Father-and-son smoothrifles

[mongrel]

What we have here are a pair of smoothbored, rifle-styled guns in progress for a father and his son. Weather has prevented me from getting any decent pictures and I've been busy finishing up other stuff at the same time I was starting these (and another smoothbore shown elsewhere), so this is the first I've been able to post about them.

In the top three pictures is shown a lefthanded flinter, built around a 32" x 15/16" .54 caliber Green Mountain drop-in for the T/C Hawken. The barrel was set up with a righthanded T/C breechplug and a long underrib -- I removed both and re-drilled and tapped the 11/16" T/C threads to 3/4-16, which allowed me to set the barrel up for lefthanded ignition. This is provided by an L&R Late English or Leman lock (the terminology depends on which supplier the lock is bought from). The stock is maple that might turn out to have some curl to it, with a length of pull of 13 3/8" -- other than being lefthanded this rifle fits me to a T. Hardware is my handmade trade-style pattern.

The other gun was selected half-finished off a guns-in-progress page that can be accessed through my website. It was actually ordered prior to the buyer deciding on a gun for himself. The barrel is a foriegn-made, slightly-swamped, VERY slender, 28-gauge octagon tube of 32" length with a breech only 13/16" in diameter. It is understood that only light loads should be shot in the gun being built. The barrel is proofmarked and no less a knowledgeable fellow as Colin Stolzer inspected it during a visit here and declared it perfectly safe within the bounds defined by the proofs, but any attempts to establish top-end loads in this barrel are strongly discouraged. The lock is a CVA, highly-modified for use with the odd-shaped solid-tang patent breechplug, and the stock is ash. The wood is being a little bit of a tease, showing curl here and there. Length of pull is 12 3/4" and the hardware is much the same pattern of handmade steel used on the dad's gun.

[bowcrazy]

wow! I am excited. My son doesn't know about them yet, but I can picture the smile that he is going to be wearing when he finds out..

[William]

Wow, and welcome to the forum bowcrazy!  Quite an impressive entrance with your first post too.

[bowcrazy]

thank you for the welcome william. i have wanted to post on several topics on this site,
but sadly haven't till now.
mongrel, i realy like the way these build's are coming along.

[mongrel]

Well, I would love to report and show some progress, here, but it's 15 @#$%! degrees outside and the only way the wood stove in the shop provides even close to enough heat to work by, is if I sit on it. The shop isn't insulated and even standing at the bench about six feet from the stove, with a fire roaring inside -- nope. What I had intended to get done (drilling and tapping forged sling swivels, and drilling the forend for same) requires concentration. I foresee terrible things happening if I attempt it with my spine locking up from the cold.

Tomorrow's supposed to be warmer -- highs in the twenties instead of the mid-teens -- I can do that.

Later....