Joel Ferree, a resurrection.

[Mule Brain]

Thanks for treating such a great piece of American history with such respect.

I commend you for a job well done!  Made my whole day   

[ScottH]

Wonderful pictures of a fine piece! Thanks! The restoration work is amazing.

Is the barrel swamped and if so how much? Is it definitely a smooth bore?

Drop at the comb and heel?

Thanks,
Scott

[120RIR]

Ain't she a peach and yes, John did an outstanding job to put it mildly. 

Definitely a smooth bore and yes, the barrel is swamped - notably so.  John could fill you in on the details for the next couple of weeks.   

[JTR]

Mule Brain, ScottH, Thanks for your comments and I'm glad you like it!
I like it too, and reluctantly am going to have to give it back to 120RIR pretty quick.   

As for the measurements; At the muzzle the bore is right at .600", but about 1 1/2" in goes down to about .570" or so. When I had the breech plug out, looking down the bore there was no sign of any rifling, current or previous.
For the swamp, right at the muzzle it measures .940". Four inches back its down to .860", and eight inches back its down to .830". Fourteen inches back it's still about .830", then slowly increases going back the breech which is about .950".
Drop at the comb is about 1 5/8", and at the heel 3 1/2". It fits me perfectly; When I toss it up to my shoulder, I'm looking right down the sights!
Overall, the gun is a slender gal, and weighs in at 7 3/4 lbs. 

John

[WESTbury]

John,

With regard to barrel swamp, was there a general "standard", for want of a better description, as to the degree and rate of barrel size reduction and then expansion near the muzzle? Or was it just by "feel"?

Kent

[Mattox Forge]

I have found that most jeager (and their derivative barrels, early English rifles and American guns) barrel swamps are created by drawing a parabola (which is very easily done with a pair of dividers and a straight edge) between Line A and Line B as shown in the attached image. Line A is drawn from the breech extremity to the bore at the muzzle and Line B is drawn between the muzzle extremity to the bore center at the breech.
I applied this method to the bore, length, breech, and muzzle measurements of the Ferree barrel found in the various discussions and the swamp predicted, .83 at 11 inches from the muzzle, matches very closely with the dimensions of the swamp supplied by John in the message above. The barrel in the drawing is shown at 1/10th its actual length to illustrate the method.


The artistry was in the selection of where to pick the start and end points of the parabola guide lines. The English gunmakers tended for less flare at the muzzle by picking a point closer to the breech extremity.

Mike

[JTR]

That's very interesting, Mike!
At 11" back from the muzzle, the Ferree measures about .825"
John

[Mattox Forge]

John,
The dimension is rounded off in the drawing to .83 it is actually .827 or something like that. I turned the computer off so I can't check right now. I don't believe that this stuff was just eyeballed, these guys were just as much engineers as modern engineers, maybe more so. I don't know if they always made drawings, but a grinding template/pattern would be a simple thing for them to have laid out on a piece of wood, cut to shape, and used to check the barrel grinding.
Mike

[JTR]

I agree. These guys, for the most part, certainly weren't a bunch of ham fisted bumblers. Given the tools and lightening they had to work with, most, but not all, of the guns I've owned or worked on have had a fine degree of metal to wood fitting still evident after two centuries or more. Maybe not David Rase quality barrel inletting, but as good as the high quality hand inletting of today.
John   

[120RIR]

Here are a few more detail shots of the completed restoration.  Nothing is nearly as "glossy" as these appear - that's just my poor lighting and photography skills.  I would draw your attention to two details in particular.  1: The lock plate is 100% untouched and that patina is original. That's one heck of a job of matching the added parts, eh?  2: I've been looking over many references and have yet to see any comparable shading lines where the scrolls meet towards the butt.  Any thoughts or examples I have missed? 

I've had her on my desk most of the day while I'm working these past few days since I picked her up.  She's great eye candy!  If anyone would like to see other shots, just holler.

[rich pierce]

Thanks for sharing these closeups. It looks as though the buttplate could have been swaged, not cast. What’s the width and height of the buttplate?

[WESTbury]

Excellent close-up photos! Thanks for letting us take a peak.

Re. the barrel swamp discussion.

The 47-1/4" long "J Graeff" signed barrel from my rifle measures: 1-1/32" at the breech, 7/8" at 35" from the breech, and 1" at the muzzle.

This Graeff signed barrel is its original length, not restored.

Kent

[120RIR]

Interesting thought on the buttplate.  Although it's never been off I'll take a closer look and maybe some clues will reveal themselves:

Buttplate width: 1 3/4
Buttplate height: 4 13/16

[Mattox Forge]

Excellent close-up photos! Thanks for letting us take a peak.

Re. the barrel swamp discussion.

The 47-1/4" long "J Graeff" signed barrel from my rifle measures: 1-1/32" at the breech, 7/8" at 35" from the breech, and 1" at the muzzle.

This Graeff signed barrel is its original length, not restored.

Kent

Kent,

What caliber is your Graeff? I'd like to see if it's following the same design.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mattox Forge]

Kent,

If your Graeff is a .62 caliber gun, it is following the same swamp rule. I laid out a .62 caliber barrel with those breech, muzzle, and length dimensions and it has a swamp that necks down to .8779 at 34.527 inches from the breech, or 12.723 from the muzzle.

Mike

[Mattox Forge]

Here are a few more detail shots of the completed restoration.  Nothing is nearly as "glossy" as these appear - that's just my poor lighting and photography skills.  I would draw your attention to two details in particular.  1: The lock plate is 100% untouched and that patina is original. That's one heck of a job of matching the added parts, eh?  2: I've been looking over many references and have yet to see any comparable shading lines where the scrolls meet towards the butt.  Any thoughts or examples I have missed? 

I've had her on my desk most of the day while I'm working these past few days since I picked her up.  She's great eye candy!  If anyone would like to see other shots, just holler.

That is a beautiful gun and a beautiful job of restoring her.

I am intrigued by the trigger. It appears to be a single set with the from adjusting screw. Do you have any photos of the trigger mechanism out of the stock. I wonder if it is like the Siddons English made design.

Mike

[rich pierce]

Mike, I think that’s the tang bolt, not a set screw.

[Mike Lyons]

There’s a lot to learn from that gun.  It has thin and good looking lock panels. 

[JTR]

Mike, Rich is correct, that protrusion is the end of the tang bolt. It's the bolt that came with the gun, looks original to it, so I just left it as is.
The trigger is a simple trigger, pinned in place.

And yes, there's a lot that could be learned from this one!

John

[WESTbury]

Kent,

What caliber is your Graeff? I'd like to see if it's following the same design.


Thanks,

Mike

Mike,

I believe it is .50 cal. The muzzle looks to be funneled and I can get a 1/2" wooden dowel down into the bore about 3/8" deep.

The measurements for the outside of the barrel across the flats and the transition up to the to the 1" dimension at the muzzle was difficult to determine. I would allow for a pretty good tolerance.

Kent

[shortbarrel]

I would like to ask you  what kind of glue you used in this reconstruction.  My brother and me have brought 5 or six rifles  back from the dead, all SMR. Glue is the main part of reconstruction on wood. I look forward to your kind reply.

[JTR]

I would like to ask you  what kind of glue you used in this reconstruction.  My brother and me have brought 5 or six rifles  back from the dead, all SMR. Glue is the main part of reconstruction on wood. I look forward to your kind reply.

Shortbarrel, for you, and other guys that might want to give this stuff a try, That would be Titebond III. Some time ago I did a test with several popular glues, and Titebond III won hands down. I use it for areas where you'll need some time to align the pieces and get them clamped in place. For smaller pieces where you can hold them by hand, I use a super glue made by StewMac. It comes in colors and Medium Amber is a good one for these old guns. It too is tougher than nails, and the wood will break before the glue bond breaks.

You are probably aware, but for anyone just starting to do this sort of thing, for any glue joint with these old woods, it is imperative that you clean the area to be glued really well. Clean/scrape the discolored surface off, as well as the pulpy wood, if any. Then use a sharp object to score the old wood to give the glue a solid area to adhere too. I don't want things to break apart down the road, so I score the new wood as well. Where you don't want to score it is right at the edge of the glue joint! You want that joint to be as tight and narrow as possible, and the glue line as small as possible.

In the end, to make a good glue joint, make it as narrow as possible! No matter the joint, I try for a gap of no larger than .005". Zero is better, but not always possible.

John

If you glue it like this, be well aware that undoing this glue joint is going to be next to impossible, so be sure you have the pieces exactly where you want them!   

[J. Talbert]

John,
Thanks so much for posting this.  I’d love to see pictures you have of the progression of repair to the lock an tang area.
I wouldn’t know where to start.

Much appreciated,
Jeff

[JTR]

Jeff,
PM sent.
John

[BradBrownBess]

John I think this is one of the most interesting, impressive, inspirational, and educational posts I've ever seen on this forum. I'm not a true "old timer" here so there may be more - but the work you did, photographing the progress, sharing it here, and of course the final result - WOW!!!! You are a talented man for sure. Are you looking for a mentor? : )
I've done some basic repair on muskets - simple fixes - but to see how you thought this complex project out - and executed it so well - and did such sympathetic historical work - just amazing.
The final "cherry on top" is the replies here on the builder Ferree - that original document!!
THANK YOU!!! for the posting and to all replies!!!
Brad