Restoration of blunderbuss pistol

[Musketfire]

Hello gentlemen!

I was finally able to start a new project, a antique flintlock pistol I recently purchased from one of our esteemed members.

I started the preliminary stripping and cleaning/inspection and I thought you all would enjoy the show!

"I have a newer camera from Christmas so pictures should be better then my past posts"

I am quite pleased with the arm so far, the barrel is quite heavy and in good repair, no external pitting and minimal pitting inside, the lock is a real prize and quite beautiful, some of the internal parts have been replaced at some point in its life with bits that work but will need better fitting.


The stock will need some challenging repairs, and I plan on restoring the silver wire inlays once I find the appropriate wire to do so.

All in all my opinion of the piece itself is high, all the components original to her are high quality and made with pride and skill,

the few replacement parts are more crude, it must have been a expensive unit when first made, and she must have been taken care of for the majority of her existence, I bet most of the damage has come from neglect over the past 100+ years.


My aim is to restore her and build a nice gentleman's box with all the accoutrements.


More pictures will come as the stripping and repairs progress.

 

[H Wally]

Very cool - looks like a very quality piece. Make sure to get pics throughout restoration and when it's done!

 

[Musketfire]

Stripped and cleaned the lock, I want to swap out for a new ratchet and hammer screw since those are not original to the unit anyhow, being I would figure to be some farm smiths anvil and file job during the Victorian era.

Aside from all that, shes a truly beautiful lock and I like it very much.

 

[jpc]

I will follow with interest

 

[mrclean89]

awesome hopefully ill be able to find one this nice some day

 

[mooncoon]

I would be hesitant to do any "cleaning up" on that gun, beyond removing the rust and gunge on the inside of the lock. The piece that you refer to as the ratchet, I am guessing is the tumbler and appears to be original to my eyes. The hammer screw (that screws into the tumbler) I can't tell if it is original from the photos but certainly appears to be old and possibly original unless that is a washer between the head of the screw and the hammer (####)

cheers mooncoon

 

[Musketfire]

Hi mooncoon!

The tumbler is ---DEFINATELY-- not original to the unit, its well fitted to the hammer but is not original, I would "like" to replace it with a more modern one that would hold the mainspring in a higher position and the hammer screw....shes real old --but-- not original either, comparing its threads to all the other screws on the ol girl they are definitely hand made and of a different manufacture then the rest of the screws

The metal is rust free and looks as though the majority of the units life it was well treated, I just cleaned all the gunk from the barrel and the lock itself.

I'm trying to source some super thin silver wire to replace the inlays that have fallen out over the past couple couple hundred years before I repair the stock....
If anyone had any ideas where I could source some I would be grateful.

I figure the old girl has a few more adventures left in her....IF I do my part.

Cheers

 

[mooncoon]

Hi mooncoon!

The tumbler is ---DEFINATELY-- not original to the unit, its well fitted to the hammer but is not original, I would "like" to replace it with a more modern one that would hold the mainspring in a higher position

There is nothing wrong with the mainspring position to my eye and the only thing that would make me question the originality of the tumbler is a screw hole above the tumbler that appears to have been for a bridle. I have the feeling that the tumbler and bridle may have been replaced at some time in the distant past with a tumbler intended for no bridle. As long as the tumbler is not sloppy loose in the hole in the side plate, why change it

cheers mooncoon

 

[Musketfire]

There is nothing wrong with the mainspring position to my eye and the only thing that would make me question the originality of the tumbler is a screw hole above the tumbler that appears to have been for a bridle. I have the feeling that the tumbler and bridle may have been replaced at some time in the distant past with a tumbler intended for no bridle. As long as the tumbler is not sloppy loose in the hole in the side plate, why change it

cheers mooncoon

This weekend, I'm going to strip the lock again for a second cleaning of her internals.

She is slipping out of full and half ####, the replacement tumbler looks to have some rounding out so shes not holding in either half or full ####.

I have a small file set and was thinking of deepening the grooves a mite, its worked well on more modern cut tumblers, but Ive never worked on flint lock innards of this vintage

When I get it apart again, ill post some closer shots and see what you think!!


This piece truly deserves the effort of bringing her back


Thanks for the help and advise!

Cheers!

 

[Musketfire]

Finally got that old ram/cleaning rod out !!!!!!!

Im going to replace the rod and use the origional one as wood for repairs!!!

Its good not to rush these jobs so everything comes apart intact

Huzzah!

 

[RobSmith]

Where did you get your main spring vise ?

There is this lock of mine that has been sitting in solvent for years that I dare not take appart because I know I simply don't have the proper tools to put the bloody thing back together again.

Some kind of overly fancy, reverse percussion lock thingy (presumably from a common Belgian shotgun). I can see how the thing works and how to take it appart. I can also pretty much guarantee I couldn't put the thing back together again without a proper spring vise.

 

[Musketfire]

Hi RobSmith!

A spring vise is a very important little piece of kit, Dixiegunworks.com sells them for 20-30 bucks, I bought mine from a gentleman who was liquidating all of his collection before he passed away
It was all I could afford at the time, he had some nice custom muskets, he was in the hobby for longer then Ive been alive and helped me alot when I was just getting into flintlocks and reenacting.

Its one of my most prised possessions, When I use it on my projects its like hes still around offering a helping hand.

Cheers.


"Heres the link to one on Dixies site"
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_96_220_224&products_id=2782

 

[Musketfire]

Another small but significant bit of progress today.