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Very First Build - Jaeger

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Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Messages
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Location
On the Mississippi in SE Minnesota
In mid-January last year I ordered my first ever gun kit and proudly and niavely posted “I chose something which should be pretty easy...a TOW Jaeger. I haven't received the kit yet, but most of the work appears to be done and TOW does call it an "easy" build.”

I think Zonie’s eyes must have popped out :shocked2: when he read that and he promptly posted:

Zonie said:
You'll have to pardon my chuckle but the work is not done and you are about to find that things won't be pretty easy. Don't let me scare you off. You will do fine if you just take your time.

Hey”¦.Zonie was 100% right! :bow: 250+ hours and 13 months later the build is done! It was very far from “easy” but it was challenging and enjoyable.

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST! Since I haven’t posted anything about this project since that initial post stating I had ordered a kit, I’m taking you through the project now. Feel free to skip all the words and go to pictures, should you desire!

The finished gun specs:

Gun Type: Jaeger
Barrel: Rice 31” Swamped Match Quality .62 Caliber Round Bottom Groove 1-66” Twist
Stock: Extra Fancy Maple (I don’t know grades”¦this is what ToW calls it”¦.lots of curl!)
Lock: RE Davis Germanic Flintlock
L.O.P = 14”
Drop = 2 ¾”
Weight = 8 ¾ #

My experience level working wood or metal at the start = ZERO! Well, I made a tiny footstool about 6” high in 7th grade woodshop. I’ve pounded nails framing walls. I cut down trees with a chainsaw! I had virtually no tools for a job like this and my workspace is a tiny area about 6 feet by 8 feet in my basement. Net”¦.where there’s a will, there’s a way! If I can do this”¦you can too if, as Zonie so accurately stated “just take your time.”

My learning resources:

DVD - Building Muzzleloaders with James Turpin
Book - Longrifle Construction Manual, ed 1.2, by Susanne Bicio, Master Historical Armsmaker
Mike Brook’s gun building tutorial
Two mentors I chose on this site based on their experience as I saw it. I also consulted with two of our German members who have, I’m sure, seen more Jaegers than most of us ever will.
ToW’s website reviewing all Jaegers that builders had up for sale.
General Web searches to find all the online pictures I could.

Biggest Challenge I had:

I had ToW’s gunsmith install the sight and lug dovetails. They did a great job”¦the problem came that the gunsmith followed the published plan, which has 3” more length from entry thimble to muzzle than my build has. I think this is because I chose to keep the ”˜swell’ right behind the entry thimble (which ToW says was common on Jaegers, but research done did not find it was “common” but had been done as some pictures showed it”¦.and I liked it so did it too.) The “plan” had this removed and the entry thimble further to the rear. WELL, without paying attention :redface: , I inlet a thimble right behind the lug for the front swivel sling because the swivel should rest on a thimble”¦.then realized the spacing was all wrong!

So, I had to make a new dovetail for a new lug (I made) for the swivel moved forward from the original location. I also had to fix that thimble inletting. Thanks to Robby for working me through the fix, which is now barely noticeable.

Filing into your barrel as a neophyte is a scary thing!
SwivelLugDovetailWiP.jpg


The fix for the inlet was to completely cut out a rectangular area and glue in a very tight fitting chunk of wood, then reshape the area. Once finished, it’s barely seen with stain”¦and it’s mostly under the ramrod.
ThimbleRepairClamp1.jpg

ThimbleRepairComplete.jpg


Biggest Mistake I made:

When it came time to install the trigger guard I was scared to death to try to drill a pin hole perfectly straight across through my very thin lock molding. Any slight deviation in drilling and I ruin it. So I have seen the front part of a trigger guard held down by a screw, so that’s what I did. Well”¦I guess I did a pretty good job of thinning down the belly because there is not enough wood between the bottom of the inlet and the ramrod channel to hold a screw! At least not with enough “power” in the hold to keep the trigger guard in place. SHOOT! :doh: So, I basically put a screw through from the bottom of my trigger plate up into the trigger guard, effectively attaching the two. Since the trigger plate is pulled tight down with the tang screw, it pulls and very solidly holds the front of the trigger guard in place. The “ugly” screw that is seen is just there to fill the hole in my trigger guard now. At some point in the future I may just put a brass “fix” in there instead.

So on to a few of my over 100 build pics and then pics of the completed gun”¦.including the target with my first three shots in it!

Kit Arrives! OMG”¦How can I do this! And what neophyte moron orders a kit with a swamped barrel, bulbous thimbles, a fancy trigger guard, and an acanthus leave butt plate to inlet!!!!!
TheKitArrives.jpg


Since the lock position is basically set, first job is to complete the inlet and set the lock in. Hey”¦.that wasn’t too bad!
InlettingLockInternals_zps2d1dc59d.jpg

FlintWontSpark.jpg


Next comes the barrel as it has to be refit and positioned so the eventual touch hole will be lined up with the pan. Had to set my a little further back and then re-inlet a swamped barrel! Couldn’t someone just please give me a root canal with no Novocain! Many, Many hours later I have a good fit and inlet black coating the bottom of the channel”¦which means full contact of all of the barrel bottom. Thank God for that small flat scraper I purchased! And curly maple is not fun”¦looks great”¦but seems hard to work flat.
InlettingBarrel_zps4d846788.jpg

LockBblInlet1.jpg


Now that the barrel is in, I can inlet the tang. My tang came just square, but fortunately my book showed various styles of tangs appropriate for various regions. I chose a pre-1800 Germanic style I liked and file shaped the tang. After reinstalling the breach plug, I inlet the tang.
TangInlet.jpg


After reinstalling the barrel lugs and making the lug holes in the bottom of the barrel channel, I moved on to inletting the trigger assembly. I spent a TON of time on this because I wanted to be able to use the front trigger without the set trigger and have no more than a 4 lb pull. I worked until I got a light, crisp trigger pull on the front trigger alone. Obviously the set trigger works, but not much reason to use it.
TriggerInlet3.jpg


Now I can punish myself trying to inlet that acanthus leaf butt plate! Holy cow, instead of a root canal, please just pull all my teeth out with no Novocaine!!!! Maybe a few bamboo shoots shoved under my fingernails too! :grin: Now keep in mind, other than what I’ve done so far on this project I’ve never carved or inlet a thing in my life. Oh”¦almost forgot”¦had to take that completely ugly right-out-of-the-sand-cast butt plate and make it at least semi-pretty first. It actually had sand still stuck to it! A huge casting gate to be removed, file, sand, sand, polish, polish”¦oh my aching hands. Bevel the edges to be inlet. On the back, fit it to the wood and peen the edges for a nice tight fit to the wood.
Raw Cast Parts:
ButtPlateStart_zpsaaf9c8f1.jpg

JaegerKitParts2.jpg

Fitting the still rough butt plate into the wood:
ButtplateWIP.jpg

Shape wood and metal together and polish. Now we’re talkin’”¦”¦
ButtplateInlet2.jpg


Now”¦.about that giant and (IMO) ugly oval cheek piece. I wanted a square cheek piece and since I saw Jaeger pictures with both kinds, I figured I would be HC to do it. I drew it out in pencil and pulled out the big rasps .
Starting:
CheekpieceRefitWIP.jpg

Basic shape, but a LOT more wood to remove. I stopped here for a while until I got into final stock shaping.
CheekpieceandCombRefit.jpg


Sideplate needs to go in:
SideplateWIP.jpg


Bulbous thimbles inlet. Who the heck dreamed these up??? I was wishing I had gotten an “un-fancy” Jaeger with a bunch of “straight” parts! Trying to inlet “balls” was a real learning experience! I still would not claim that I know how, but they got in. This picture is from further down the process, but all I have.
FinalForestockShaping4.jpg


I also added a toeplate. I don’t know if this is HC, but I wanted one for protection and chose a simple design.
Toeplate.jpg


So now, except for a lot of wood removal to final shaping, I can move on to the forestock rough shaping. Again I haul out the heavy duty rasps and start to remove large amounts of wood. While I did this by eye, I referred frequently to my plan measurements and used my calipers a lot. If you take off too much, you can’t put it back! That small tool that looks like a block shave is really a rasp. I saw some rasps Jim Turpin was using with replaceable blades and I bought them”¦a round, a long handle that takes flat or half-round rasp blades, and a small handle for tighter work”¦I’ve only found flat rasp blades for that one. They work GREAT!
RoughinginForestock2.jpg

RoughingintheForestock4.jpg


Now that I have a basic shape, I can install the nose cap as that becomes my “sizing” guide up front and down the forestock for final shaping.
RoughinginForestock1.jpg

Nosecapfitting4.jpg


Now it came down to lots more wood removal, measuring, eyeballing, wood removal”¦wood removal”¦.wood removal”¦..geez this is getting downright scary!!!!! More wood removal!!!!!!
Sand”¦.sand”¦.sand”¦.sand finer and finer. Hey Robby”¦.did I remove enough wood yet? More wood removal. Enough yet? More wood removal. And let me tell you, every little bit made it look better and better. I’m still not sure that I got down to Robby’s version of a thin rifle, but finally something just told me I was done. Maybe it was stiff, sore arm and hand muscles”¦I don’t know! :surrender:

Oh, and there was this patchbox cover. I made the brass end out of a solid hunk of scrap brass. The main problem I had with the patchbox cover was getting it thinned down. But Robby kept pushing me thinner and thinner. Finally it got down there to what is probably a maximum thickness it should be.
020513TopViewwithwoodreductions_zpsb2fa56aa.jpg


So, now on to finishing metal parts. Of course all of the metal parts, brass and steel, were rough finish”¦although the Rice barrel had a pretty good finish on it to start. I filed, sanded, and polished until my hands cramped. I SALUTE those of you 15 or 20+ years my senior that build these guns. :hatsoff: I used an absolute minimum of power tools as I wanted to do this with hand tools as much as possible. And I learned what over 30 years at a desk does to a person! Even though I’m active, it’s clear there’s a lot of muscles NOT being used on a regular basis!

Brass was polished and small metal parts were browned with Birchwood Casey Plum Brown (hot).
20130302BrownandBrassComplete_zpscbbf512d.jpg


Now for the barrel. I chose Laurel Mountain Forge cold brown. I used a small bathroom as my heat/humid box. I put a small heater in there and kept the room at 78 degrees. I put two large pails of water in front of the heater with rags hanging out that wicked up water. I also ran the shower a few times a day until the fog would start, but not to the point where it was running down the mirror or walls to keep the humidity up. I also followed the LMF instructions absolutely to a tee. My only deviation was that I thoroughly degreased the barrel prior to starting. In theory, the LMF product contains a degreaser that is supposed to work as applied, but I figured it absolutely could not hurt to degrease before starting. Also”¦I had sanded down to 400 grit, so I had a pretty smooth barrel to start. My goal was a relatively smooth even brown finish”¦not a rough finish.

Here’s what the bathroom looked like in action right after a good steam-up:
021713BarrelBrownDay1_zps3b0c0375.jpg


In 3 hours from the start, I had a nice orange-brown rust formed over the entire barrel. I scrubbed (carded) the barrel with a piece of denim and super-hot water thoroughly and applied the next coat. That process repeated at 12 hour intervals Monday and Tuesday. I probably could have been done Tuesday morning, but did one more coat and called it quits Tuesday evening. BTW”¦.note I had fashioned a tight-fitting wood plug for the muzzle and I had a waxed toothpick in the touchhole.

Here’s what it looked like on Monday:
021813BarrelBrownDay2_zpsbfd23073.jpg


After it was completely browned on Tuesday evening, I heated the barrel with a torch per LMF instructions to drive off any leftover moisture.
021913BarrelBrownNeutralized_zps9f0e2e4e.jpg


Then I sent it to the Barrel Spa”¦.a 24 hour oil bath ( I used 30W) that would make the Tin Man green with envy! I built a trough from a piece of corner moulding as a solid base and a double-thick sheet of tin-foil shaped to make the “tub” for the barrel and oil to sit in.

021913BarrelOilBath_zpscba4016e.jpg


24 hours later, I had a beautifully browned barrel with a smooth and even finish:
022013BarrelBrownDone1_zps74581c8e.jpg


The stock finish was certainly a project in itself. I took a maple board I purchased which had as much curl as I could find. I segregated it into sections with different order of putting on stains: "over wet" vs "over dry" and also for each "no lye" and "lye" etc. I know this board wasn't from my gun wood, but I didn't have any big chunk from my gun project, so did this first.

I took the best looking option from the board and transferred it to a 1" by 4" piece of leftover from my gun to verify my choice.

Based on that experiment I used:

1) Dangler's Reddish-Brown - let dry completely
2) Klein's Orange Toner over the Red-Brown which gave nice highlights.
3) Hand rubbed Boiled linseed oil - rubbed very hard so it got really hot on the hand. This was the process recommended by Susanne Warren-Bicio in her book. I rubbed in oil until basically it would not take it anymore. Let dry for 24 hours. Wiped off any excess.
4) Four coats of Tru-Oil. Each buffed with Steel wool after drying.
5) Vigorously Rubbed the whole thing down again with a piece of Denim.
6) A coat of Johnson's Furniture Paste Wax

Under the barrel, lock, buttplate...all places under metal, I used Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane as a sealer. Applied a coat of wax.

Did I mention sore, tired, aching muscles!

Red-Brown applied:
20130302RdBrnStain1_zps3487ab90.jpg


Final assembly put all the finished pieces back together”¦and now”¦.drum roll”¦”¦..here’s the finished gun. I hope you enjoyed the journey.

Thanks to all the people that helped me, including those of you posting questions and those answering in the Forum as I was reading these almost daily and learning. Without this Forum, I would have never done this project.

20130308FullRightSide_zps4f5f7d89.jpg


20130308FullSideLeftfromButt_zpsd59508a1.jpg



20130308Lock_zpsa9bcda58.jpg



20130308FullBottom_zps97b31e35.jpg


20130308AcanthusLeafInlay_zps7b1c6782.jpg


20130308BellySwellthruMuzzle_zpsd5a9e3c6.jpg


20130308ButtstockfromBottom_zps1723b5de.jpg


20130308ButtplatefromRear_zpsd9991df7.jpg


20130308RearSightfromTop_zpsd066b3ea.jpg


20130308TopTangtoMuzzle_zps63af1188.jpg


20130308ButtthruLockLeftSide_zps3346dbe9.jpg


20130308EntryThimbleRtSide_zps98ab5ad2.jpg


20130308MuzzleRtSide_zps948f7d1d.jpg


20130308ButtthruLockRightSide_zps03ec31d9.jpg


At the end of “Dances With Wolves” Kicking Bird is looking at Dances’ pipe he had just finished”¦and the all important question is “So”¦.How does it smoke?”

At lunch today I shot outside and put four shots through it. The first three were with 100 grs of Goex 2F a .595 ball and .018 patch with mink oil lube. I shot at 25 yards with a “wobbly” rest (didn’t have time to set up properly as today was a work day.) First shot, 3” under the bullseye and perfect side-to-side. I adjusted my sight picture a bit and the next two were in the 10 ring. Now”¦remember”¦.no load development”¦this is just throwing something down the barrel and shooting quickly. For the fourth shot I used a .600 ball, all the rest of the load the same, and shot freehand at a soda pop can. When the gun went off that can flew three feet into the air and I thought WOW..I hit it! But upon checking, the ball went just under the can in the snow about an inch and sent the can skyward. But still”¦.imagine the potential when this thing gets the perfect load worked up! In addition, ignition was extremely fast. No noticeable delay.
20130308FirstThreeShots_zpsde3935dd.jpg


And finally. Those new lock pictures are sure pretty”¦but nothing”¦.nothing is prettier than this kind of a lock picture!

20130308FirstDirtyLock_zps30a87a0b.jpg


So”¦.what do you think???
 
Us rednecks often say ya did BIG. Thats you did one heck of a fine job. I like it and cant wait to see your 10th gun :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
 
Ya done good and you told a good story too. :hatsoff:

I know your going to have a lot of fun shooting your new rifle but, having been down the trail more than once I have to ask...

What are you going to build next? :grin:
:rotf:

(Sure would be a waste for all those tools to just sit on a bench gathering rust. Know what I mean?) :)
 
Zonie said:
What are you going to build next? :grin:
:rotf:

(Sure would be a waste for all those tools to just sit on a bench gathering rust. Know what I mean?) :)

Well, I have two things as next goals. 1) I'm going to learn carving. I desparately wanted carving on my "fancy" Jaeger. In fact, had incise lines along barrel and stock, beavertail, raised mouldings, etc, all drawn out on the stock. Then decided with zero experience it was best to take the very good advice of top builders postings that said "Learn the build first!" So I want to get a good high-quality set of tools (see...not only will reuse what I have. but adding to them...and expensive stuff at that!)and start learning and practicing carving. And 2) build a pistol or even a set of dualing pistols. I have all the long guns I need ( :slap: That's me slapping myself because one should never ever say that!) but I don't have a pistol and that looks fun. Already have Jim Turpin's pistol building DVD on it's way. :grin:
 
Good job, now enjoy those muscles you knew you never had, they help alot with accuracy!
 
Great story and pictures Spike buck!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Fine job, but I think you could remove a little more wood off the............... :grin:
:hatsoff:
Robby
 
Very nicely done! And very nice pictures. You did very well!

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!
 
Very Nice!.. :hatsoff: To jumping in with both feet!
Thanks for taking us along.
Don't let that rifle distract you when out hunting. :grin:
 
Nice job, Spike! Your post is an inspiration to me since I am planning on buying the same Jaeger kit from TOTW. That will be my second build, so I know what Zonie was laughing about when you mentioned "a lot of the work is already done" "A lot" is a very relative term, don't you know? I will tell you that all that detailed inletting on the butt plate and thimbles just scares the manure outta me. I don't think I did such a great job just inletting pretty straight parts on my Dickert longrifle. I do want a jaeger rifle pretty badly, mostly to hunt deer with. I'm lookig forward to the shorter barrel.
Again...nice job...your stock with all that striping is just beautiful.
 
:thumbsup: I like it a lot!

Nice story, too.
Ah, if I only had the time ans skills...

Silex
 
Finally got to spend an hour or so with a little better sighting setup. Still started at 25 yards. I had noticed a little burning on my patches the first time, so put a 1/4" fibre wad over the powder first. Still stuck with 100 gr of Goex 2F and used a .600 ball and .018 ticking patch with mink oil lube.

First two shots were a little high and left, which made sense since the front sight was not quite centered. I drifted it over a tad. Next shot a little closer. Drifted it a bit more where it was now center on the barrel. Shot several more and here's the target:

031613Target_zps396c5b14.jpg


The ball still went down "pretty easy". I didn't have any thicker patching...then I remembered people posting that they use denim. I have a "sheet" of it I was using in the build process, so cut a patch (it mic'd at .021) and greased it up. Went down just about right...had to start it with a good whack of the short-starter, but went down without too much work. Took an offhand shot at the small "pepsi" sign on a can at 25 yards:

031613CanTarget_zps382fd312.jpg


I think it's time to move back to 50 yds for the next session...but I'd better get that new SxS 12 Ga worked up for turkey first!
 
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