Squirrel Rifle

[hondo1892]

Well guys I'm kinda getting back to work. Have another Drs. appointment today because my breathing is still messed up but I am able to do some work. This is what I call a country girl, the last one was a glamor girl. This rifle is long and lean with no bling. It will have a cigar shaped patch box when finished but no silver or engraving, except the engraving on the lock. I've been working on this rifle while waiting on the oil to dry on the other rifle. I try to keep two rifles going at a time. Makes paydays closer together. This little lady is made after J Beals work, he was from east Tennessee. It has a 45" .32 caliber Ed Rayl barrel and a late Ketland lock from Jim Chambers. All other parts are manufactured by me. The maple stock does have some curl and should show more after staining. I need to forge the trigger guard out for it but have been staying away from my forge because its coal fired. Maybe it will get done at the end of the week. And you can see that Jay has been giving me photography pointers.

[Ben_Rumson]

Nice work! Should be a neat rifle! I love Flinters...

Got Oxy - Acetylene for the T.G.?

[gamekeeper]

That looks like it's going to be really great Squirrel rifle and a really handsome one at that......

[Lassiter]

That is NICE!

[Griff]

That is NICE!

+1!!!

[Nath]

Sooo jealous

Get well soon.

N.

[JerryB]

That will make a real fine small game rifle.

Nath that is good reading.

[Rusty]

That's going to be a nice rifle. I had a Dixie Squirrel rifle once. those little .32 hit a lot harder that you would think by looking at the size. We were having a father and son .22 silhouette shoot at church so I took my .32 to show everybody. I shot one of those .22 silhouettes and it folded like a cheap suit.

I hope you get to feeling better Hondo.

[Larkbill]

"Those little .32 hit a lot harder that you would think by looking at the size."

Isn't that the truth, I stumbled onto a T/C Maxi ball mold in .32 and had to have it. They're cute as hell but are too destructive on squirrels unless you are sure of head shots. Coyotes? Perfect.

[hondo1892]

Yea the little .32 is more destructive than .22 rimfires. Ed makes .25 that guys use ffffg powder in but that tiny of a ball is a little hard to hold. They say that the .25's foul out fast also. I would like to have a little .32 myself but don't have the money or time to make myself one.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Great start Hondo. I love Maple but getting all the sanding scratches out is my biggest difficulty. The smallest scratches that remain pop out when the stain is applied and that realy bugges me.when I think the scratches are all out I sand more just in case. Even then I often will miss one.
My smallest bore ML is .40 cal. But the .32's are popular. .32's have very slender ramrods, probably why I haven't built one for myself.
That is going to be nice. I can see the curl in your photo. Sweet!

[Ysabel Kid]

No wonder you are feeling so poorly. You need to slipper those feet!

Hope you do get to feeling better soon. I'm still not 100%. Darn ear-ache has returned. I do think it is the pollen now. The pine pollen literally turns my car a yellowish-green within a day. I don't think I'm allergic per se, but it is just so thick!

I've wanted a .32-caliber flinter squirrel rifle for a long time. That is so cool!

[hondo1892]

Chuck, I don't use much sand paper. I scrape my stocks some store bought other I made it is a lot quicker and less dust. After scraping I use some 320 or 400 then use a hard piece of hickory to burnish the stock. I hate sanding also and when I learned about scraping I couldn't believe how fast you can smooth a stock down. Ram rods are a problem this small and I made a split hickory rod for this one. The split rods with no grain run out are lots stronger and if you soak them in kerosene they are more flexible also.

[Ysabel Kid]

Chuck, I don't use much sand paper. I scrape my stocks some store bought other I made it is a lot quicker and less dust. After scraping I use some 320 or 400 then use a hard piece of hickory to burnish the stock. I hate sanding also and when I learned about scraping I couldn't believe how fast you can smooth a stock down. Ram rods are a problem this small and I made a split hickory rod for this one. The split rods with no grain run out are lots stronger and if you soak them in kerosene they are more flexible also.

When you go "store bought", who do you shop with?

[hondo1892]

Jay, the Dr thinks some of mine is allergy related also. They gave me an inhaler with steroids in it today. I hope this does the trick I'm tired of getting winded after going on short walks.
I really like muzzleloaders because you can tailor each load. This is the first .32 I've made. I might do some extensive testing before sending it to the client.

[Ysabel Kid]

Jay, the Dr thinks some of mine is allergy related also. They gave me an inhaler with steroids in it today. I hope this does the trick I'm tired of getting winded after going on short walks.
I really like muzzleloaders because you can tailor each load. This is the first .32 I've made. I might do some extensive testing before sending it to the client.

You should (do extensive testing)!

I hope the steroid-inhaler helps. I may have to request one of those myself!

[hondo1892]

Jay, I use scrapers from Wood Craft. I have one set that has four different shapes which cover most everything. However they leave lots of scratches with the curl that is on the edge but they get rid of file marks quick. I use Stanley knife blades that I resharpen for my final scrape and get 95% of the scratches out from the first scraper.

[.45colt]

Wow looks Cool! what's a Ballpark price for a finished rifle.?

[hondo1892]

Price, that's a hard one. Basic around $1500 plus barrel, lock, wood and most people opt for Davis triggers that I modify. Barrels run from $250-300, Chamber locks $175, triggers $35 and wood $100-$1000.

[Rusty]

Yep, the .32 is small and really I found it hard to deal with.

I have a .36 half stock with a Douglas barrel that is a little easier to deal with. I'm really thinking that a .40 cal would be a better deal all around. According to the NMLRA a .40 is still considered a squirrel rifle but here in Fla. a .40 is legal for deer and hog.

[M. M. Wright]

Really nice work. I've never tried a 32 but a close friend has one that he really likes for squirrel.

I recall that the curator at the J. M. Davis museum in Claremore where they have literally thousands of the original muzzle loaders told me that most of them were .40s. He told me actual numbers but I can't remember.

[TedH]

That's beautiful work.

I've always wanted a small caliber front stuffer like that, but I never understood why the production guns in the smaller calibers are so much more expensive than the 50 and 54 caliber guns.

[JB]

[quote="TedH"]
I've always wanted a small caliber front stuffer like that, but I never understood why the production guns in the smaller calibers are so much more expensive than the 50 and 54 caliber guns.[/quote

I would assume economies of scale with the production. I'm guessing there's far more large game rifles sold than the small game versions.

I had a friend who hunted squirrels with a .32 flintlock for years. He love it.

[Bill in Oregon]

Hondo, glad you are well enough to build gorgeous rifles again. I agree scrapers are almost miraculous tools, and what a great tip to burnish with a piece of hickory.
Rusty, .40 also is the minimum here in Oregon for deer and antelope. I am in line for a .40 flint poor boy with Burton barrel and Chambers lock from Roy Stroh, now of Maine.

[Sixgun]

Do you have dogs? I see a big dark stain about where your toes are. Jay has them from time to time.

On a serious note , I can see you know what you are doing. Nice quality work that few of us has the patience to do.

It only make you wonder about the patience the old time gunsmiths had, using only fire, files and contaminated iron to work with.------6

[Rusty]

If you read the Foxfire book #5 there is a great section on flintlock rifle making.

[hondo1892]

Six, I love working with old wrought iron. It's pretty cool stuff when you learn how to work it. No one makes wrought today so you have to work with old scrap and few people will pay to have it on there rifle. But I use it when I make a rifle for myself.

Yes I have two dogs, both are mountain curs. One killed something last spring and brought it up to the porch and slung blood all over.

[hondo1892]

Bill, I've met Roy a few times he's a good guy.
Thanks the Dr. gave me an inhaler with steroids and seems to be doing the trick.