New project planned......

[GANGGREEN]

So, while deer hunting the other day, I broke the first rifle I ever built from a raw blank. To make a long story short, I lowered it down from my climbing tree stand and when I hopped down from the tree stand at the ground, I hadn't taken into account that the ground slopes away from the tree on that side. I didn't hurt myself, but stumbled and rolled when I hit the ground. I didn't feel the rifle underneath me at all and didn't even think of it until I got up, dusted myself off and got ready to leave. When I reached down to grab it and untie the rope, I felt sick at what I saw. The rifle was completely broke through the wrist, trigger, lock and sideplate panels, etc.. I haven't torn it down to parts yet (today), but I think the barrel is fine, the tang/breech plug is fine, the double set triggers, triggerguard, lock, etc. are all fine. The sideplate is wrecked, but who cares, that's easily replaceable.

The good news is that this rifle did have some warts and I had really been planning on selling it to pay for an upcoming project build, so I can't say that I was completely crushed, but it still sucks and obviously I've lost the value of the gun. I decided immediately to rebuild it and initially planned something in a late Lancaster style with either a very fine curly maple stock or perhaps a neat curly cherry stock blank that I have in the shop. The more I've thought about it, the more I'm inclined to make it an Appalachian barn gun of sorts though. Seems like if it's reborn from being basically destroyed, it's tough enough and should be a bad-ass of sorts.

So, I've decided to try to do it in American chestnut to make it a wholly unique, wholly American mountain rifle. I have some "new" American chestnut in my shop, but I don't believe I have a piece that's thick enough for a gunstock, even a southern style stock, so I'll use a piece of reclaimed wormy Chestnut that I have. It looks fairly stable and I THINK it will work for this project. I haven't decided what shape to pattern the gun after. I kind of like the idea of a "Hatfield" rifle, but I don't have a pattern rifle and don't know that I can find blueprints anywhere. I suppose I could work something out, but might just do a more general SMR or TN style gun instead. Leaning towards not using a buttplate, but adding an antler/bone piece on the comb of the butt and an antler toe piece. I'll likely pour a pewter nosecap, maybe something with a spiral design or something and I'm leaning towards coloring the pewter a black or "blued" color, although I'm not sure how to go about that yet. I'll do steel ramrod pipes and may or may not include a steel entry thimble. I'll likely pin the barrel and if I use a sideplate, it will likely be a small TN or southern style job made out of Mammoth ivory. I'll add an inlay of the man on the moon or a hunter's star of Mammoth ivory above the cheekpiece and if a hunter's star, perhaps I'll alternate the ivory with buffalo horn, African blackwood or something else dark for contrast.

We'll see. What I'm envisioning will be a cool rifle (oh, it's a .50 B-weight, 38" Colerain barrel for what it's worth), but we'll see if it's going to work. I have multiple projects that I'm already working on and my shop is unheated, so I don't work out there much in the winter anyway. I'll likely take this blank and barrel to Dave Keck at Knob Mountain in the next few weeks and see if he thinks it's going to work, but I won't get to the actual building until at least April or May of 2021 and maybe not that soon (I have a Chamber's IH kit on the bench now and have a late Lancaster and a Twigg fowler already at Keck's being inlet, plus pistols that are almost done for my sons' Christmas presents). I'll post again when/if I get the barrel inlet and get started on the project. I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

[GANGGREEN]

And, for what it's worth, while it did have its warts, it was a dandy hunting rifle. I have much "nicer" rifles, but I often grab this one because it's light, handy, easy to still-hunt with and it's very quick and reliable and shoots accurately. Hopefully the new gun will be just as handy and reliable as the old one but prettier.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I deer hunt with the first rifle I built, I have carried it for 7 or 8 years through thick and thin and all the dings on the stock show it. I prefer to hunt with "old faithful" instead of one of my prettier guns that are more pristine, this gun even has the finish lightened on the cheekpiece, wrist and forearm from use, it was not built that way to look old.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Yep. I try to use a rotation since my rifles all shoot well and some of them are joyful to carry, but this one's been the most reliable and comfortable to hunt with. I'm sure the new version will be as fast and reliable and there's no reason why it shouldn't be as accurate either.

I deer hunt with the first rifle I built, I have carried it for 7 or 8 years through thick and thin and all the dings on the stock show it. I prefer to hunt with "old faithful" instead of one of my prettier guns that are more pristine, this gun even has the finish lightened on the cheekpiece, wrist and forearm from use, it was not built that way to look old.

 

[user 48679]

That's as bad as losing yer dog - Condolences...…...

 

[GANGGREEN]

By way of an update, I did tear the rifle down to parts this morning. The sideplate was bent up, but can be straightened and re-used (I probably won't use it on the rebuild because it's brass and I don't wish to use brass and want to build a southern, TN or mountain rifle on the rebuild anyway, so no brass). The tang screw was bent to the point where I had a hard time getting it out of the triggerplate. Otherwise, everything is fine. I was pleased to find that after clearing the loaded ball that the bore was like a mirror, absolutely like a new rifle, which pleased me greatly. No reason why the rebuild won't be as fast and deadly as the original.

 

[Treestalker]

Years ago, some guys built a poor boy southern rifle with a plain stock, deer antler sideplate, heelplate and nosecap and presented it to Gov. Alexander of Tennessee. It was a really cool looking backwoods squirrel gun, and if you can find a picture of it, it might be what you want to emulate.

 

[Roundball2319]

Best of luck. I have similar plans for an old renegade that I have.

 

[GANGGREEN]

That sounds interesting and I'd surely like to see the rifle, but after a quick internet search, I came up blank. If anyone has it or knows where to find a photo, I'd be happy to see it.

After cleaning the barrel and the breech plug up, I reshaped and re-polished the tang before attaching it to the barrel again and I'm ready to go again. Just need to decide if it's going to be the Chestnut blank and get it to Dave Keck for barrel inletting.

Years ago, some guys built a poor boy southern rifle with a plain stock, deer antler sideplate, heelplate and nosecap and presented it to Gov. Alexander of Tennessee. It was a really cool looking backwoods squirrel gun, and if you can find a picture of it, it might be what you want to emulate.

 

[Treestalker]

That sounds interesting and I'd surely like to see the rifle, but after a quick internet search, I came up blank. If anyone has it or knows where to find a photo, I'd be happy to see it.

After cleaning the barrel and the breech plug up, I reshaped and re-polished the tang before attaching it to the barrel again and I'm ready to go again. Just need to decide if it's going to be the Chestnut blank and get it to Dave Keck for barrel inletting.

Where can one obtain some chestnut?

 

[GANGGREEN]

I happen to have a very small stash of "new stock" American chestnut as I had a really large tree on my property that succumbed to the blight only recently at roughly 80 years of age. Aside from that, it's practically and functionally extinct, but there are guys who are reclaiming Chestnut from barns and other buildings and you can purchase blanks as such. I paid $100 recently for a nice blank that will make at least one, maybe two longrifles, should I decide to use it in this manner.

For what it's worth, I also have a house filled with Chestnut furniture and accessories from that same tree. I had a hoosier cabinet built for my wife, a 7' dining room table, a coffee table that I made, blanket chests built for my sons by a beloved uncle and numerous picture frames, turkey calls and other small pieces. I also have a cool stool in the living room made from a "cookie" from the stump and I have a similar and larger cookie still available for a similar project. We're about to start stage-2 of a home renovation and I'm strongly considering making our enclosed front porch the "Chestnut room" and doing floors and walls or ceiling in reclaimed Chestnut.

I also know where another very large, ancient American chestnut is claimed to be and I've been told by the folks who manage the land that I can purchase it when/if it dies, so hopefully I'll come into another stash of the lumber at some point.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I hate to hear horror stories like this. Is it possible that all the pieces can put the rifle back together and be almost good as new? Of course, the glue lines will show and refinishing will be in order, but that's a lot less work than building a whole new gun.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Given that I was never completely happy with the gun, it's not the horror story that it seems to be. When I broke the gun down into parts yesterday, the only things keeping it in one piece were the lock bolts and tang bolt and as soon as they were removed, it fell apart. I presume that it would be possible to repair it, but it would be a really large repair and probably require a bunch of epoxy, pins, etc. etc. and given how thin it is and how little wood there is through the lock panels and wrist, I just don't see it. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about the idea for the new build, although it's just in the queue along with a few other guns (.50 flint late Lancaster with Getz barrel, 24 gauge fowler with sitting fox barrel, Chamber's Isaac Haines kit and probably a TN squirrel rifle with a .36 Getz barrel).

I hate to hear horror stories like this. Is it possible that all the pieces can put the rifle back together and be almost good as new? Of course, the glue lines will show and refinishing will be in order, but that's a lot less work than building a whole new gun.

 

[tenngun]

Restocking a gun was common, and many guns don’t fit a school when this was done.
Many southern style were brass mounted, and a lot of guns were compleatly mismatched.

 

[Davey Boy]

So instead of wood, brass was used as the entire stock ? Was brass used at the junction of trigger, lock, and barrel ?

 

[Grenadier1758]

No, not the whole stock. Brass fixtures were mounted on the wood stock. The Mounts were the brass trigger guard, butt plate, toe plate, thimbles for the ram rod and the nose cap.