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Yeup
 

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My three latest I recently built. Hawken with a Bill Large Barrel. A copy of a JS Pease rifle from St. Louis and a Virginia flinter. Though I may have the Pease and the Virginia sold.
 

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Hello again from Canada, Ive been away for awhile but I'm back with an oddity to share with you. It is a Minie'/ Cordier rifle. Claude Minie' was of coarse the inventor of the 'minie' ball' or so they say. He aparantly collaberated with Cordier and CIE who manufactured this rifle around 1862. A lot of this can be googled and I invite you to do this.
My discovery concerning this rare gun is its ignition sequence. I will attempt to upload some pics and a drawing of what I think is a very cool ignition /propulsion idea being that if the powder is ignited at the front of the charge, pressure will keep it from being pushed down the bore where it would burn less efficiently due to a lower combustion pressure and possible loss of powder out the muzzle unburnt.
I cannot see any other reason for such a chamber which I have never seen before, have any of you see this before?
I found this out when I put a light charge in it just to try it out and it failed to fire on account of the bullet covered the flash hole.
The drawing is at the end of the photo stream.
 

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Very cool gun. For new recruits, the movement of the percussion flash and main charge further from the face taught confidence and focus on drill and marksmanship. I don't think there's an effort to improve ignition in the design. I wonder if the gun might have been serviced with paper cartridges which would be a little different than a charge with loose powder.
 
Very cool gun. For new recruits, the movement of the percussion flash and main charge further from the face taught confidence and focus on drill and marksmanship. I don't think there's an effort to improve ignition in the design. I wonder if the gun might have been serviced with paper cartridges which would be a little different than a charge with loose powder.
Well you know you could be right there because I do recall seeing mention of a brief experiment with a piercing device extending from the breech face in order to poke a hole in cartridges. Mine does not have it, just a flat face with the s/n stamped on it.
 
Hello again from Canada, Ive been away for awhile but I'm back with an oddity to share with you. It is a Minie'/ Cordier rifle. Claude Minie' was of coarse the inventor of the 'minie' ball' or so they say. He aparantly collaberated with Cordier and CIE who manufactured this rifle around 1862. A lot of this can be googled and I invite you to do this.
My discovery concerning this rare gun is its ignition sequence. I will attempt to upload some pics and a drawing of what I think is a very cool ignition /propulsion idea being that if the powder is ignited at the front of the charge, pressure will keep it from being pushed down the bore where it would burn less efficiently due to a lower combustion pressure and possible loss of powder out the muzzle unburnt.
I cannot see any other reason for such a chamber which I have never seen before, have any of you see this before?
I found this out when I put a light charge in it just to try it out and it failed to fire on account of the bullet covered the flash hole.
The drawing is at the end of the photo stream.
Really nice, never saw one before. Thanks for posting!
 
Really nice, never saw one before. Thanks for posting!
Yeah, I've been trying to keep track of them as I come accross them on auctions ect. I've recorded (10) so far s/n's ranging from 1xx to 9xx including mine s/n 578. Kinda rare I would suspect. It is reffered to as a '50 cal.' but a .476 conical works perfect.
B.
 
3 originals I’ve been working on. As of tonight, they are all ready to test fire. Top is a .43 caliber rifle. Middle is a .34 caliber rifle. Bottom is a .71 caliber smoothbore.
View attachment 225645View attachment 225646View attachment 225647View attachment 225648
Very very nice indeed, although my hands and fingers no longer allow me to craft such quality pieces I truly understand the work and love that goes into it. I used to make knives under the 'Custom By Young' logo and enjoyed every minute of it. I now try to collect as $$$ and wife permit.
Just one more thing, due to the odd calibers of the older muskets, I understand the old barrel makers of the day set the final caliber measurement once the barrel was reamed to satisfaction and polished. I am talking very early guns of the 1700's or so. was this some what true?
 
My three latest I recently built. Hawken with a Bill Large Barrel. A copy of a JS Pease rifle from St. Louis and a Virginia flinter. Though I may have the Pease and the Virginia sold.
I really like your Hawkens. Very well done. If you don't mind me asking where did you get the parts to build these? I am a stock maker and am wanting to build a Hawken but I don't know where to start to get the parts. I have the wood, really nice walnut and some amazing maple. Again yours are very nice. Thanks for posting your pictures
 
I really like your Hawkens. Very well done. If you don't mind me asking where did you get the parts to build these? I am a stock maker and am wanting to build a Hawken but I don't know where to start to get the parts. I have the wood, really nice walnut and some amazing maple. Again yours are very nice. Thanks for posting your pictures
Hi Frankie.
Part like the buttplate, trigger guard etc I ordered through Track of the Wolf. I did reshape the trigger guard to more closely resemble originals. The lock was an old L&R that I swapped the hammer out on to look more authentic. The triggers are also L&R which I reshaped and tuned. I was fortunate to come across the Bill Large barrel still in the white with a Hawken breech that he also made. The forward pipes I made for the 1/2 " ramrod which is also tapered. The stock is from a slab of maple I had purchased some time ago for stock wood. I based the stock profile from the Moses White Hawken rifle.
I would check out Track of the wolf and Muzzleloader builders supply. Also Upper Missouri River Trading Company has pretty good Hawken buttplate and trigger guard castings. If you any other questions please just ask.
 
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Hi Frankie.
Part like the buttplate, trigger guard etc I ordered through Track of the Wolf. I did reshape the trigger guard to more closely resemble originals. The lock was an old L&R that I swapped the hammer out on to look more authentic. The triggers are also L&R which I reshaped and tuned. I was fortunate to come across the Bill Large barrel still in the white with a Hawken breech that he also made. The forward pipes I made for the 1/2 " ramrod which is also tapered. The stock is from a slab of maple I had purchased some time ago for stock wood. I based the stock profile from the Moses White Hawken rifle.
I would check out Track of the wolf and Muzzleloader builders supply. Also Upper Missouri River Trading Company has pretty good Hawken buttplate and trigger guard castings. If you any other questions please just ask.
Thank you for the help. I will take your advice.
 
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