Missing link

Awhile back someone posted a link to a site that contained writings on shooting and hunting stories from a member on here. I believe spence wrote them but not positive. Anyway seem to have lost the link in a tech upgrade. Any chance someone can point me in the right direction?

http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/index.html

I'd imagine this is it.

That's the one. Thank you

Whew!!

For a moment I thought this was about the so called early transitional Kentucky rifles or iron Pennsylvanias and Virginias.
:wink:

Can you elaborate on the "so called early transitional Kentucky rifles"??? op:

I'm sure 54ball can add to this but, this is a picture of the "Transitional Rifle" I built from a "kit" from Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply.





According to Pecatonica the intent of this gun is to simulate the style of rifle that would have been made by Germanic gunsmiths who were familiar with Jaeger rifles in the early to mid 1750's.

It is similar to a Jaeger, with a shorter, thicker stock, more drop at the wrist and a shorter swamped barrel than would find with the later style "Kentucky" rifles.

The trigger guard rail stands well off of the stock and the lock style is early Germanic.

The barrel is a swamped, 37" long in .54 caliber.

The "Christians Spring rifle" is an example of this type of rifle although there is much debate as to whether it was made in the 1750's or later.

In either case, a shorter, stockier rifle does exist and this rifle is somewhat similar to it.

Perhaps the biggest departure my rifle has from a rifle made in the 1750's is its brass patchbox.
Most rifles made in that era used a sliding wooden patch box cover.

When I built it (years ago) I thought a very simple, early metal patch box might serve to make it a "little different".

Thank you. He got my attention when he brought it up. I was unsure if I stepped in something you guys don't like.
Looks like you like it. I feel better now. 6' behind me is the same thing. Fell in love with the wrist. It's a 50 cal. with a swamped barrel, grade 4 curly maple, flint.
If I stop playing with powder horns I may get to start it.

Very nice work.
When you did the carving on the stock, after stabbing in the outline and back cutting, did you bring down the field with small scrapers or just very sharp chisels?

I'm considering this kit from Pecatonica River. However, being new to building rifles, I've been moving slow and doing my research. Do you think this would be a decent kit to start out with?

ADK,
By doing the research, do you mean the purchasing of books such as The Gunsmith of Grenville County, Art of Building the Pennsylvania Longrifle by Dixon, or getting the videos of building the rifle.

KIts by Pecatonica, Chambers, Track of the Wolf and others are loose parts kits that require some specialized tools to build. Perhaps you should consider the kit by Jim Kibler. Kibler Longrifle Kit His kits use CNC machine work to make a ready to assemble kit and have high quality parts with some modifications that can be incorporated into the build. For a first time builder, I think a kit with a minimum of special tools and machine shop work would be a desirable feature.

Jim also has a new Colonial Rifle Kit. You may have to call and ask about that kit since I don't see it on the web site.

My preference are the projects I start from Pecatonica. The options are open for you to express and explore.
Chisels, files, blades and drill bits. Keep em sharp and take your time. Keep your focus, and it should be within your reach as long as you have a reasonable control over your tools.
Stay away from a dremel. Just gets you into trouble, not out.
Still working on mine with a 50 cal swamped barrel.

008 by Ames, on Flickr



They send out very nice stocks. 001 by Ames, on Flickr

:thumbsup: +1 on staying away from the Dremel, and power tools in general. About the only place for a Dremel is for hogging out lock internals, and you have to be really careful there because it can get away from you in a hurry and really wreck things. It's also useful for cutting wedge key slots (with a cut off disc) and key tails to length. That's about it though.

Other than that, the only other power tool to make significant use of is a drill. Both hand drills and a drill press have their uses, but you can make due with a hand drill if that's all you have.

Of course, if you're starting out with a raw tree in the woods other power tools come in to play too, but that's beyond the scope of what we're talking about here.

ADK said:

I'm considering this kit from Pecatonica River. However, being new to building rifles, I've been moving slow and doing my research. Do you think this would be a decent kit to start out with?

Click to expand...

The kits from Pecatonica River, Track of the Wolf, and similar companies are, like the others have mentioned, a box of semi-finished or rough castings and parts. The only parts that are close to finished are the trigger, barrel and lock and all of these need to have things done before they can be used.

You will need to know or learn how to locate and drill accurate holes, tap them to create threads, file metal, accuretly measure things and a host of other things.
This is not difficult but if you are in a hurry, don't bother with one of these kits.
They can easily take over 150 hours of work to make a finished gun.

While Chambers kits have more done for you, that doesn't appeal to me because I try to make guns similar to ones I have photos of and they are always different than the Chambers kits.

Spend some time in our Gun Builder's Bench area and read as much as you can about building guns.

Also, be sure to buy yourself a book on building longrifles. There are several good ones available and they will give you a good idea of what your in for.