Layout drawing - RCA early southern rifle

[brushyspoons]

I'm working on putting together a rifle using RCA 124 as a starting point. The parts I have on hand for this build are a Chambers colonial Virginia lock, a 42" Rice B-weight barrel, Mike Brooks' early buttplate (~2" wide x 5" tall) and Kibler's colonial triggerguard. Here is the layout drawing I've put together so far - the breech is 1" across the flats, the web is 3/16" thick, and the ramrod hole is 3/8":



Do you see anything that you would do differently?

[BJH]

Looks good from my recliner perhaps you might want to make a plywood try stock to see if you need any minor fitting changes for comfort and shoot ability.  Just a belt and suspenders approach. BJH

[Bob Roller]

Adjust the pull and the drop to suit your size and arm length.Some of the old guns have a radical drop that looks as if the stock was cut from a plank 2 feet wide.
Bob Roller

[rich pierce]

Maybe modify the buttplate so it has a sharper inside corner. The Chambers Early Ketland would be my choice but who knows, the next gun off that bench may well have used a round faced lock. You might nip a bit off the spur of the trigger guard to match the original. Whenever one build a gun based on an original, one has to decide whether to build one like it or “improve” on it. I am not disding the gun but rather poking at convention here and what judges would say about 124. The lock tail is “too low” on the wrist. The side plate just about runs off the bottom of the “lock panel” on that side. I personally wouldn’t change a thing.

[brushyspoons]

Looks good from my recliner perhaps you might want to make a plywood try stock to see if you need any minor fitting changes for comfort and shoot ability.  Just a belt and suspenders approach. BJH

Adjust the pull and the drop to suit your size and arm length.Some of the old guns have a radical drop that looks as if the stock was cut from a plank 2 feet wide.
Bob Roller

I used the same LOP as my first rifle at 13.75", which doesn't translate well at all with a photo, but the differences between the drop and angle of the comb make me think this should be a good start

Maybe modify the buttplate so it has a sharper inside corner. The Chambers Early Ketland would be my choice but who knows, the next gun off that bench may well have used a round faced lock. You might nip a bit off the spur of the trigger guard to match the original. Whenever one build a gun based on an original, one has to decide whether to build one like it or “improve” on it. I am not disding the gun but rather poking at convention here and what judges would say about 124. The lock tail is “too low” on the wrist. The side plate just about runs off the bottom of the “lock panel” on that side. I personally wouldn’t change a thing.

Thanks Rich, in hindsight I should have used an Early Ketland and probably a heavier weight barrel, but I'm chalking this up to a learning experience for component selection. Are the modifications to the buttplate and trigger guard solely to closer match the furniture of 124 or other early southern rifles in general? My goal for this rifle is to make a gun that would seem at home in RCA's "Rifles of the South" section rather than attempt to copy any one rifle. Maybe one day when my skills are a little more honed and confidence a little higher I'll try and do a bench copy of 124, just with a little less tilt applied to the lock plate 

[rich pierce]

Phil, with those goals in mind I think you’re certainly good to go with the parts and layout you’ve shown. 124 seems a bit of a “one off”, but surely made by a very experienced gunmaker. I hope some more like it show up. It’s a nice simple but attractive early rifle.

[alacran]

Looks good from my recliner perhaps you might want to make a plywood try stock to see if you need any minor fitting changes for comfort and shoot ability.  Just a belt and suspenders approach. BJH

When I go to the trouble of making a drawing of a rifle I intend to build, I draw it on a piece of 1/4 inch Baltic birch plywood. Once all the erasing and adjustments are made to the drawing, I cut it out and have a pattern I can use to lay out the blank and also a try stock.
Looks good so far Brushy.

[BJH]

Looks good from my recliner perhaps you might want to make a plywood try stock to see if you need any minor fitting changes for comfort and shoot ability.  Just a belt and suspenders approach. BJH

When I go to the trouble of making a drawing of a rifle I intend to build, I draw it on a piece of 1/4 inch Baltic birch plywood. Once all the erasing and adjustments are made to the drawing, I cut it out and have a pattern I can use to lay out the blank and also a try stock.
Looks good so far Brushy.

I left something unsaid. The hooked butplate gun is mounted differently when shooting due to the butplate shape. Usually this style allows a bit longer pull measurement. If the measurements are simply transferred to a flat butplate design it’s likely to be too long as the flat butplate gun is mounted with the but in the pocket of the shoulder. This makes the try stock more important. And if it’s rough shaped from inexpensive framing lumber so much for the better. BJH

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Brushyspoons:  this is exactly the type of profile drawing I make before I build a rifle, especially if I'm using parts that are unfamiliar to me.  Everything has to fit in a relationship to all the other components.  Your drawing is excellent, and the drop at comb and heel will yield a nice shooting rifle.  I think you're good to go, though I haven't compared your drawing to RCA 124 either. Sounds like Rich is on it.
Rather than draw on plywood, I use heavy white BristolBoard card stock.  When I am satisfied, I trace the outline onto 1/8" plexiglas with a fine sharpie, and bandsaw out the pattern.  With the clear plexiglas, I can lay the pattern on the board and see the grain flow through the pattern. 
I agree with a previous poster who said that lop for a flat butted rifle may be shorter than that of a hooked butt rifle, owing to the mounting of these vastly different styles of rifles.  I'm 6'2" tall with 35" arm in-seams, and a 13 1/2" lop suits me well.  I don't crawl a rifle stock though...I bring the rifle to my eye rather than the converse, and shoot heads-up.  With a rifle having this type of butt, I shoot the rifle against my shoulder, not out on my arm.
Nice work.

[Jim Kibler]

Looks good from a quick view.  I would rotate the buttplate such that the toe is closer to the barrel.  Just a touch.  But this is a taste thing.

[B.Barker]

If I'm starting up a new pattern I use a 2x6 and make a quick try stock. I find that the skinny stocks made from plywood don't tell you as much about how it will feel.