Christian's Spring Rifle build (RCA #43)

[Chowmif16]

I just got back tonight from the NMLRA Gunsmithing workshop at WKU in Kentucky.

My class was with Jack Brooks, making a Christian's Spring rifle from a blank. I'm doing a rifle based on #43 from RCA.
Blank was from Dunlop's, barrel and ramrod inlet by Mark Wheland. Barrel is from Ed Rayl, .54 Cal, 44 inches and a copy of the barrel from Oerter's "Griffin Rifle" from the Christian's Spring shop.

It's my first rifle from a blank, so progress was slow. I learned an awful lot, and the learning curve was pretty steep.

Here's the barrel in the blank:
IMG_0169 by chowmif16, on Flickr

Here's the forestock, just bandsawed and filed to rough square dimensions, with the tang inlet:

IMG_0170 by chowmif16, on Flickr

Since that photo, I have the fore-end reasonably close to final dimensions and close in shape. Still needs to get a bit skinnier.

Here is the butt, patchbox side:
IMG_0172 by chowmif16, on Flickr

It's close, but needs a bit of tweaking.

Here is the cheek rest side, with a bit of work still left to do:
IMG_0171 by chowmif16, on Flickr

As you might see, I went a bit out of normal order building the rifle. Lock plate is not inlet yet. I chose not to inlet the lock, instead to concentrate on stock shaping in the butt and fore-end, because I have not done that before. I do know how to inlet a lock, so saved that for home.

I now have two builds on the go at the same time, so have not decided whether I will continue with this one, or go back to my Isaac Haines pre-carve from Chambers. Probably the pre- carve, and then see if I can make progress on the Christian's Spring rifle prior to next year at the seminar.

Cheers,
Chowmi

 

[wattlebuster]

Looking good so far :thumbsup:

 

[Swamp Rat]

Real nice thanks for sharing.

 

[galamb]

I think you will find, once you have completed this, that "working from a blank" will become your preferred method.

While as you note, it will be slower going at first, and you may have a tendency to "do things out of order" (you will correct that in future builds, because a standard building order does make sense and ends up saving you time in the long run), the amount of (freedom) doing it "your way" as opposed to working with a job that's half done by someone else, is less tedious and more rewarding.

Looking good so far

 

[kaintuck]

You'll like the final rifle, I did one, still haven't got to shoot mine, but I got a brass lock from barbie chambers....pretty cool looks.
Have fun carving that griffen!!! :hatsoff:
Marc n tomtom

 

[MSW]

looks great!

keep us posted, and send in more pictures

:thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[Chowmif16]

Graham,
you are right about the flexibility gained in working from a blank. I suspect I will do this on future builds.
The decision not to inlet the lock in class was deliberate, in order to maximize learning about shaping the stock in the last few days of the class. Next time, I will inlet the lock in the proper sequence.

Kaintuck,
Hope yours shoots well,
I am not doing the Griffin Rifle. I was far too intimidated by the carving. I chose #43 from RCA which is almost definitely from the same shop in Christian's Spring, and likely 5-10 years earlier in time. The stock profile is almost an exact match to the Griffin Rifle, and it's likely the same pattern was used from the same shop.
#43 has much less intricate carving, and I will eventually be good enough at it to try it on this rifle.
I used the copy of the Griffin Rifle barrel because it seems to be a good representation of the original barrel on #43. Following the contours of the swamp on the barrel has yielded almost identical stock dimensions to those measured on the original.

Not sure if I will work on this anytime soon. I don't want to do two builds simultaneously, so will probably shelve it for a bit and work on the Isaac Haines.

Cheers,
Chowmi

 

[dave_person]

Hi Chowmif,
I always inlet the lock after I have rough shaped the lock panel areas. I work from my drawings so I know in advance where everything is going. By waiting on the lock, I have removed a lot of the excess wood that makes inletting the lock more of a chore and often causes inletting mistakes. I don't inlet trigger guards and toe plates until the stock is final shaped. I don't even make my side plates until the lock panels are fully shaped and then I make a plate that fits the space.

dave