Christian's Spring rifle inspired by RCA #43- Photos Fixed

[David Rase]

Bama,

Thanks for the positive feedback.  I plan to follow your retirement example to the "T"!  Only difference is I just have to walk 35 yards across the driveway to get to the shop.  Almost like heaven on earth....

Curtis

Your project is looking good, can't wait to see the progress.  Shaping the stock from a blank slab of wood and finding a rifle in it is my favorite part of the build.

Nothing wrong with retirement.  Like so many of us, it is really a change in careers in lieu of retirement.  I am into my second year of retirement and am just now getting a handle on how to balance work in the shop with "honey do's"    I love the 10 yard walk to get to my own little piece of heaven on earth, but what I really like is seeing how many days in a row I can go without leaving my property.  Definitely don't miss the driving back and forth to work rat race.
 
David       

[Bob Roller]

The score was rats 20, me 0. Paul Harvey was asked by Larry King if he was going to retire and
Mr.Harvey's answer was "NO,that is just practicing to be dead". That is also my assessment of
the idea.Sitting in front of the TV and watching the crack in the wall plaster get longer is not my
idea of fun.Having no schedule IS.

Bob Roller

[homerifle]

Curtis, Only two more weeks until my retirement. Looking forward to spending some quality time with #43 in my shop, just fifty yards away!

[Curtis]

How is the retirement going for you Homerifle?  Missing that pesky job yet?

Well I have started back to work on the #43 inspired rifle.  I got my thimbles rolled up and filed out, and just barely got started on inletting the entry thimble.  The thimbles are graduated in diameter and length.









I was having my usual difficult time avoiding damage to the decorative ends of the pipes, and got an idea to wrap some small gauge wire tightly around the thimble in the innermost grooves, to act as a guard and help me to "file between the lines".  I found the confidence gained probably at least tripled the speed in which I was able to file my flats.  After the wire was removed there was a tiny nib left on some flats that was easily removed with a few strokes of a file.  I don't recall seeing this idea posted anywhere so if someone has come up with something similar in the past please speak up and set me straight!  The guide wire saved me a bunch of time and stress, your mileage may vary!  Here are a couple of close-up pics: 





Thanks for looking! 

Curtis

[FALout]

Pretty good idea on using the wire.

[SingleMalt]

Nice work on the pipes!  I've never tried making them.  I've always used the "blank" pipes from Track.  What thickness of brass are you using?  Do you have a form for the entry pipe to rough form the skirt?

[Ed Wenger]

Lookin' good, Curtis!  Nice idea with the wire as well!


         Ed

[Chowmi]

Nice work Curtis,
Those thimbles look great, and what a good idea about the wire.

Cheers,
Norm

[BOB HILL]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.........Bob

[homerifle]

Curtis, I'm not missing my old job at all and I don't think I will.

Your thimbles are looking good. Nice idea using the wire.

[SR James]

Curtis: You'll like it. I retired at the first of the year. I just build for me but it's nice to have more time for it and for going to the range.  BTW Curtis, I grew up in Eldon.

[Curtis]

Thanks for the comments guys!  I hope the wire idea works well for anyone who gives it a try.  It's easy enough to remove if you find you're not like'n it!

Singlemalt, I have used forty thousanths brass for thimbles in the past, but I used fifty thousanths on these as per Jack Brooks recommendation, and am glad I did.  It gives a little extra metal to work with and I think the heavier gauge brass  looks better on this big bore early rifle.  I have a form for the entry pipe, but didn't use it much on this one.  I made a rounded face punch, and also used the ball end of a smaller ball peen hammer against a lead block to form the swell in the skirt.  I annealed the brass several times during the process.  I find it helps to pound a smooth recess into the lead block with a ball peen hammer before forging the swell in the skirt.  Hope that makes sense to you.  I didn't take any pics of those steps or I would post them for you.

SR James, I'm a transplant here in Eldon, moved here onto 40 acres near the Saline Valley wildlife area about 10 years ago.  We really like it here!

Curtis

[Elnathan]

RCA 43 is one of my favorite rifles, and I'm glad to see someone reproducing it. What are you going to do with the patchbox?The original is probably a replacement off an English trade rifle...

[Curtis]

RCA 43 is one of my favorite rifles, and I'm glad to see someone reproducing it. What are you going to do with the patchbox?The original is probably a replacement off an English trade rifle...

Elnathan,

There are conflicting opinions on the pacthbox, however regardless I feel this rifle warrants a nice wooden box lid.

: )

Curtis

[blienemann]

I have been fortunate to handle this rifle.  Also fortunate to know the owner and Jack Brooks as friends - they have built several bench copies.  We do not see any indication of any sort of prior box.  So I don't think it is a replacement - but yes, it could have been added later.

The box and release are very simple, and very similar all the way to 1830 J J Henry "Old English pattern" or scroll guard trade rifles.  These English trade rifles beginning ca 1780's were copies of American rifles, and some had a brass box.  I've not seen an English example with an "early" brass box.  Some a bit later had English renditions of the daisy box.  The Natives became familiar with these stout "earlier" rifles, and the fur trade companies asked American makers to copy a 50 year old style!  Full circle for the rifles - not sure about this very simple approach to a box?

I think Wallace and prior owners of #42 have similarly noted no indication of an earlier box - or at least no indication of a wood box lid.  We are used to seeing wood boxes on early rifles - but these very simple solutions could have been early, simple designs?  We also like to think of patchboxes as a new idea here, but there are side opening, raised lid brass boxes on German rifles from ca 1750.  A comprehensive study of patchboxes in Europe, Great Britain and here would be welcome.

[Curtis]

Many thanks for your comments concerning the patchbox, Bob!  You are a treasure trove of information!

I have been out of town for a few days, but am back home and got to spend some time in the shop the past couple of days. I finished in-letting my ramrod thimbles, manufactured a side plate and got it on the rifle.  Here are a few photos....

The side plate sketched on the side panel:



After getting close to what I wanted, I made a tracing using transparent film:



I cut out the tracing, taped it to some 1/8" brass stock, and traced around the cutout onto the brass:



I then sawed it out using a hacksaw and a jeweler's saw:



Then started the cleanup with a file.  I just know there is a sideplate hiding in there just waiting to get come out!



Now starting some detail work on the plate.  My sketched on lines are just used as reference to help me out, not hard and fast guide lines.





All done!  Well, except for filing a slight bevel on the bottom edge and then inletting it on the rifle.





Scribing, stamping in the outline and inletting:









Finally in place!



Thanks for looking!

Curtis

[davebozell]

Nicely done!  I have couple side plates that I need to remake.  I think I'll try your method.

[Hemo]

Nice believable plate and good filework, Curtis!

Gregg

[Curtis]

Thanks Dave,  I hope the method works well for you.  This was the first time I have done it like this and I will likely do it again. 

And thanks for your comments too, Gregg!

Curtis
 

[Curtis]

Now it is time to atone for some past transgressions....  I used a "generic" Christian's Spring buttplate for this rifle that I picked up a couple of years ago.  The comb of the plate had no wedding band and had three flats, and I believe #43 has five flats on the finial.  Also I had filed a wedding band on the plate before I saw pictures of #43, a practice I cannot recommend!   I had filed the wedding band with an "outtie" or convex band, #43 has an "innie" or concave band.  So I modified it to be a concave band.  I can't say if it looks any better or not, but at least it squelched that inner voice that kept saying in my head "everything else on the rifle follows the 'innie' theme, so the buttplate finial should as well!"  I have a little cleanup of casting pits yet to do, however I will hold off until later as I know I am likely to accumulate a few other dings in the building process.

Here are the before and after photos, starting with my 5 sketched on flats:



Making the wedding band convex:



Finished!





Thanks for looking,
Curtis

[Joe S.]

coming together real nice.

[pushboater]

Beautiful work Curtis, and lots of great ideas.

[PPatch]

Curtis;

Your post ought to make a nice entry for the tutorial section. Looking good, I like that trick with the wire on the thimbles, nice work on the butt plate return and flats also.

I retired five years ago and believe me I haven't looked back and don't miss a thing about commercial art and meeting deadlines.

dave

[helwood]

Curtis  are you going to bring your rifle to Bowling Green this year I'd love to see it .  Looks really good and all your efforts making your on parts are great.      Hank

[Curtis]

Thanks guys!  Hank, always good to hear from you.  If I still have the rifle in my possession next spring I will certainly bring it with me to Bowling Green.  At the rate I go it may not even be finished by then!

Now I am going to spend some time refining the stock shape.  First I will shape the nose area closer to it's final shape.  I sketched on the cut lines, then cut it down with my new, $1 #49 Nicholson rasp.  It's not nice to brag, but sometimes you gotta boast.  Earlier this week I picked up two nearly pristine #49 rasps at an antique shop for a buck apiece! Here are a couple of pics:





Guidelines are great but sooner or later you have to just use your eyeballs to refine a shape.  Using a raking light source has been mentioned on this forum many a times, but it cannot be overstated.  If you move the light source the imperfections will show in the shadows, allowing you to rectify the situation.





My lock panels were previously just roughed in, now that the sideplate is installed I can refine them a bit.  I use a rasp for at least 90% of the lock panel shaping, then clean up with a half round file and scrapers.  To quote Bob Lienemann from an article he wrote for the  American Tradition, ".... Lock panels are close around the lock, and there is no extra wood anywhere."















This is as far as I will go on the front of the panels for now.  Before I can finish shaping the bottom of the panels I need to install my trigger and at least locate the trigger guard.  Naturally, before I install the trigger I will have to make both it and a trigger plate.

Here I am cutting out a trigger blank and then cold forging the trigger shoe.  There is an excellent tutorial for forging triggers by Eric von Aschwege in the tutorial section for those who have never made one.







Now to start cutting it to shape a bit, here is my sketch up:



That's it for now, the dinner bell rang and I ran out of time.  I should be back in the shop later this week and will continue to persevere.....

Curtis