Anyone have a TRS Baker flintlock rifle?

[Tobee]

Have a friend who had his TRS Ferguson in the closet for a while. Said he messed up some inletting and needed to order another stock. He was happy with how the rifle turned out in the end though. Me, after the looking over the newly arrived Baker kit, immediately ordered and built two Pedersoli kits. I'll admit to procrastination, lol.

I suppose mild email reminders to TRS couldn't hurt.

 

[Scota@4570]

I recently bought two Baker parts sets. A month ago they had done an run and had some for sale. I am in the finishing stage of the first one.

My biggest take away is that is not a beginner kit. The stock is a precarve done on a pantograph. I was able to inlet the first on with out any ugly gaps. There was one spot on the front of the trigger guard they did to fat. IT is not bad enough to require patching. Pantograph precarve stocks are notorious hard to work with.

The barrel is round. The taper is a bit wonkie. That could be blocked and filed to be dead straight. The round barrel makes doing all the dovetails straight challenging. I went off the tang extension for the bottom lugs. The sights required more creativity. I glued a parallel to the top of the barrel that referenced the, average of the lock, side panel and butplate screws. I do all dovetails on a milling machine.

The barrel has fairly shallow grooves. I think that will be better. I can't wait to find out.

The bayonet lug is supposed to be sliver soldered or brazed onto the barrel. I got cold feet and soft soldered it. I will not be fencing with it and I did not want to risk scaling the bore.

The casings are rough looking but do clean up into usable parts. Every surface of everything required filing and finishing. I did not have to repair any casings. I did stick a drill bit in the patch box hinge which required significant cussing and a creative repair.

The vent requires significantly notching the plug face. You can not use a liner easily. There is no way around putting the vent in the plug threads. I personally hate that but it is authentic.

One lock was bought assembled. IT required a fair amount of TLC. I assembled the other. My job is nicer, more precise and has a crisper, play free operation. I have time, they build to a price point, both locks work. I did have trouble getting the frizzen hot enough when case hardening. It finally cracked due to my error. They sent me a new frizzen free.

I got a spot on to the original parts set of rough parts cast and shaped from original parts. I was able to make a spot on replica to the original. TRS provided a blueprint.

The folks at TRS are knowledgeable, kind and patient.

You are not getting a Kibler kit. I say "kit" because those are nearly perfect as you get them. TRS sells "parts sets" that require much more skill and experience.

Call them if interested they may still have some ready to ship.

 

[Larks]

All this Baker talk around here lately has me fired up.
Planning on getting a Baker as the “last gun I’ll ever buy.” The question is which one - not that there are (surprisingly) a lot of Baker manufacturers.
The only ones I am aware of are Indian imports (smoothbore), Pedersoli (tentatively in 2023) and finally TRS though someone said they had to wait two years(!).
Anyone own a TRS Baker? How do you like it? How long did you wait?

If it is of interest: I contacted Pedersoli Australia to enquire about Pedersoli producing a Baker Rifle and received the following response (I’m sure.....I hope.....they won’t mind me copying it here for general information):

"Pedersoli have in their possession an original Baker Rifle recently acquired. I have seen a Pix of it.

It has always been stated that they would only make the Baker if they had an example of one of them.

I have no idea if they have proposed to manufacture as yet but I would suspect it highly improbable in the short term due to the fact that they are having difficulties in acquiring raw materials for current production and have many backorders.

I have firearms that have been on backorder for up to 18 months.

Rest assured, if and when they become available, I will be bringing them in."

 

[John Spartan]

Ah buzzkill. Well hope blooms eternal!
Luckily I have plenty of other muzzleloader stuff to keep me busy. Probably have too much stuff as it is! Save me a lot of money if it doesn’t happen I’m sure.

 

[Larks]

The vent requires significantly notching the plug face. You can not use a liner easily. There is no way around putting the vent in the plug threads. I personally hate that but it is authentic.

Did you have difficulty lining the vent up with the V notch that is “supposedly” pre-cut into the plug? The plug on my barrel is fitted and firm so I’m loath to remove it to check for the notch and I haven’t yet tried to locate and drill the vent.

 

[Scota@4570]

No, the plug comes with a smooth face. It is fitted with the hooked breech tang in a earlier part of the build, the very first step in my case. Toward the end, the vent is located and drilled. The drill marks the plug threads. Go slowly here, you defiantly do not want to have the bit jam and break off. The plug is removed. The notch is then filed with a round file down to the mark from the vent drill. I did not make a V-notch, as with a triangular file. I polished the notch to eliminate all file marks. The plug is then reinstalled. The plug is timed to the flat on the barrel for the lock fence. The tang has a corresponding flat that was previously filed, or milled, to match perfectly. I check for alignment by running my finger nail over the seam and index the plug to make it perfect again.

I never use index marks to line up plugs. I use the method I described above. I do the same with the top flat of an octagon barrel. Once you file them to be one, you have a perfect index reference.

 

[Larks]

Sorry about the thread drift and thanks Scota, though does that mean that the drawings are wrong? Mine shows the V notch as having been cut so I had not intended to remove the breech plug, trusting that the drawings are correct...... Did your drawings show the same and prove to be incorrect on removal of the plug?

 

[FlinterNick]

I helped a friend out with a Baker Lock assembly, musket bore lock.

If you have TRS assemble the lock, you’ll have to add 12-18 months to your wait time.

The rumor is they’re going increase their assembled lock prices to over $500

 

[bud in pa]

Some years back there were some fellows with a Baker rifle demonstration. The balls that they were using had a leather patch sewn onto them. They claimed that this was the military load for this gun. I would have loved to see someone sew leather patches on that ball!

 

[Scota@4570]

I have the same blueprint. My plug was not installed. I got a bunch of as cast parts rough looking parts, nothing was done for me, including assembling the lock on the second parts set. I do gun work to an obsessive level of quality and attention to detail. If I see something I can do better, I do so. I made the vent notch round for easier cleaning. The file was about 0.2" diameter. Maybe that was a mistake, I am not sure. I have seen many pictures of notched vents. They seem to be mostly round. I did not want a plain vent and notched plug. Once I got into it I found I had not practical choice.

Do yours however you want. I have no idea how TRS does the vent. Sounds like you should consider emailing TRS and asking Jess.

 

[Cubreac]

This is a good history of the Baker.

 

[Cubreac]

According to Balazs Nemeth in EARLY MILITARY RIFLES (Osprey, 2020), the original rifle units of the British Army were armed with "jaeger style" firearms in the 1740s. The mostly German 62nd Foot (The Royal American) carried Jaeger rifles in the French and Indian Wars.

 

[Larks]

Sounds like you should consider emailing TRS and asking Jess.

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be not much point in that, TRS haven’t responded to any of my emails since Oct 2020.....

 

[Bureau1]

Got my TRS Baker kit a few weeks ago. I had previously put together 3 Harper's Ferry Pistols for my son's and was working on a Kibler Colonial at the time for practice. Very pleased with the Baker. I had my lock assembled and I'm glad I did. I've completed installing the butt plate, patch box, tang, pipes and nose cap (I'm sure there's a proper name for it). Working on inletting the trigger plate. I'm trying to take some pictures of the build and hope to put together some notes to go along with it. If you plan to get a TRS Baker schematic. Its super handy along with the DeWitt book.

 

[Scota@4570]

Sadly there doesn’t seem to be not much point in that, TRS haven’t responded to any of my emails since Oct 2020.....

Call them then. Jane answers the phone promptly. She also returns emails. Check your email address. IT make no sense that they are dodging customers. That is not my experience at all.

Jane Melot
www.therifleshoppe.com
The Rifle Shoppe, Inc
870740 S HWY 177
Wellston OK 74881
405-356-2583
405-356-9663 Fax

 

[Scota@4570]

I have a TRS Baker, now. Just finished.

 

[Felix the Cat]

Just finished my Baker, which is now on it's way down to the Proof House!

Quite pleased at how the lock came out of the case hardening process...

 

[Larks]

Just finished my Baker, which is now on it's way down to the Proof House!



Quite pleased at how the lock came out of the case hardening process...

Oh that is a very nice job, well done!! I look forward to hearing how it shoots.

 

[Jason holgate]

Yeah......no

 

[Penske]

Fantastic job on the TRS kit! I know what effort you put into the kit having completed one (M1776 rifle) and working on a 1756 artillery carbine currently. Well done.