British East India Company Model F Percussion Musket

[painter777]

Man,
Super busy Holidays for you !
"Rifle is super hectic. I have about 20 first years with no experience shooting competitively".
Sounds like the Bad News Bears of Shooting...

I've been trying to kill some time and happened across this forum with members asking questions about parts and barrel markings, it includes both letter and number codes.
Check this out, I hope and believe this will help you. It even explains some of the assembly process with who did what. An assembly line of skilled trades and craftsmen:

Percussion Muskets of the East India Company 1840 to 1851 - British Militaria Forums

Charlie-Painter777

Information

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[Aragorn243]

Got my first wood repair drying. The worst, the busted out side. Cut angles in it narrowing to the outside so it can't fall out, not thinking it will with gorilla glue but you never know. Hoping it turns out nice. Lot of excess wood to remove when it dries. Put kwikwood inside in all the rotted out areas. Pretty significant hole in the area of the tang screw. Probably about all I get done for today. Going to make sure it is dry before messing with it

[Aragorn243]

Slow progress. I got the butt stock butt plate pin area repaired on both sides with wood blocks and a new pin in place. I have the three exit side key ways repaired with wood blocks and one side of the cleaning rod retaining pin area repaired. Got the two butt plate screw holes filled and original screws back in place. Installed a replacement front sling band but am probably going to work on that a lot to get it closer to original. This one is oversized. in the bolt area. Also picked up a sling for it, reproduction. Very soft leather. Looks a little rough but seems to fit the rifle well. Key holes came out OK but I manged to mess up two of the three a little bit. I was able to dress them up and I think they will be fine for an older rifle.

[browningautorifle]

Looking for some pics as you go...? Let's see all of it, even the harsh work. It's all educational...we'll all have a piece like that do do eventually if not already.

[Aragorn243]

First repair is the pin area in the butt stock. This holds the butt stock "tang" in place. There is a flat extension which goes down in from the top and a small steel pin held it in place. I removed all the rotted wood which got larger the deeper I went. I then cut the wood plugs to size to cover the rot and marked the stock with a utility knife. Used the utility knife and a sharp wood chisel to dig out about 1/4 inch. Only do one side at a time for the next steps. I packed the interior with wood weld which is an epoxy type substance, removing and re-inserting the butt plate repeatedly so the adhesive doesn't block the interior and doesn't stick. I then glued the plug in. After it dries, an hour or so with gorilla glue, I drill the hole from the opposite side so I can see how it lines up. Repeat on the far side.





The keyways I basically did the same thing for except the rot wasn't so bad I needed to pack it with wood weld. I used a hand drill from the opposite side and the barrel in place to drill them out. I cleaned them up with the utility knife and a jigsaw blade. a drill press would have been a lot better but as I said in an earlier post, I don't have one. Plus I'm not trying to create a brand new looking rifle, just a functioning one. The keys are in two of them, very pitted and bent. The third shows the interior a bit.









This is the replacement front sling swivel. It is a lot heavier than the original and I will probably remove the excess metal to make it closer to original specs.



And finally, the section that was busted. As mentioned I cut it at an angle so the wood would have more surface to adhere too and not get knocked out.





I need to repair the left side of the rifle now. Lots of smaller issues on that side. I don't have to do the front keyhole but the other two I will probably address in a similar manner. Also the small pins that hold the keys in place need done. The area below this stock repair is where the pin for the cleaning rod retainer goes.

No idea if this sling is appropriate or not. I did ask the seller which would be best out of the period slings he offered and he said this one. Which was not his most expensive, actually one of the cheaper ones. In any case, I'm OK with it until something better comes along.

I have made no attempts to color match anything at this point. I may bleach the stock to try to get it more uniform but I haven't decided on that. It still needs further cleaning in some areas. Appears to have been painted black at some point and that has been resistant to my efforts so far.

[browningautorifle]

The moisture must have wicked right along the steel...

[Aragorn243]

Something between moisture, the wood and the iron in the steel. There are brass pins which are as good as new and the brass fittings don't have any issues either.

[Aragorn243]

I have hardly picked the rifle up since the flurry of activity with the wood repairs. Rifle season started but we have not yet had a match. Still in practice mode. First match next Thursday. I did not clear the stuff out of the barrel yet. Just no time. It's deer season now also so weekends when I normally would work on it are full. Be another week probably till I get some time.

[Aragorn243]

Musket still just sitting there. I did do one thing with it. I got the idea of color matching the patches using permanent magic markers. Brown sharpies are hard to find but in the areas I tried they blended amazingly well.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Aragorn, I admire your perseverance. Carry on the good work!