

You're welcome, Gary.  I enjoyed doing the research on those little details and recreating them. I posted more pictures of that rifle back in June of this year on this forum. If you want to see more pics of that gun, you could do a search for subject:Berks, author:Hemo.