Lock, stock and barrel

[BadDaditood]

Greetings!  Long time lurker, rare poster.
Today at the range a club member gave me three things. They’ve been sitting for 25 plus years.
Here’s the lock, back of the plate has a D in a circle and a Q.  Underside of frozen also has a Q.
It’s 5 1/4 x 1”








Stock has some nice figuring although dried out and muzzle end is split. That’s no problem, But the ramrod hole ran into the barrel channel for the last 8 inches... I’ve never had to deal with that, just lucky I guess   






The barrel is a brand new uncrowned Douglas, .45 cal 44” 1/66 and pre- rusted!
You can see where I carded off the name with a t-shirt, so it’s not pitted.






Can anyone tell me anything about the lock? I can see lead in the crook of the mainspring so it was tempered in a lead pot.
The stock appears they were going for the svelte Golden Age or SMR “Tennessee Toothpick” look.
This lock looks kinda militaristic, like a Common rifle or Harpers Ferry  (I ordered a Harpers Ferry kit from TRS 2 years ago, so any day now I’ll get it 
I have other locks but need furniture.
What would you do? Different stock? Different Lock? Put it together as and enjoy shooting it?
Thanks in advance 

[Keb]

the lock is a Davis U.S. common lock Track of the Wolf

[mark esterly]

hard to tell but stock looks like maybe a lehigh

[L. Akers]

The drill did not break into the barrel channel.  It was common on pre-inlet stocks to drill the first couple of inches then rout the barrel channel for the ramrod instead of drilling all the way.  That is what you have.

[Mule Brain]

It really depends on your skill set, are you ready to turn that wood into a gun? I basically had the same deal going on, and decided to get a stock pre carved from Mark Weader. He may be able to carve the stock you already have, and that can save some bucks. 

[heinz]

Looks like a pretty nice stock.  You need to cut about 1 1/2 inches off the muzzle end of that barrel for best accuracy.  Would make up into a very nice SMR.  Check the lock with a flint in it to see how it sparks.  If it works it would be very cool in a Southern gun.

[Dave B]

Cool set of parts. Davis locks are great. I have two of the same lock you have there waiting to be put into service. The Barrel being a Douglas has as pointed out the need to cut a portion from the front of the barrel. I have heard it was 1". It some thing to do with the process they use to rifle it makes this necessary. The other thing to take into consideration is that the name stamp was typically ment to be placed on the bottom flat at the breach end to keep the run out from the boring of the barrel  at the lowest point  at the breach to keep the rifle shooting true. I am assuming that the breach plug is not indexed yet and that stamp will be in the bottom flat possition once the dove tails are cut for the underlugs. My favorite part of doing this is the roughing out the stock from the blank. I know lots of folks like a precarve but this is why I like building so much. Sculpting out of a chunk of wood, something beautiful and functional. Good luck with your project. Keep us posted on your progress. Its cool to follow the work of fellow artisians. This is the best therapy I have ever encountered.

[BadDaditood]

Thank you all for your replies!!
I did not know about cutting Douglas bbls. I’ll have to do that. As for the breech plug, it’s nicely seated, but I’ll have to change that to get the name on the bottom.
I laid an SMR pattern on top and it appears to be rough-cut about 1/2” short and 3/4” too much drop at heel, which may be why it looks like a Lehigh.
What the hay, it’s good practice.I’ll make it a southerner and look for a short buyer with long arms. And stop accepting “gifts” that don’t have enuff wood on them.
 

On second thought how do I ascertain that this barrel is safe?
I just dug this up from a couple years ago:

Douglas muzzle loader barrels were popular until one blew up creating a bad hand
injury.That tragedy started a controversy abut using 12L14 or other steels NOT certified
for gun barrels that still simmers today.Another thing an employee of theirs told me was
that crappy,"It's gotta be cheeeep if it's for a muzzle loader"* attitude of the time.This man
told me of charging $10 to install a breech plug properly in a barrel and the customer blew
up and griped about that price.There are still a few NOS Douglas barrels around and they
pop up for sale on occasion but as far as I know now,Douglas Barrel Company has NO
muzzle loading barrel program in place to make them.I know Douglas was making ML barrels
in the early 1970's.

[BadDaditood]

Lots in the archives here, I’m rethinking using this GR Douglas 13/16” .45 8 groove octagon bbl....
it was free, from a retired lawyer!

[Marcruger]

My advice would be to check the muzzle and breech ends of the barrel with calipers. The off-center angle of the bore to exterior is called runout. Research that. It is heartbreaking to find your barrel shoots 12” left or right at 25 yards after months of work.  God bless, Marc

[BadDaditood]

Thanks Marc, a wealth of info in the archives here!
I’ve decided to avoid a whole bunch of heartbreak by tossing the Douglas and ordering a New 13/16”  .36 cal bbl.
Cheap insurance
Thanks for all the replies

[Hungry Horse]

 I would suspect from the lock chosen that the intended build was an early government contract rifle. These were the precursor to the Harpers Ferry taken on the Lewis & Clark expedition. They were made by several famous Lancaster gunsmiths of the time, and fit a general pattern, but featured architecture, and furniture, of the gunsmiths design.
 These are rarely built today, because there is so much more information on the more famous civilian versions of these gunsmiths work. These guns were also presented to Indian chiefs on occasion.

  Hungry Horse