Dave,
Murphy wasn't only up to his normal tricks, he was doing one of those high speed Spanish Foot stomping dances all over us the first two days. :haha:
We had jet lag when we arrived and then a 2 ½ bus ride to Coventry. Then at the Hotel we found the “lift” was downright tiny and would only accommodate about two people with regular luggage. That meant with all the guns/gear we had, it was a one person ride at a time ”“ so it took forever to get up to the rooms and stow our gear. I had just gotten to my room and heated some water for swiss mocha coffee and was looking forward to relaxing a bit before a walking tour around Historic Coventry (to help get over jet lag) and then a good supper. Then came a knock on the door and the Team Captain told me the Hogdon representative had missed his plane and would be arriving somewhere between 8-9 PM back at Heathrow and needed a ride. The Team driver had the team rental vehicle, but wanted someone to go with him to keep him awake and would I go with him? OK, so he and I go back to Heathrow, the Hogdon guy’s plane is late and all there is to eat is eggs and bacon at the Airport. He finally arrived and off we go back the 2 ½ hours to Coventry. Missed the exit, wound up in Birmingham in a college area and got directions back from a “roach coach” that only sold scrambled eggs. However, Coventry was not a Roman Town, so it was laid out in circles and rebuilt that way after it was bombed in WWII. Spent an hour driving around town lost before we found a 7-11 and a guy who let us in (they normally only did drive through service at night) and we finally got directions back to the Hotel. Arrived around 3 AM.
Didn’t wake up till shortly after noon, but the Electrician we requested to see did show up on time to see what adaptor I would need for my Handy Grinder. However, he couldn’t come up with the correct power adaptor. The Hotel put on a fine Supper Buffet, so at last got a good meal. We adjourned to the Hotel Pub and since I don’t drink, no Mountain Dew, but asked for Lemonade and got a Lemon Lime bottled Soda, which was OK. At what would become a nightly social gathering in the Parking Lot with our Team and the Australian Team, later on my very worried Team Mate informed me he was trying to fit a new flint and that Top Jaw Screw had snapped in two.
I had strongly requested that arrangements be previously be made to rent an Oxy Acetylene Torch Set for the match, because I wasn't allowed to bring mine on the Airlines. Well, no torch set was available or I would have silver soldered the original Top Jaw screw back to one piece. The only thing they got me two days later was a propane torch, but it did help on a couple emergency repairs.
Having been a Team Armorer up to and including National Competition for both Muzzleloading and Modern Competition, I had brought a large container of repair parts and had purchased some I normally did not stock, just in case something would go wrong. Track of the Wolf and Dixie both really helped me out by giving me a dealer discount for the latter parts. On a last minute guess, I had purchased different sizes of repro Top Jaw Screws. One of them was for a “M1816” Musket. I informed the owner of the M1840 Musket and went back up to the room to get it and a pair of dial calipers, while he brought the broken top piece of the Top Jaw Screw and Musket to my room. Thank Heaven the repro screw was very close, BUT the screw thread was modern and did not match the original. I then informed the owner I would have strongly preferred to repair the original Top Jaw Screw, but had no idea IF AND WHEN I could get my hands on an Oxy Acetylene Torch. I told him I really did not like to do it, but I could re-tap the original Cock for the modern screw threads on the Repro Top Jaw Screw. He was immensely relieved I could do something and told me to go ahead. Took a bit of work to get the busted lower section of the old screw out of the cock, but the threaded hole tapped fairly easy and the repro screw worked fine. The Owner won the Gold Medal in the Miquelet Match with that repaired M1840 Musket and won a Gold Medal with it two years later at the World Championships in an Aggregate Match, that I don’t remember the name of the match.
I had joked before going to the Match that as a Team Armourer, I would do “Day and Night, 24 Hour Gunsmithing” in case anything went wrong with the Team’s Guns. This was the first of three times I would stay up late working on Team Guns in my hotel room on that trip.
Gus