Left Hand build

[Staggerwing]

I am a left hander, new to traditional muzzleloading. My wife bought me a beautiful curly maple full length stock and a 42" Green Mountain .50 cal. barrel for Christmas. The stock is cut for the barrel and ram rod but no other inlets have been cut. Also, a cheek pad has been roughed in for a right handed shooter. There were no stocks available with the cheek pad on the other side of the stock. I'm looking for recommendations on how to proceed. I planned to make this a left handed percussion gun. I don't need a cheek pad but what do I do with the one that's already cut into the stock? I thought about just leaving it. I guess the other option would be to remove it and make the stock symmetrical.
Is it unsafe for a left hander to fire a right handed gun? Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

[BrownBear]

First, hat's off to your great wife.

I'm a lefty too, and I'll come at your questions kinda backwards.

I have no qualms about shooting a righty percussion left handed, but years ago I buried a good sized hunk of flint in just below my right eye shooting a friend's righty flintlock lefthanded. I've got righty flinters and shoot them, but NEVER without shooting glasses.

As for the righty cheek piece, so far I've left them on, figuring if I ever sell some day the new owner is more likely to be a righty than a lefty.

The thing to check, is whether the stock was formed with some cast-off. If it's been done for a righty, that can make it harder to get the gun mounted to your shoulder so the sights line up naturally.

And last, I'm pretty sure there are left handed stocks around. Check with Petaconica, TOW, and TVM for starters, but I'm pretty sure there are more.

 

[J.D.]

Left hand stocks are readily available from other suppliers, just gotta shop around until you find what you want.

These suppliers can provide about anything you want.
http://www.longrifles-pr.com/ http://www.muzzleloaderbuilderssupply.com/ http://www.dunlapwoodcrafts.com/ http://gunstocksplus.com/index.html http://www.gunstockwood.com/

IMHO, I would save the really nice wood for a future project, since first time builders often ruin their first stock, so IMHO, a plain stock is less expensive to make into firewood, than an expensive full curl stock.

IMHO, it is fairly safe to fire a right hand flint gun left handed, so I wouldn't worry about that. IMHO, if you have a stock, you can do almost anything with it...within the parameters of your skills and the amount of wood on the stock blank.

IMHO, there is nothing that says that a longrifle must have a cheek piece, so you can rasp off the existing cheekpiece and make a left handed stock out of it.

I have an original Missouri made half stock with no cheekpiece that has a full profile on the left side of the buttstock, with a slightly flattened area above the centerline that forms a kind of very subtle cheeckrest, so you might have enough wood on your precarve to form a very subtle cheek rest on the right side of the buttstock. If not, then so be it.

The first thing I would do is pick up a coupla books on gunguilding. Alexanders "Gunsmith of Grenville County is pretty good, as is Shumways "Recreating the American Longrifle".

A couple of videos wouldn't hurt either.

You can rent several videos from Smartflix less expensively than buying them, the downside is that you won't have them for reference once you get into your build. However, since renting is cheaper than buying, you can rent several and then buy the ones you like best.
http://smartflix.com/store/category/75/Kits-Scratchbuilt

And since you need to know what something looks like before you can build it, I suggest buying or at least reading as many books on antique rifles as you can get your hands on. Most of the good books are available through inter-library loan, if you don't want to buy them.

Looking at a few web pages, of originals and very good contemporary pieces is a poor second to having the books at hand, but at least there are decent photos at these sites.
http://americanhistoricservices.com/html/home.html
http://kindigrifles.com/ and click on the "available" tab to see some nice originals.


Eric Kettenburg's web page has lots and lots of photos of originals and extremely well done contemporary pieces.
http://web.mac.com/kettenburgs/Site/Home.html

The contemporary blog has lots of nice contemporary work.
http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/


God bless

 

[Staggerwing]

Thanks for the input. Yes, I am confident there are left handed stocks. What I meant to say was at the store close to us they did not have any available. We live close to Cain's Outdoors and they stock all the parts needed to build ML rifles. I have also ordered the book, "The Art of Building The Pennsylvania Longrifle." So I don't intend to do anything before I read this book and do alot of research. The cast-off is a good point. I have not looked closely but I do not believe there is any cast-off built into the stock. I am blessed with a great deal of patience and have done quite a bit of woodworking so I think I have a fighting chance of using this stock without ruining it but I hear what you are saying and will take time to think it over whether or not I want to use this stock for my first time. I love a challenge and I have definitely gotten myself into one. This is an amazing hobby and you all have a great forum to help each other out.
Thank you, J.D., for all the references. I will check them all out.

 

[Zonie]

Although most Pennsylvania or Kentucky rifles have a cheek piece I see nothing really wrong with building a rifle without one.

That explains part of the reason this rifle doesn't have a cheek piece on it.

The other part of the explanation is I got a killer deal on the stock but it was built for a left hand gun, complete with a cheekpiece on the right side of the butt.

I removed the cheekpiece making the butt symmetrical and decided to add a few inlays to make it interesting.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you have a terrific looking piece of wood on that right handed stock, Give Dick Greensides a call at Pecatonica River and see if he won't consider some kind of a swap for one of his pre-carved LHed stocks. I am willing to bet he will match you figured wood for figured wood. He's outside Rockford, Illinois, so he's not quite next door to you. But, he knows his woods, and he's an honest man. He's at Friendship at his booth near the entrance to the main grounds at ever Spring and Fall shoot, which is about half the distance to you. You might talk to him, and then take the stock to him at Friendship to see, and do a deal with him there. He has lots of wood there with him to sell. The only thing that might queer a deal would be if the mortises already cut for the barrel and ramrod do not meet his standards. :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[bioprof]

The parts for a longrifle aren't cheap, so if I was going to build one, I would want to do it correctly and get a left-handed stock to fit myself. The advantage of building it yourself is that you can adjust the trigger pull and customize it to fit your own body.

 

[Staggerwing]

That is a beautiful gun, Zonie. Certainly something I need to consider. I am going to take the stock back to where my wife bought it and discuss it with them as well. I have many options to weigh and alot of research to do before I make a move.
You guys are very talented!

 

[J.D.]

What I meant to say was at the store close to us they did not have any available. We live close to Cain's Outdoors and they stock all the parts needed to build ML rifles.

I have to agree with Bioprof on this one.

Cains should have ordered a left hand stock for you, rather than forcing you to deal with a stock that is not right for you.

IMHO, I would return this stock to Cains and if they won't order what you want, order a left hand stock from one of the suppliers in the links.

God bless

 

[Staggerwing]

I'm not blaming Cains. My wife went there looking for a gift for me with zero knowledge. She did not even think to consider I am left handed and therefore did not tell Cains. I am sure they would be more than happy to order me a left handed stock. This is a gift she picked out for me based on the quality of the wood. I will discuss it with Cains and see what they might do for me. I know when I was in there a month ago, just looking around, they did not have any left handed blanks in stock but I didn't even ask about ordering one.
There's a very few advantages to being left handed but for the most part, it's very frustrating being left handed in a right handed world.

 

[BrownBear]

There's a very few advantages to being left handed but for the most part, it's very frustrating being left handed in a right handed world.

Amen to that. I'd sure be looking for a left handed lock while you're collecting parts. Or carefully picking the best shooting glasses. I had lots of time to ponder the question while they were digging out the flint chard and sewing up my face.

 

[Staggerwing]

Just received my copy of "The Art of Building The Pennsylvania Longrifle" yesterday. Looks like a very good book!

 

[Zonie]

Read it several times.

I know I always learn more each time I read it.

 

[Richard Allen]

I used "Recreating the American Longrifle" to guide me through my first two builds.

I'm working on my third build now and have the parts for the fourth one boxed up and waiting.

I bought "The Gunsmith of Grenville County" about six months ago and have read it several times. In my opinion, Mr. Alexander's book contains all the important information in "Recreating the American Longrifle" and more and explains it in in a way that I can better understand.

My wife gave me "The Art of the Pensylvania Rifle" for Christmas and although it probably was the best reference at the time it was printed, I would not recommend it as the sole source of guidance for someone doing their first build.

Good luck on your build,

Richard/Ga.

 

[Staggerwing]

Thank you for your comments. I will get the two books you reference. I know others have recommended the same two. I'm halfway through my book and it is a good technical book. But, there are a few things that I am unclear on and I'm sure reading two or three different approaches to building these rifles will only improve my chances of success!