Rook rifle

[B.Habermehl]

Seeing the post about the cape gun, has rekindled my interest/crazy idea of building a muzzloading late flintlock British style Rook rifle. About 36 caliber for squirrels. With my limited skill set it would have to be a gamekeepers gun or such. Certainly not a best grade gun. Is there any examples extant? BJH

[Daryl]

"The rook rifle was developed in 1883 by the gun-makers Holland & Holland as a breech-loading equivalent of the muzzle-loading pea rifle. ... Holland & Holland .."

I would suggest there were not flintlock "Rook Rifles", as H&H coined the phrase as an early, small game breech loading rifles.

Taylor, however, has a small calibre cap-lock English made small game rifle in .36. We've both shot snowshoe hares with it.

Perhaps he has some pictures of it??

[Bob Roller]

Over the years,I made about 8 high end 4 screw locks for rook or boys rifles.
I had one started for a grandson and a couple of low life thieves  broke into
the shop and took it but minus the lock.There is NO reason such a design/profile
can NOT be made now.I think the late Tom Dawson was one of the if not THE first
to make rifles that had the dings,dents and cracks of the one being copied but it
is doubtful if that idea is mandatory,
Bob Roller

[smart dog]

Hi BJ,
Yes, there are some nice small caliber British flintlock rifles.  Reading Neal and Back, it seems they were rare but they show a fine version by John Probin made in the 1780s.  It has a nice tapered round barrel with a wedding band.  The barrel has a flat sighting plane on top ending at the wedding band.  Probably a small octagon to round barrel would be a good substitute.  Flat-faced lock of 1770s-1780s design, perhaps you could work over an L&R Durs Egg.  Full walnut stock with steel mounts.  Steel rifle trigger guard with typical grip handle.  The Probin also has a standing breech and nice wooden patch box lid.  It looks like a typical English sporting rifle from that time but scaled down in size a little bit owing to the smaller caliber, which was 0.20".

dave   

[B.Habermehl]

Daryl, I figured it would be something of a fantasy gun as I have only seen pictures of cartridge era guns. I just have had a yen for a small caliber British style gun. Half stock and light. BJH

[B.Habermehl]

Dave I guess I might have been better off consulting with you on this crazy idea. You have studied  British work as extensively as any one I’ve met.

[smylee grouch]

Good topic. Smart Dog, what does a " typical grip handle " mean? A typical steel grip rail on the trigger guard or a grip fashioned from the wood of the grip area of the stock.

[smart dog]

Hi Smylee,
The usual steel grip handle.  On the rifle in question it does not have a complete oval scroll at the tail like a Hawken rifle.  It is open and ends in a half scroll kind of like a long rifle.

dave

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I bought this little rifle in 1974 in a gun shop in Vancouver, BC for $40,,,it was missing its hammer and ramrod.  When I got it home, I discovered it was .38 cal. and had a load still in the bore, which was in horrific shape with rust and neglect.  When I extracted the load, I found a short slug and some very shiny black powder.  In those days, as now, I am more of a shooter than a collector, so I whittled out a hammer for it, made a ramrod from a broken 5/16" rod I had in my stash, and went to work to improve the bore.
To that end, I bought a new drill bit, attached it to a long straight piece of drill rod, and in my buddy's lathe, bored out the old bore down to the breech plug.  Daryl gave me a brand new 13/16" x .36 cal Green Mountain barrel which I turned down to fit the drilled out barrel, slathered epoxy over the new liner, and slid it into the old barrel.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the new-to-me rifle shot, but I had to replace the back sight as the original was far too low.
The rifle weighs just short of five pounds, 4.972 pounds to be exact.  The percussion lock plate is 4" long, the lop is 14 1/2" and there is 1/2" of cast off in the English walnut stock.  There is no cheek piece. The forend tip is buffalo horn.
Shooting this rifle is a treat.  There is insufficient drop in the stock so one has to scrunch down hard on the comb to see the sights, but it is a tack driver, and as Daryl has mentioned, we have harvested quite a number of snowshoe hares with it.  Here's a few pics taken a few minutes ago with my i phone ...

[smylee grouch]

Thanks for the info Smart Dog and nice recovery on that rifle Taylor.

[Daryl]

Daryl, I figured it would be something of a fantasy gun as I have only seen pictures of cartridge era guns. I just have had a yen for a small caliber British style gun. Half stock and light. BJH

The British called the small calibre rifles of the 18th and 19th century, "Pea Rifles". Thus, I fully expect there were small calibre English guns as well.

[B.Habermehl]

Dave, I need to buy a copy of that book. The last time I spent looking at that book I was in Bill’s shop in Muncy. He graciously spent a lot of time on me. BJH

[JBJ]

Taylor,
That is an unusual breech (unusual to me)  on that little rifle. What a sweet little rifle!
J.B.

[alacran]

That is a very classy rifle Taylor. I wonder if the pea rifles is where we got the term pea shooter from. That is a single trigger on that gun. Does the lock have a fly? What  trigger weight does it have? I like the way the curvature of the trigger mirrors the front of the trigger guard. The beauty is definitely in the details

[Bob Roller]

Taylor,
That is an unusual breech (unusual to me)  on that little rifle. What a sweet little rifle!
J.B.

This is a very common  breech configuration on English guns both large and small.
I have made some of them in the past including the gun that was stolen from my
shop12 years ago.These breech plugs can be hook breech or solid depending on
what is needed.I don't know if anyone is making this breech or not and have no
plans to make any more of them.
I was looking at a cap lock reduced scale rifle in the Double Gun Journal but don't
remember which issue and they all look alike.I was working on the grandson's rifle
and using it as a guide when the shop was robbed.
Bob Roller

[mark brier]

The breech is typical but I do find the rebate interesting on a small bore rifle, they rebate is fairly typical on many British .451 bullet guns that have high pressure. The rebate allows for a little more wood to be left in for strength. I have seen some originals that did not have that and that’s were a crack in the stock occurred. I have yet to finish it but have done the barrel and lock etc for a small bore such as this to shoot with G.G or paper patch bullet. I am using a William & Powell that I am going by.
Mark Brier

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

alacran:  Mark nailed it.  The rebate on the offside of the breech plug allows for extra wood in the stock's most vulnerable spot.  With the radical taper to the lock panels, and an absence of the rebate, there would be only about 1/8" of walnut adjacent the standing breech, and the stock would likely have been cracked through the lock bolt hole.
This rifle has a simple trigger, and the lock has no detent in the tumbler.  The trigger pull is about 3 pounds and is very crisp.  The trigger is spring loaded so it is always bearing on the sear.  I have never had the hammer stop at half cock on firing the lock.
Thanks for the interest in this little gem.
If you left click on the image, it will enlarge.  You can do that twice for a full screen view.

[Bob Roller]

Looking back to about 2007 I DID make a small half stock 40 caliber rifle with
a black walnut stock.Someone had sawed the stock from a plank and I thought
it had too much drop,The lock internals were the same pattern as Taylor's rifle
and it also had a single trigger with a spring that kept it in touch with the sear.
I made a folding tang sight for it and used a Lyman 17A on the front.
It shot well and I sold it to Hunter Kirkland who was then running Dixie Gun Works.
Old age and feeble mindedness are taking a toll and I did forget about making this
rifle until this present thread came up
Bob Roller

[rich pierce]

What’s a rook, aside from a chess piece?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Rook - English term for crow or blackbird of some kind, is my understanding..

[Daryl]

Rook:

 "Rooks differ from crows by a pale, straighter bill with a bare grey bill base. They display 'feathery trousers'
on their legs and have an oily, loose plumage compared to crows. ... In flight, rooks have longer wings than crows
which narrow towards the body and a long graduated tail.Oct. 5, 2018"

[Joey R]

Rook is a fun card game too.

[flatsguide]

Nice lines on that rifle...nice price too.
Richard

[Craig Wilcox]

Taylor, is that a drip bar on the little rifle?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Yes Craig, a drip bar, soldered to the side flat of the barrel.  It rises above the top of the forestock, and extends past the plate laterally by about 1/16".