I had a request to see the finished rifle that I had used the modified Davis Colonial lock on. I am struggling to refine a new photo booth . The full length aspects were particularly frustrating. This stock blank falls in the middle range of the forty plus Walnut blanks in my shop.
The Vienna Rifle that served as the model for the mounts was acquired in 2011. It served as the class theme for one of my NMLRA seminars. Castings are now available from Muzzle Loader Builder Supply.
There was a question about the breech. This version has a barrel with a 1.25 inch breech, tapering and flaring to a 1.0 inch muzzle, with a caliber of .62. Ed Rayl has the pattern in his file for anyone who is interested.
I added a photo at the end of the post that shows the original breech and lock. The original barrel is a repurposed Turkish Barrel with Ottoman Silver decoration, and a Germanic Breech Plug. The barrel dimension at the breech is !.50 inches. Not how carefully the lock panels were pared down and that the lock is located relatively low. Both features are characteristic of better German, Austrian and Czech, early flintlocks.
When you examine metal decoration of this original rifle, you get a introduction into the specialization of a European Craft. The barrel retains the oriental features of the Turkish Art, while having a period replacement breech. This breech has the most simple engraving on the rifle. It has no pretense of being mirrored right- left balance, is monotone is the depth and width of the graver cuts. The major mounts are cast, detailed and gold gilded. The butt plate is interesting, in that the finial is a casting, brazed at the heel to a forged vertical sheet, which in engraved by a better skilled artisan than the one who did the breech tang. The engraving on the lock is quite good and in a differing hand than the other pieces. Assuming that the rifle was likely stocked by one or more workman and the carving done by another, there were quite a group who contributed to the finished product. Frustratingly there is no signature anywhere on the rifle.
