.32 build ideas?

[weum817]

I just ordered a .32cal rice swamped squirrel barrel 42"
now I am unsure of what I want it to look like. it's prob going to be left handed so I am limited on locks. right now I'm leaning toward the L&R manton lock.
I know I want a pretty decent piece of sugar maple.
As for the butt plate and trigger guard I'm undecided
I like a butt plate without a lot of curve. kind of like the early Lancaster look. but I'm not sure about brass or iron mounted yet..
I can't seem to find many pictures of squirrel rifles online , other than CVA and other commercial looking guns.
Any pic's or websites would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[galamb]

How about a nice, simple southern mountain style..

 

[Cpl. Ashencheeks]

+1 on the above.

If I were going to build a .32 particularly for use on squirrels, I would consider a 'Poor Boy' Southern mountain design.

This would be one of my dream rifles for later, and then after that I would want another in a little more dressy trim.

 

[MSW]

I like Galamb's suggestion... simple and straightforward ...

 

[Brokennock]

Nice rifle, but, I do believe the o.p. said he did not want a deeply curved butt plate. Something I've been wondering about as well as I ponder a .32 or .36 caliber small game rifle, and also don't like curved butt plates.

 

[gunmaker43]

Don't want a crescent BP ? this is far out on a limb, but how bout an English "Rook" rifle, flat shotgun BP, iron or brass.
They used those on small game for hunting around the place. Flintlocks to modern, they still making em...Tom

 

[Don Steele]

You might take a look at some of the North Carolina schools at this link: http://www.northcarolinalongrifles.com/longrifles.html

Some of those rifles don't have the deeply curved buttplate you wish to avoid. I'm not sure about known calibers however. As previously suggested, small calibers seem to be more prevalent in the Southern Mountain styles...which also feature that deep curve. I recently handled a rifle the builder referred to as a "Late Lancaster" which had a 42" swamped, .32 caliber Green Mountain "A" profile barrel on it. It REALLY felt good...in fact might just be the next rifle I own. When I was telling one of my buddies about it, he immediately informed me that .32 caliber "isn't really appropriate" for the Lancaster school rifles. Told him I don't care...I LIKE it. :thumbsup:

 

[frogwalking]

It is your rifle. Put any kind of buttplate on it that you want. I am building my grand daughter a small hunting rifle with a light 31 1/2 inch .40 swamped barrel that will be proportioned like a fowler. (fowler furniture too)

Some guns I build as much like the old ones a possible, others I build however it suits me.

 

[frogwalking]

Oh. Right now I am building a reasonable facsimile of a Lancaster rifle that might have been made by Jacob Sees, except....it is .32 caliber.

 

[Chevythunderman]

Just like the .32 I built in a hawken earlier this year. Its not wrong if its your gun and you enjoy it....imo....

 

[Shifty]

I would like to see a picture of the little Hawken sounds like a real Jewel,I love Hawkens.

 

[Pete G]

Take care and do your research on whatever style you decide on. If you are not going to build something that is authentic you might as well just buy a production piece. It is very easy to mis-match parts and end up with a rifle that, although a good shooter, looks like Johnny Cash's car.

 

[galamb]

I would like to see a picture of the little Hawken sounds like a real Jewel,I love Hawkens.

Don't want to hijack the thread here, but here is the working pic that I used for my 38 cal Sam Hawken Squirrel rifle. The rifle in the pic is "original" but doctored to my personal scale measurements.

And a second one, same style, built for a Francis Dieckmann - it was somewhere in the 36 to 43 caliber range (my memory is failing now and there was two surviving rifles, almost identical but different "small" calibers that Sam built for this guy).

A good number of these rifles survived. They typically had a 30-32" barrel (but at least one was 39"), they were all 43 caliber or less and they only had one barrel key often with a poured pewter nose cap (but nothing was cast in stone).

 

[weum817]

I have decided to go with a L&R left hand manton lock and iron mounted.
I need to find a correct butt plate and trigger gaurd now.
Any suggestions

 

[Pete G]

Iron mounts pretty much tie you to Southern Mountain style. I realize that you stated that you didn't like the crescent buttplate, so maybe you should look at a "Poorboy" style with no buttplate. Think about using a plain iron toeplate and maybe a piece of antler at the heel. As far as a good guard, I have used the hand forged one from TOW, but it had to be modified somewhat because it was so large. I put sort of a reverse curve in the front leg to lower the main bow closer to the stock and file some flats on the bow so the edges wouldn't look quite so crude.

The Manton would be a good choice for a lock as would the L&R Durs Egg. Both are the correct English locks that are good for this style rifle. They are basically the same lock, varying only a little in size. The Manton is sometimes referred to as a "Baby Durs Egg". Generally a larger lock is a little less fussy to keep running well, and the Durs Egg lock uses 3/4" flints, which will usually throw a few more sparks than the 5/8" flint that the Manton takes, but by all accounts they are both pretty good locks.

 

[Shifty]

Sounds very nice.

 

[weum817]

What years would be correct for .32 cal squirrel flintlock rifles? I can't find any pictures of original rifles to copy, do you know any good places to look? Thanks William

 

[Pete G]

I would think that a Tennessee styled squirrel rifle would fall mainly in what is called the Late Flint period, somewhere around 1820 give or take a few years.

Check out the virtual museum on the American Longrifles website.

 

[weum817]

I'm still struggling on a butt plate and trigger guard for .32 squirrel rifle. I cant seem to find many pics online to get ideas from.
Does anyone mind sharing pics of their .32 builds? and maybe what butt plate you used and where you got it?
I don't like the really curved Tenn. butt plates.
thanks, William

I have Rice 42" Squirrel profile barrel and a L&R Manton lock.

 

[excess650]

Build it without a buttplate. It'll be lighter. If you're worried about wear from it standing on the butt, inlet a piece of metal into the heel.