Mid-18th Century English Sporting Rifle

[smart dog]

Hi,
This project was one I put off for too long.  I made a fine silver and steel mounted English rifle a few years ago based on a design by Benjamin Griffin but it had too much drop at heel and I eventually found I could not shoot it consistently well.  I decided to restock it.  It is difficult to make an early to mid 18th century English rifle because they did not make many and few have survived. There are probably more surviving breech loading deer park rifles from that time than muzzle loading rifles.  The Turvey rifle in RCA #1 is one of the few examples of which I am aware.  There are many more examples after 1770 or so and certainly into the 19th century, but not prior to 1760 or so.  Anyway, this rifle is based on the Turvey as well as another in a private collection. It has an early version of the "stand up business-like" British stock that I love.  In this case, it is very German.  Just envision a handrail trigger guard in place of the fowler guard and you can see what I mean. The lock is a Chambers round-faced English lock shortened to 5.70".  The 62 caliber barrel is a Rice 31" jaeger barrel with standing breech.  The pipes are cast steel and the butt plate id a steel "Dubbs" long rifle plate modified to be English.  The side plate, inlays, wrist plate, and wire work are all silver.  I carved, cast, and chiseled the silver wrist and side plate from scratch.  The side plate is inspired by James Paul Freeman of London and the wrist plate inspired by Henry Delany also of 18th century London. The ramrod is ash with a buffalo horn tip.  The stock is English walnut from Dave Rase and the finish is Sutherland Welles polymerized tung oil tinted with alkanet root and Laurel Mountain Forge's walnut stain. I hope you enjoy the photos.

dave
   

[Robert Wolfe]

Always a joy to see your work. Thanks for sharing.

[smylee grouch]

Very nice. I am biased towards the English stock for shooting. Did the rifles of that era use muzzle caps much? How do you fasten the horn tip on the ramrod? The wrist on your rifle looks more robust than say a early 19th century English double gun, or am I looking at it wrong? Again very nice and thanks for posting the photos.  Does the thickness of the lock panels flair out at the rear or am I also seeing that wrong? So many questions because I am thinking of a Turvey inspired rifle.

[Jerry]

Excellent workmanship! I enjoy seeing this quality of work. Very nice. Jerry

[borderdogs]

Beautiful rifle and wonderful workmanship Dave thanks for sharing!
Rob

[Daryl]

Absolutely wonderful, Dave. That one should be an absolute joy to shoot.

[Fly Navy]

A very beautiful rifle.

[Jakob]

I think an English Sporting Rifle will be on my list (further down the road!)
Very nice.

[Curtis]

Now that is one fine looking rifle Dave!  Beautiful wire inlay and fantastic carving to boot.  It is a pleasure to look at fir sure!  Let us know how it shoots.

Curtis

[alacran]

That is very fine work, especially the standing breech. I liked the devils head on the butt's wire inlay.
The profile should make it enjoyable to shoot.
Jaegers from Denmark and other countries have fowler type trigger guards. Really much better for shooting.
Lovely rifle.

[smart dog]

Thanks for looking and commenting folks,
Smylee, except on military rifles and fusils, you rarely see muzzle caps of any sort on full stocked British sporting rifles and fowlers.  I've never seen one.  I attach horn ramrod tips using glue but also a wedge like an axe head.  This tip is not drilled all the way through so I turn the end of the ramrod to fit the tip such that it slides on easily, then I cut a slot in the turned end about 3/4 of the way toward the shoulder, make a small short wedge of wood, put the wedge part way in the slot, slather on glue, and tap the horn tip home.  I do the same on those drilled all the way through but don't have to worry that the wedge is too long.  The rifle shoulders really well and the wrist is robust much like the Turvey gun.  The lock panels do flare with the barrel, whereas on most British guns, the panels are parallel.  I let them flare to get the wrist wider and more in line with the Turvey gun. The Turvey has a barrel almost 1/8" thicker at the breech so the flare compensates for my smaller barrel. For me the wrist dimensions were the critical feature I wanted to preserve.  I like the feel of a thick wrist.  Also note that the lock is tilted down slightly.  The Chambers lock is too long for this gun so I shortened it and then tilted it slightly to get the wrist profile the way I wanted. I wish there was a round faced lock out  there equal to the Chambers or Kibler locks but 5 5/8" long.  It would be much more versatile.  I also wanted to use this particular lock again because it had such superb performance on the other rifle.  I shot over 670 rounds with it without a single misfire or hang fire and it used up only 10 flints in that time.  This is the lock I posted photos of in which I installed a rounded piece of quartz from my driveway instead of the flint and still got excellent sparks.
 

dave

[tallbear]

Nice looking gun Dave!!!!!!!!

Mitch

[smylee grouch]

Hi Dave: Thanks for the information, it will help me when making choices about my own build. That ramrod tip sounds straight forward and do able. I also will be using the Chambers lock as I have had the same performance with them that you noted. Another take away from your photos that helped me was two RR pipes and two wedges if I viewed them right. My barrel is one or two inches shorter than yours. Again thank you for the tips and for sharing the photos with us here. 

[smart dog]

Hi Smylee,
I posted this thread about building this rifle here.  It may help you because it contains a lot of information about these guns.

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/making-a-fine-mid-18th-century-english-rifle.145370/

dave

[Mike Brooks]

Nice work. The bend of the wrist and trigger placement looks a little off to me. It seems the bend should start about where the trigger is. Could just be me. Layout on this sort of thing can be a real challenge.

[Dphariss]

Very nice work.

[smylee grouch]

Thanks for that link Dave, I for sure will be giving it a good look as it has a few more pics and info that will help along the way.

[mesabi]

Beautiful!  That's some amazing work!

[smart dog]

Thanks folks,
Mike, thanks for the post. I understand your comment and that formula very well.  I originally drew my plans with that basic formula but did not like the result with the Chambers lock.  It is just too big and long and made the wrist too thin.  If that lock was 5 5/8" long, I would have followed that formula but I could not shorten the lock that much and I had no desire to use any other lock other than possibly a Kibler.  So I shortened it as much as I could, and tilted it slightly.  That got me where I wanted to go with respect to the wrist but it also changed how the bottom profile fit.  I did not like having the curve beginning at the trigger so merged that curve forward into the tapered fore arm and was much happier with the result. 

dave

[hawkeye]

Another eye-catching gun, very nice

[TommyG]

So many wonderful and elegant details there to take in.  Excellent work Dave!!

[mountainman]

Wow!! Great Work!! Very Beautiful!!

[Ed Wenger]

Beautiful work, Dave!  I especially like the side plate, really well done!  Best,

         Ed

[Otto]

wow and wow again. That is very fine work.

[Pukka Bundook]

Dave,
I always look at your work slow and hard, and it is always top flight!
Thank you for posting it here.

So very pleasing!   Great job !