My good friend at my LGS which is about a mile away had a customer come in with a cap rifle. Since my friend doesn't know about BP, and since he'd done me a favor, I went down there to help him out.
It had about a 1" barrel with I think a .32 caliber, could be a .36....half stock with some excellent curly maple wood. Back lock on it. He said it was a family heirloom. Couldn't see the bore and couldn't make out the name of the lock, which I assume was a commercial lock, rather than a custom. The finish was a worn blue (I think) and in pretty good shape, saveable rather than needing a refinish. And yes, there was a vent hole below the drum which led to corrosion. (BHB was at least accurate on that.) There was speculation on the hole as to whether it was a fault, but it was apparent that it was drilled rather than a fault.
He wanted advice, and my advice was to clean the barrel with a SS chore-boy and Kroil and wax the stock, which was in pretty good shape. Had a cheek piece, but not a fancy one. It had a small crack in the top of the wrist, but one easily fixed by drilling a rod into it. Me, if the bore was good, I'd shoot it, but he at least wanted to hang it on the wall. It needs a thorough cleaning...not a classic rifle, but a better than average squirrel rifle that weighed about 10 or 11 pounds. Brass TG and butt plate, german silver forend. I advised him to not polish the brass. Broken ramrod. I would be proud to own it, but I wouldn't "restore" it because it doesn't need to be restored...just cleaned up. The metal was good except around the drum...I'd remove the barrel and drum and file it down, I guess, to remove the corrosion, unless there's a better way. Any suggestions other than that?
It had about a 1" barrel with I think a .32 caliber, could be a .36....half stock with some excellent curly maple wood. Back lock on it. He said it was a family heirloom. Couldn't see the bore and couldn't make out the name of the lock, which I assume was a commercial lock, rather than a custom. The finish was a worn blue (I think) and in pretty good shape, saveable rather than needing a refinish. And yes, there was a vent hole below the drum which led to corrosion. (BHB was at least accurate on that.) There was speculation on the hole as to whether it was a fault, but it was apparent that it was drilled rather than a fault.
He wanted advice, and my advice was to clean the barrel with a SS chore-boy and Kroil and wax the stock, which was in pretty good shape. Had a cheek piece, but not a fancy one. It had a small crack in the top of the wrist, but one easily fixed by drilling a rod into it. Me, if the bore was good, I'd shoot it, but he at least wanted to hang it on the wall. It needs a thorough cleaning...not a classic rifle, but a better than average squirrel rifle that weighed about 10 or 11 pounds. Brass TG and butt plate, german silver forend. I advised him to not polish the brass. Broken ramrod. I would be proud to own it, but I wouldn't "restore" it because it doesn't need to be restored...just cleaned up. The metal was good except around the drum...I'd remove the barrel and drum and file it down, I guess, to remove the corrosion, unless there's a better way. Any suggestions other than that?