Hello all,
I have always wanted to build one of my own flint longrifles, so I purchased a kit from Track of the Wolf. It's an Isaac Haines in 54. I have done lots of reading in 'Recreating the American Longrifle and The Gunsmith of Grenville County'. Both are excellent books and I have learned a lot.
I bought a kit because I figured most of the hard work would be done for me and I'm sure it has in some respects. I got the kit tonight and nearly everything is inlet already. To the naked eye, the barrel channel looks perfect and the stock is already a terrific shape. Here's a Link to the kit
Anyway, to make things easier on myself, I opted to have the sights and barrel lugs and breech plug installed. The work looks superb.
I guess where I'm stuck is where should I begin? I think the fact that this is already totally pre-inlet, etc. that it may put things in a different order. Normally, I would think you'd make sure the barrel fits first. However, the breech plug is already installed. I'm not sure I could remove it and do as good a job as they did re-installing it. As you can see in my pictures, the breech plug / tang area has not been routed out. Any tips? With a blank, you can always make up for something somewhat off, but with a fully formed stock, you've really got to get it right.
Second question... I got a Jim Chambers lock for it. For the most part, it seems like it is fitting well, but is askew a bit. I will definitely have to fit it in. Only issue is that they've already pre-inlet the side plate, so if I don't get the lock inletted perfectly then the sideplate will be way off! Aah!!
Anyway, I hope some of this makes sense. Here are some pics to help show what I'm describing. Any insight for a gun building newbie would be greatly appreciated!
Breech and barrel fitting:
Lock:
Sideplate:
Breech area in stock:
:hatsoff:
I have always wanted to build one of my own flint longrifles, so I purchased a kit from Track of the Wolf. It's an Isaac Haines in 54. I have done lots of reading in 'Recreating the American Longrifle and The Gunsmith of Grenville County'. Both are excellent books and I have learned a lot.
I bought a kit because I figured most of the hard work would be done for me and I'm sure it has in some respects. I got the kit tonight and nearly everything is inlet already. To the naked eye, the barrel channel looks perfect and the stock is already a terrific shape. Here's a Link to the kit
Anyway, to make things easier on myself, I opted to have the sights and barrel lugs and breech plug installed. The work looks superb.
I guess where I'm stuck is where should I begin? I think the fact that this is already totally pre-inlet, etc. that it may put things in a different order. Normally, I would think you'd make sure the barrel fits first. However, the breech plug is already installed. I'm not sure I could remove it and do as good a job as they did re-installing it. As you can see in my pictures, the breech plug / tang area has not been routed out. Any tips? With a blank, you can always make up for something somewhat off, but with a fully formed stock, you've really got to get it right.
Second question... I got a Jim Chambers lock for it. For the most part, it seems like it is fitting well, but is askew a bit. I will definitely have to fit it in. Only issue is that they've already pre-inlet the side plate, so if I don't get the lock inletted perfectly then the sideplate will be way off! Aah!!
Anyway, I hope some of this makes sense. Here are some pics to help show what I'm describing. Any insight for a gun building newbie would be greatly appreciated!
Breech and barrel fitting:
Lock:
Sideplate:
Breech area in stock:
:hatsoff: