About 2 months ago I managed to acquire the barrel, trigger and trigger guard from a Northwest Company trade gun. I cheated a bit an used a stock blank probably intended for a brown bess but basically added a stock and lock to the barrel in time to take it to Heffley Creek for the rendezvous. It seems to shoot fairly well and I hope to shoot it more in the future. I was surprised to find that the barrel was only about 59 caliber rather than the 62 that I was expecting. Luckily I was able to buy some 575 round ball from a friend and loaded those with a thin patch. The breach end of the barrel has a groove filed in it presumably for sighting purposes but in order to hit in line with the target, I had to roll the gun to the left a bit and put the front sight a bit to the right of the groove.
I don't know what the 96 is for; I am guessing some sort of inventory number. Also partly I sort of forgot that the ramrod hole was already drilled and also wanted to inlet the lock so that the pan was parallel to the centerline of the barrel. Result was that the front lock screw was right in the middle of the ramrod hole. I got around that by using a tapered ramrod plus made a sort of temporary metal ramp that fit in the ramrod hole. The used a 3/8 drill with the end ground square (like an end mill) to drill the hole oval as far as the front lock screw. Then went the last couple of inches with a 5/16 drill soldered into a short 3/8" shank which allowed me to create a new hole that passed above the screw. The hole broke into the barrel channel which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I then had to glue a short wooden ramp in front of the lock screw to lift the ram rod end over the screw and into the new hole.
cheers mooncoon
I don't know what the 96 is for; I am guessing some sort of inventory number. Also partly I sort of forgot that the ramrod hole was already drilled and also wanted to inlet the lock so that the pan was parallel to the centerline of the barrel. Result was that the front lock screw was right in the middle of the ramrod hole. I got around that by using a tapered ramrod plus made a sort of temporary metal ramp that fit in the ramrod hole. The used a 3/8 drill with the end ground square (like an end mill) to drill the hole oval as far as the front lock screw. Then went the last couple of inches with a 5/16 drill soldered into a short 3/8" shank which allowed me to create a new hole that passed above the screw. The hole broke into the barrel channel which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I then had to glue a short wooden ramp in front of the lock screw to lift the ram rod end over the screw and into the new hole.
cheers mooncoon
!!)
