I would like to build a halfstock, long barreled rifle. I am considering using a 42" barrel, but have not seen one with a barrel this long. Are you aware of halfstock rifles having barrels this long? What is the longest you have seen on a halfstock rfle? Thanks!
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Longest barrel on a halfstock rifle?
- Thread starter birddog
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Birddog, about 4 years ago, I rescued an old, beat up Hawg rifle...no lock, the stock fell from the bbl when I picked it up. The bbl on that was 46".
The gun was too beat up for any restoration, but I was able to salvage the handmade brass (I thought it was iron when I bought the wreck), and I passed the bbl, the remains of the stock, and the hand made double trigger to a skilled gunsmith buddy of mine...he figures to copy the stock at some point, and to freshen the bbl and reuse it. I don't know his plans for the triggers, but he's a buddy of Jim Chambers and maybe something of the old triggers will turn up in a Chambers product.
I ran the gun past a collection of experts, some of whom probably knew what they were talking about. The consensus was that it was an assembly of surviving parts from at least two older guns, and had been converted from flint to cap...someone gave me a date of 1800, another said "pre-revolutionary"..given the cal of .40, my bet is on the 1800 guess. It started life as a full stock, and a rib had been added when the full stock broke off and was trimmed back..
I suspect it was an ungainly mule of a gun to shoot, and were I you,I'd make the bbl a lot shorter...Best, Hank
The gun was too beat up for any restoration, but I was able to salvage the handmade brass (I thought it was iron when I bought the wreck), and I passed the bbl, the remains of the stock, and the hand made double trigger to a skilled gunsmith buddy of mine...he figures to copy the stock at some point, and to freshen the bbl and reuse it. I don't know his plans for the triggers, but he's a buddy of Jim Chambers and maybe something of the old triggers will turn up in a Chambers product.
I ran the gun past a collection of experts, some of whom probably knew what they were talking about. The consensus was that it was an assembly of surviving parts from at least two older guns, and had been converted from flint to cap...someone gave me a date of 1800, another said "pre-revolutionary"..given the cal of .40, my bet is on the 1800 guess. It started life as a full stock, and a rib had been added when the full stock broke off and was trimmed back..
I suspect it was an ungainly mule of a gun to shoot, and were I you,I'd make the bbl a lot shorter...Best, Hank
Whiskers book on Carolina guns shows several half stock caplocks with what appear to be rather long barrels, unfortunately he does not include specs in his books but some of the barrels would scale to 40"-42" if a length of pull of 13" was used as a starting point. not very scientific but some of them do look very long.
Thanks for the replies. I will try and find a copy of the book referenced by 'tg'. I want to look at some photos before I begin the project. I don't want the rifle to look akward. I havn't had the opportunity to see many examples of longrifles. The gunshows here rarely have any muzzleloaders other than inline. I seem to crave the old flintlocks the most. I have a flintlock T/C Hawken that I built years ago, and am thinking of selling it to fund this project rifle; long barrel, browned iron furniture, nice maple stock, primitive sights etc.
Again, thanks for the replies. This seems like a very friendly and informative board.
Again, thanks for the replies. This seems like a very friendly and informative board.
TOW has most of Whiskers books new, you might find a used one on Amazon, they run about $40-$45 new, if you know someone with a dealers catolog there might be a substantial savings to be had by going that way. they do have a lot of good info on the builders and estate inventories and such it is just to bad that there are no gun specs as Schumway provides.
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