It's a 45!

Remember this - SOLD - Flintlock for Sale ?
Well, I got it this morning. It's a .45 caliber, 1/48 twist. Barrel is .80 across down most of it's length, seems to taper just a bit just before the crown bevel. The bore has quite a bit of surface rust so I am soaking that now and will report back on it's condition and such. there was some conjecture it has round bottom rifling.

I have a Hatfield with a straight 13/16 .45 cal. At just over 6 lbs. It’s a very enjoyable rifle for the all day hunt.

Got the rust out. Can confirm, round bottom rifling. Besides that surface rust the bore is pristine. I dismantled the gun to see what else might need cleaned/rust removed and found nothing. I mean nothing. No rust, no dirt, no fouling, no discoloration; no indication this gun has ever been fired. Sure the frizzen has some marks but that's it. No marks whatsoever on the barrel and a cursory look at the inside of the lock found none either. It's very darkly blued and I didn't take a light to it. Bore calipers dead nuts on at .450. Can't say as I like the finish on the stock. Looks too much like a modern polyurethane for my taste. Might have to fix that in the future.

Decided this thing was just a bit too shiny for me. Dismantled it, took to it with some lacquer thinner and a bit of fine sandpaper. I did find the one and only mark on this gun; under the upper part of the buttplate (Wonder why they cut that big chunk out of there?).
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The stain was in the finish. Lacquer thinner took it right off. I left the original finish in the barrel channel, ramrod channel, all the places that don't show. I was left with an Off-white and black stock. As an aside- those black marks on the stock are not burned in, they go all the way through, in the barrel channel, in the ramrod channel, lock inlet, even the "window" they cut between the barrel channel and ramrod channel; that black goes through there too - consistent with the pattern on the outside. At first I thought that looks kind of neat, but...no, I better stain it. Tried the Iron Nitrate. Got a bit of color up by the tang and a couple other places but over all it did pretty much nothing. What I did get was oily stuff bubbling up from the darker lines in the grain. In my limited experience, that spells tropical hardwood of some type. Your guess is as good as mine as to what kind of wood this is. It is hard.

I used an alcohol based Dark Brown leather dye to stain it and then BLO to finish it off. I think it turned out alright.
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I've heard of gender reveals with babies, reckon its the 1st time I've heard of a caliber reveal. Congratulations!

I think it looks quite nice. I did fill up my grease hole with patch lube my friend made on my .32 I built years ago.

I just saw an old picture on FB of many of Hershel House's rifles he built all on one blanket. Many of his SMRs he put a grease hole in and they all were filled.