Barrel weight and total weight of the finished gun

[Elnathan]

How much, as  a ballpark figure, does the lock, stock, and furniture of a longrifle weigh? Cross referencing the weights of Chamber's kits with Rice's barrel weights gives me 3 1/4 to a little over 3 1/2 pounds.* Anyone have other figures?

I ask because I just calculated the volume of the metal in an original barrel to use as a baseline for scaling it down, and I got a figure that translates to roughly 6 pounds 9-10 ounces. Since was told that a near-exact copy of the original rifle ran to over 12 pounds total, this is puzzling. I would have thought that the total weight for that barrel weight would run around 10 pounds...


*3lbs 5oz for the York; 3lbs 4oz for the I. Haines, and 3lbs 10oz for the Marshall rifle. If you want to check my work, note that Rice has their barrel weights in pounds and ounces, whereas Jim Chambers uses fractions of a pound.

Addendum: Discovered a mistake(s) in my math. When corrected, the weight of the original barrel is a little over 7 pounds, which makes more sense. Still about a pound and a half short...

[smylee grouch]

The density of the wood would have a large effect on overall weight and the style of gun.

[thecapgunkid]

Hollow out the base of the stock and load it up with cork under the buttplate.  Make sure the Umpire doesn't see it, though....

[Hungry Horse]

I second the wood density comment. I bought a stock blank off this forum that is a beautiful piece of quilted maple. It is the hardest piece of maple I have ever encountered. It also is the heaviest piece of maple I have seen. I would suspect the weight difference between a gun made from this wood, and a comparable piece of walnut, would be substantial.

  Hungry Horse

[n stephenson]

I agree with everyone on the density of the wood. I have a piece of super dense curly Maple that feels like it ways a ton.  When you tap on it with something it almost has a ring to it compared to more of a thud on softer piece.

[Elnathan]

I sort of took it for granted that wood density would play a role, which is why I was looking for ballpark figures and additional data...Wood density may vary a lot, but I find it hard to believe that one stock sans barrel might weigh 3 1/2 pounds and another identical stock five pounds plus. Once you deduct the weight of lock and furniture, you are looking at what, 100% difference in wood weight there?

The gun in question was stocked in walnut, btw, with a 2x5" buttplate. Big, but not as chunky as the Marshall Rifle.

What I was hoping for was responses to the effect of "this gun of this style weighs this much with this barrel upon it."

[n stephenson]

Elnathan , I wouldn't think it was out of the question for two same sized blanks to have a big difference in weight. Density plays a huge  role , look at a lead ball compared to an aluminum ball of equal size. I understand kind of what your looking for but it may be hard to answer. There are so many variables on a longrifle build it would be hard to ever get %s . Just look at all the weight differences in barrels alone. Buttplates go from very light to very heavy and everything in between . I just think it would be a very exhausting process to figure out all of this out , and then what would you do with it , just a thought. Most original rifles had much heavier barrels  than most modern barrel profiles. Most modern shooters would go crazy if you built them a rifle as heavy as most originals, part of the  trend of weakening  down of modern  man.

[Joe S]

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/differences-between-hard-maple-and-soft-maple/

Sugar Maple   average 44   range 39.6-48.4
Red Maple      average 38   range 34.2-41.8

units are pounds per cubic foot

~ 22% range for both species, so less than a pound variation in typical stocks.

[rich pierce]

Real gun data.  Did not empty tools and flints and tow and such out of the patchboxes.

My .45 offhand flint longrifle, 42" tapered barrel 15/16" to 13/16"
Total weight 9.6 pounds
Barrel weight 5.6 pounds
Everything but the barrel 4.0 pounds
It's got a long tall buttstock and sturdy brass patchbox and could maybe have been made a little slimmer. First build.

My .58 early wooden patchbox rifle
38" D weight barrel (big hole though)
Total weight 8.38 pounds
Barrel weight 4.96 pounds
Everything but the barrel 3.42 pounds.
This one also has a tall wide buttplate.

I think your gun will weigh 3-4 pounds more than the barrel depending on many factors. Furniture, slimness, single or double set triggers, wooden or brass box or none, etc. 

[Bob Roller]

I don't know about the weight of full stock rifles but the English long range
rifles have most of their weight in the barrel. The stock with lock,butt plate,
trigger and guard assembly are surprisingly light.This is addressing original
rifles that were restricted to 10 pound weight limits to be eligible to enter
into competition.

Bob Roller

[Joe S]

Real gun data.

Rich, you're taking all the fun out of speculating.

[rich pierce]

Real gun data.

Rich, you're taking all the fun out of speculating.

Plus it's more work disassembling and weighing guns!  Thankfully I have an electronic scale for weighing fish.

[Elnathan]

Thank you gentlemen. I was out of town for a couple days and could read but not reply.

Rich, thanks for disassembling and weighing your rifles for me!

Nate,

I've noticed the difference between original and modern weights as well.