I detailed the muzzle like the original. Using a coning tool, I cut the lands back about 1/2". Then I used a 1/8" wide triangular needle file to cut the grooves deeper. The tip of the file is covered with duct tape to prevent scratching the bore. Took about 10 minutes to file.
A patched ball sits into the end of the bore, but Kevin will cone it a little more. Doc White (GRRW) told me at his shoot Saturday that the grooves should be filed deeper. The grooves of this Oregon Barrel Company barrel are about twice as wide as the original Bridger barrel. This is a seven-groove barrel like the original and GRRW's, I think this a 1-60 twist. A good barrel! (We later poured a pewter tip on the ramrod, like the original).
The rear sights on the right (my rifle) are Track's Jim Bridger #RS-KC-18. I bought mine in 2013 and Kevin's recent purchase sits on top of the barrel behind mine. It is about .010 less tall than mine, same stock number. I fitted it into Kevin's barrel and the notch level was .170 above the barrel, compared to .335 on the original and .320 on my copy. Bridger's front sight (silver blade and base) is .20 tall (broken off at the rear of the dovetail) and mine is .255, the rear sight notch being .135 higher than the front for Bridger and .065 higher for mine. I see the front sight flush with the top of the rear notch at zero range. I would have had to cut Kevin's front sight down to .105 for zero, which I would not do. There is no other correct sight I know of, so I sawed out of steel and filed a larger rear sight. It worked to zero after we filed this front sight about .050 lower, to about .227, not measured.
My Bridger copy at top and Kevin's below. My GRRW barrel is shorter, but it is what I had to work with. He decided against color case hardening of the furniture, so I heat-blued those parts, including the breech plug and tang. I browned the barrel with seven coats of Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown and Degreaser, which I like, then immersed it in boiling distilled water for seven minutes. This did not turn the color to blue except in a few streaks. Kevin can do repeats of this and perhaps get it blue like the Kit Carson barrel, which he has handled and likes. I had about 175 hours in building this rifle, a lot of time spent in correcting parts.
The high blue color get steel-wooled to be almost white. I left the nose cap (originally silver plated), entry pipe, keys, escutcheons, buttplate and toe plate white. I partially blued the trigger guard and trigger plate. I pinned the buttplate and toeplate together at the base like the original.
Forends. The nose caps are from Muzzleloder Builder's Supply, being longer than Track's and correct, and the entry pipes are Track's #RP-Hawk-TE-7-I, not the one in their parts set.
Barrels. The ram rods are 1/2 inch hickory. Whittling that out to size and enlarging the 7/16" drilled ram rod hole to about .450 took me more time than any other part of this build.
Left sides. Kevin can wear down that lock panel. The original has saddle pommel wear between the escutcheons, but I did not observe that closely enough to copy it.
Track's Bridger stock on top, mine made from a blank below. Notice the difference in the upsweep of the cheekpiece line. Photos of the original Bridger and my rifle are on this forum, which you can look up and see the original construction.
I tweaked the color and contrast in my photo copying, thus differences in color from photo to photo. Notice the TOW cheek piece is moved to the rear to make a longer trigger reach. This also shortened the comb by 1/2 inch.
Kevin and Judy sighting in at my third bench rest, partially destroyed by others, with the improvised seat too high for comfort. He used 50 grains of Goex 3F and .015 Track of the Wolf round patches (Eastern Maine?) I think the patches crush-miked to about .008, but they worked though some holed. We then used JoAnn drill (.015 crushes to .010) which worked well and did not hole. The last few shots were with this.
We filed the front sight down to bring the zero up, and had to tap the rear sight to move the impact about 1/2 inch to the right. This is a good barrel! We shot 60 grains and this impacted about at point of aim. Kevin's shot was the right hand one on the black bar below, holding level with the top of the bar. Then I shot, holding level with the bottom and hit at point of aim (after this photo). We were too burned out to shoot anymore. I had finished this rifle at 10:30 the night before, and we still did a few things this day.
It took the first three shots for Kevin to get used to the bench and rifle, then he tapped the rear sight over to get centered to the side. He can shoot! (But that is my bullet hole added to the top hole. I should have held lower....).
Kevin and Judy and Gus. They are happy campers! Maybe the fresh buffalo burger from the Ute Tribe store I cooked and the huckleberry wine helped us mellow out!
