Next up is the Haines rifle that I acquired from Hotfxr. This will be my first full stock project. The barrel inlet was pretty much done and took very little clean up. One thing that was very intimidating is the amount of wood left on the fore stock only allows 1/8' for the web. This allows no room for error on my part but is possible. I kinda boogered the ram rod groove a little from getting impatient.. hdslp (lesson learned)..It will definitely look hand done when finished. I have the barrel pinned in place now and getting started on the lock.
I found this "Noll" rifle in "thought of the Kentucky longrifle" that I may lean on for some inspiration. It is an early Lancaster of the late 1700's. Maybe Hotfxr can fill me in on the original inspiration for this 45 cal longrifle.
Blame it on Mongrel! After many text conversations, both on and off the forum, he got me hooked on the early Lancaster style. I love the feel (and really like the cheekpiece) and fit of this style. Both of the rifles I got from him were Lancaster style and I modified a few of mine to match. After researching different builders, styles, and a push from Mongrel I decided to emulate Issac Haines. It would have been my first attempt a engraving the wood and also making a sliding wood patch box.
Good luck to you and I know whatever direction you choose to go, it will be amazing.
Iced in, so I got to work on it some more. Side and lock panels are roughed in and the lock bolts are in.
Side panel ..
Had to order a thinner Lancaster butt plate so I could get a little cast off built in it and to give me a little room for a cheek rest. (The wood is only 1 3/4" wide). Man the butt plates take a lot to get just right! pnic
Playing around with the carving pattern i plan to attempt, taken from the inspiration "Noll" rifle.
Good luck with the carving. It looks great so far.
I'm anxious to see the final masterpiece. And yes, that's what it WILL be.
Looking very nice. thmbsup
Sure miss that Mongrel, He really helped me and others here and built some nice rifles.. even left handers for me and my grandson....
Another first for me...my trigger had a little more travel in it after I had inlet it as far as i wanted to so I learned how to add metal to my trigger plate to get it closer to the sear. I used silver solder past and added a small piece of metal cut from an angle bracket that was laying around the garage. This worked very well dntn
you will find that is a trick you will use many times...