Pre Rev re do.

[JohnN]

I have a Pecotonica Pre Revolutionary Kentucky rifle that I built about 20 years ago. Back then all I would do is sand the stock down,assemble the parts and put on a finish. Would like to re do this gun. Will thin down the forearm, do a little carving around the lock,put on a better finish and maybe a wooden patch box. The stock is like a combo rifle and fusil. It has a cheekpiece but the area under the butt is rounded like a fusil or fowler. Most rifles I have seen are flat. Should I flatten this area out ?

 

[Elnathan]

I suspect that removing the wood necessary to create a flat will screw up the profile of the wrist and butt. Also, flat-toed buttplates tend to be a teardrop shaped than do round-toed plates, I think. It would not just be a matter of filing of the toe.

Hard to say without pics, but I'd be inclined to just leave it.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Why don't you do a metal PB instead? You might have enough wood for a wooden PB, and then again you might not. If your build is like most first time builders, you have way too much wood left on there, and probably a breech hump too.

 

[JohnN]

 

[JohnN]

 

[Col. Batguano]

It's kind of hard to tell what it looks like on the right side from your pictures of the left, but if the wood is profiled coming off the butt plate on the right like it is on the left, it sort of puffs outwardly, making the stock sort of fat there. If that's true, then you probably have enough wood to do a wooden PB.

 

[54ball]

I The stock is like a combo rifle and fusil. It has a cheekpiece but the area under the butt is rounded like a fusil or fowler. Most rifles I have seen are flat. Should I flatten this area out ?

I would not. RCA 119 has a rounded toe with English Fowler furniture.

 

[JohnN]

RCA 119 ? I know I'll kick myself when you tell me.

 

[54ball]

Rifles in Colonial America by Shumway. In the old edition it was atributed as a Virginia Gun. Now it is thought to have been made in Pa by Newcomer.

It's very fusil like but with a full octagonal bbl, wood box and cheek piece. It's a walnut stocked gun.

 

[JohnN]

Thanks. A friend of mine has a copy I believe.

 

[JohnN]

Been trying to post this and finally got it.

 

[Chowmif16]

I am not familiar with the kit that you built that gun from, but I would bet a six pack that there is a lot more you can do to make it look right than just square the bottom and trim the fore-end.

If you could post more pictures of the rifle, we might be able to suggest more fixes while you are at it.

I would bet that the lock panel surround (lock mortise) is way too big. Should be around 1/8th inch or so for that period.
If you only sanded it, the wrist is probably too big, etc etc.
More pictures would help.

That cheek rest looks like it needs some work as well. a side picture would help greatly, but it looks quite long, and the transition at the rear and front of the cheek rest is not quite right to me.

As for squaring up the bottom of the butt stock, looks to me that you would only have to remove 1/4 inch or maybe 3/8ths. You could probably do that without ruining the lines of the rifle. RCA 119 might have a rounded bottom, but that's probably only one gun out of the entire two volume series. In other words, its likely the less than 1% of the rifles built at the time.
You would probably have to bend the trigger guard a bit to make it fit the new profile, which isn't a big deal. Bend it cold, not hot.

Hard to tell from the photos, but I suspect that butt plate is not really wide enough to fit the general category of Pre-Rev war. They were for the most part quite wide, near to 2 inches.

Regardless of whether you want to make it look like a specific period or just make it look more like a genuine Longrifle from late 18th, early 19th century, I'd be willing to bet that there are a lot of things that can be corrected to make it look better.

Cheers,
chow

 

[JohnN]

Broke out the spokeshave, scrapers, and sandpaper and went to work. Started on the forearm and feel like I took about 2 lbs of wood off. What a difference. Also flattened the bottom of the butt and like the look a lot more. Also working on the comb. There was no definition there. Plan on trying to do some simple moldings and simple carving( I'm not very artistic and not good at carving) around the lock area. Hardest part is removing the old finish where not using the spokeshave or scraper. Like I said, when I first "built" this gun about all I did was sand it smooth and add the parts.Will post some pics later.

 

[JohnN]

This is what I ended up with.

 

[Brokennock]

Very nicely done.

 

[S.Kenton]

Id like to see more pics of the whole rifle before and after....I like it better already!

 

[nhmoose]

Amazing difference! Nice job :hatsoff: