Hope I didn't make a mistake

[Doug Rammel]

I ordered an 1853 Musket from IMA.

Information

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[Claven2]

The 1853's are, by most accounts, rough. That being said, some of them hve cleaned up VERY nicely from what I have seen - but you had better have some basic woodworking or gunsmithing skills or you could end up with something you would have to pay someone to restore.

Hope you get a nice one - post some pics here when it arrives

[Doug Rammel]

Claven2

A little about myself. I've been building muzzleloaders from scratch for 25 years. A friend of mine had a business selling muzzleloading parts. I used to spend a couple of weeks vacation every year helping out in his booth at the NMLRA National Shoots in June and September.It was great fun and I picked up some great deals while working with him. He bought barrels , locks , etc. But he owned about 120 match plates for butt plates and trigger guards. The match plates were all made off of original castings. The original owner was named Jessy Booher, who was one of the founders of the NMLRA in 1933.

I have a Milling Machine and Lathe. Plus a lot of antique woodworking tools.

My main concerns about the 1853 is getting enough good parts to restore the 1853. I'm not worried about the condition of the barrel bore. If it's to bad I'll have it relined. But if the stock falls apart that would add considerably to the cost of the restoration.

I didn't want to comment in your thread about building the trade rifle but I have to commend you on showing the right way to do it.

Oh by the way , I call the little chisel to inlet parts a "stabber" I made mine out of a old hacksaw blade. I grind it till the tip is about an 1/8 of an inch wide and then sharpen it.
When I inlet a lock plate, I mark the position with a razor knife and the stab the outline. Then I use a dremel tool with a small router base to take the most of the wood away. Since I stabbed the perimeter, you just have to remove a little wood with a sharp chisel. I find this to be an easy way to get the lock plate flush and square with the barrel.

My avatar is a lite bench rifle I built about 15 years ago. It's 40 cal with redfield sights

[Claven2]

Hi Doug:

You should have no difficulties if you get a sound stock then. The issue is that some of these end up with pretty serious cracks through the wrist that will possibly require dowelling to fix. It's a crap shoot on what your stock will look like when it arrives, but some require no work at all apart from cleaning - again, luck of the draw.

If parts are missing, just order one of the cheap parts rifles OVER THE PHONE and tell them what parts you are missing. Alex at IMA is usually pretty good at ensuring the parts rifle you order will have the necessary missing pieces.

In terms of building muzzle loaders, for me, the most stressful part is all the time leading up to the test fire of the barrel. You often have to heat the breech plug tang red-hot to get it to conform to the shape you're after and at best, the face ends up strawed from heat propagation. Obviously it won't be as strong as before you started and you need to prove it's "strong enough" by proof-firing the rifle. I usually use 150% charge topped by two patched balls and repeated a second time. If it survives without perceptible loosening of the breech plug, I consider the rifle safe enough for my purposes.

The problem is that you aren't in a position to drill the vent liner hole until after the lock is inlet and by then the build is almost done - pretty far along in the project in the rare event a barrel gets ruined by a blown-out breech plug! I haven't had one let go (yet) - but I have seen other builders' barrels blown out this way.

The bright side is a new breeched barrel isn't catastrophically expensive and you can re-use the rest of the rifle.

Had any experience with this? If so, I'd love to hear of it (and sorry for the hijack!).

[Doug Rammel]

I don't consider it a hijack. I was hoping to start a dialog with you. I find the more you talk to knowledgeable folks the more you learn.

Thanks for the heads up on ordering a parts gun if I need it.

As far as proofing a gun, I've never done that. None of the builders I talked to at the NMLRA said anything about proofing them either. The modern steels used today is far superior to the metal the old timers used. Black Powder is a low pressure propellant. Don't know about the modern substitutes as I never use them. If you feel safer proofing it by all means do it

I've never heated a tang to bend it. I do it cold. I use a very large vice and scrap steel round stock as a fulcrum to make the bend I want. If you want you could heat treat it. Heat the tang cherry red and quench it. Then put it in a lead pot heated to about 500 degrees. Leave for a half hour and then take it out and let it cool. This is the way I make springs.I never have one break.

I ordered that 53 last Friday and I still have not received any tracking info.

[Claven2]

Not surprising really since IMA only ships on the weekend. In retrospect I should have bent the tang cold - I wish now that I had. This is why I'll need to proof it methinks. In the past most of the tangs I've used were already bent when I got them, or I made them myself.

Oh well, live and learn. When I proof the barrel it will be off the stock, so if it gives way, I won't lose the rest of the rifle

[Doug Rammel]

Well I got it. As promised it's filthy. The good part the lock is in good shape. Barrel is a little rusty but that might be Dried Yak fat. I got all the small parts like the nose cap screw etc. The bad part is the stock has a chunk of wood broken out by the tang. The wrist is cracked. and I found a little dry rot on it. Now to get started.

[Claven2]

Well, depending how mad, patches and dowel repairs can be made. Worst case, they sell a mostly-inlet repro stock you could use. Hope you post pics of the restoration Check out my Brunswick thread for some ideas on how to repair and post about it. Cheers.

[Doug Rammel]

I already checked your Brunswick thread. That's what made me decide to try this. It's a lot different than building a new one from scratch. I had planned this to be a Winter project. As I need to build two muzzleloaders for friends. A Vincent and a lite bench gun. That's money coming in to pay for this hobby. I'll start a thread when I get a chance but it will probably be long running thread.

Oh yeah. I did get a few ideas from reading your Brunswick thread. Thanks for posting that.

[Claven2]

No problem, I just hope somewhere someone learned something useful from it

I'm looking forward to your restoration thread