hi tower japanese replica

Just got a one of those old Japanese Hi Tower flintlock replica, barrel has some patina(light rust) and the frizzen spring's little tab is broken off, inside of the lock looks bad and it wont even move, however whomever put it together did a really good job on the stock.
I have a few of these and customized one of them. The parts seem to be ok, it shoots like a dream if you like to clear a deck using buckshot( I used glass chard about the size of bird shot) but at 5-15 ft. is pretty accurate when you use a ball.
Any feedback on these? positive or negative would be welcome. Specially if you owned one.

 

[mazo kid]

They are fun to shoot; we have a "duel" shoot at a rendezvous that I attend and the guns are the Japanese Tower pistols. Only downside I see is that parts are non existent now that Dixie has run out. If anyone knows of any lock parts, I would like to hear about them.

 

[Many Klatch]

I had a pair that needed reworking so they would shoot. Since I wasn't dealing with anything that was valuable I was able to "make" parts fit. With a little judicious Dremel work and some filing I was able to fit a Siler frizzen and mainspring to one of them and a new Siler frizzen spring to the other. It was just a matter of removing material that was in the way and drilling a couple of new holes. The lock parts aren't hardened so a lot of shooting will require wholesale lock rebuilding.

I also removed a great quantity of wood and then sanded and painted them black. With a little sandpaper and oil they looked moderately adequate.

Many Klatch

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

I picked up a kit that had never been built, likely because the frizzen spring was snapped in half. Tried both large and small Siler frizzen springs but found the feather to be a little too short even though the screw hole and tab lined up perfectly. I ended up buying a spring blank from DGW and cut it to fit with a Dremel tool and file. I had to then temper the spring. It's a little weak but holds the frizzen closed just fine.

Shot the gun at a rondy pistol match this weekend. It shoots VERY high at any range. A point blank gun with ball and a bird shot gun at best but fun to shoot.

 

[rafterob]

My brother had one we used to shoot and it seems like it went off most of the time. We could hit a 12" target at 15-20 yards no problem. Once we were out in the Arizona desert looking for something to shoot at. Found a piece of plywood and leaned it up against a rock. Took my shot and I heard that .69 ball whiz about 4" past my ear as it bounced off that plywood. We both decided that maybe that wasn't the best target.

 

wow!

 

[Zonie]

Kinda gives new meaning to "You'll shoot your eye out!", doesn't it?

Your experience isn't unique.

A lot of people have made the mistake of using a fairly thick piece of plywood to hold their targets and found that light to medium target loads often don't fully penetrate it with a roundball.

 

[KABAR2]

I have reworked a few of these in past years so they would work as 18th C. light dragoon pistols the pattern that was copied by the Japanese was a model 1805 tower pistol.... What I have done with them is first thin the wood along barrel remove brass ramrod pipe and steel rammer place a single pipe half way up the forearm and add wood rammer
lock work... well years ago I had a ton of original internal parts so I would replace all the internals with good working sets... most times I had to shrink the tumbler hole the only other thing I had to do is cut the front web out of the re-enforce on the cock and re-contour to give the correct look..... If I remember next time I am over to a friends house I'll take some photos of the one I did for him....

 

[Gatofeo]

Sounds like fun.

Yeah, years ago I tried birdshot in my .36 and .44 cap and ball revolvers, with a big sheet of paper taped to 3/4" plywood.
First shot, at 20 feet, I got hit with shot and I heard one tick off my glasses.
After that, I shot at an angle to the board.
I've resolved since that when I try shotloads, in any pistol (modern or black powder), I use the heavy cardboard from a refrigerator as backing.
Not much chance of it bouncing back. I tape my paper sheets to that.
You can only use it on calm days, but it's so much safer. I use an old, folding nylon campchair to hold it upright, with the cardboard leaned against the chairback.
I suppose you could tape it to the chair with duct tape, but I've never found the need on a calm day.

 

[ronnie_kennedy]

Glad to know i am not the only one! I also have a .69 caliber. Tried to shoot a section of 2x6 at a buddy's house. Bounced back somewhere....Just glad it didn't hit me. I can however, validate that my gun will obliterate a brick!

 

Please any pictures or suggestions you might have would be appreciated. I can't seem to stop wanting to tinker with them.The last one I purchased was not broken after all, it had been put together wrong, the inside of the lock is different then the others I have,no wire springs only leaf.

 

[flibuste]

here is a japan replica before modifications :

and after I modified it :

and shooting at 25 meters :

9 balls in 10 punched the paper and it was with cal65 rolling balls which is not optimate. If I had (patched) cal63 balls, result should improve a lot............

Not so bad for a brule-pourpoint pistol !!!!!!!!

 

[Zonie]

Have you tried using some .010 thick patches with your .65 cal roundballs?

If your pistol is a .67 caliber that .650 diameter roundball plus a .010 thick cloth patch on each side of it will give it an effective diameter of .670.
That would make it a snug, easy to ram fit and there would be no danger of the ball rolling away from the powder charge.

As you know, tight patches help with a rifles accuracy but with a pistol, especially a smoothbore pistol, tight patches will only result in frustration.
A snug patch fit will help the pistols accuracy.

 

[kmolett]

Trying to find one of these to work on. I want to try and rework one like the pics above.

Kevin