next project- F&I war era rifle

[rich pierce]

My next project will be patterned after an early rifle, pictured in Shumway's Rifles of Colonial America, volume 1, as #40. Wallace Gusler believes this gun is of F&I War vintage, as does Shumway. It's unusual in that the trigger guard has no bow- it's open like some "jaegers". The other unusual feature is that the nosecap is really a noseband- a narrow band of brass set back from the very tip of the forestock. Should be a fun build. I'm going with a .58 Getz barrel, 38" long, and a Chambers Germanic lock. I'll make the mounts except the trigger guard (I like making parts). I'll make the trigger guard by modifying a Reeves Goehring casting. The carving is incised on the original but might come out as low relief on this one. I'll keep ya posted. I'll use moderately curly maple- the original was plain maple but some curl never hurt, right? It will be a "spec gun"- no customer yet, but I have a hankering to build it. I've got 3-4 guns I feel the need to build and not enough time to do it!

 

[LSU TIGER]

Sounds like a cool project. To add :m2c: , I'd use Chamber's "gun maker's" lock and a pattern with a bit less curve. I used the Germanic lock and I had trouble getting it to fit the stock pattern because the plate's so curved. I had to tip the tail of the lock up a good bit. And, BTW, I have a pattern I'll share. Here's a shot of a lock I used the pattern on.

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[rich pierce]

Thanks for the tip- I have one of those gunmaker's lock kits from Chambers. The bolster is thinner on the Siler gunmaker's lock than on the Germanic and the overall mass seems less, would change the thickness of the gun at the lock panels. I do wish I could lose some of the curve though. And I need to go w/o a frizzen bridle. That's possible but not automatic with the gunmaker's lock kit.