Slimming down wood

[Longhunter]

Mario, I was lookin at that Early English Trade Gun on Sitting Fox's web site an I like that style...it speaks to me if you know what I mean. How are their finished guns?

How long did it take to get your kit? Be sure and show us some pictures when you get er done.  

[Sneakon]

Well, the initial post was regarding a trade gun, but mine is TC Hawken type with 54 GM barrel and Pecatonica walnut stock.  Yep, I'm trying to personalize a factory gun.  Don't want to hijack this thread, but as long as I'm asking questions about how to reduce weight, how much difference is there between woods, e.g. walnut vs maple.

[Captchee]

depending on the wood 1/8 can add considerably to the balance of the weapon .
 consider this
 lets say your for stock is 1 ¼  deep x 36 inches long .
 you remove 1/8 of an inch per foot  that going to equate to removing a  board weight that would be  Â¾ thick by 1 ¼ wide by  1 ft long .
 now how much weight would that be ? depends on the wood used for the stock as well as density of that wood  as well as the density of that   given board
 for instance  right now I can get a   CM  blank that ia 1 inch X I inch x18  inches long . that piece kiln dried weighs in right at 1 lb
fiddled walnut is 1 3/4 lbs . so as you can see a figured piece of walnut  that has 1/8 taken off the complete rifle could result in a weight reduction of 3 to 4 lbs depending on the blank itself .
But at the same time you can also have wood with high figure thats soft  and wieghs less . so  how much wieght again is dependant on the peice itself  not of the species of wood

but lets say we stay with CM  based on the pen blank  I  used above .
 now that one l lb is  spread all along the  for stock, this isnt including the mortise area or the but stock .
so as you can see depending on the wood , you could easily take a 10 lb rifle down to 8
 and achieve  a balance that hangs correctly .

 while it is true that  there are examples of heavy stocked rifles , these are mostly found early  in the 18 century or  late into the plains rifle area . now yes there are exceptions to this  but normally the  rule is that between 1760 there about on up , the forstocks are rather light  tell we get to the plains era when the rifle shorten up and become somewhat beefier  and more robust  in a lot of ways  .
 past all that though , the important part is achieving the proper  balance of the rifle .

so if your one for a more stocky beefy look  then  do so . just remove whats needed to balance the rifle correctly

[mario]

Mario, I was lookin at that Early English Trade Gun on Sitting Fox's web site an I like that style...it speaks to me if you know what I mean. How are their finished guns?

How long did it take to get your kit? Be sure and show us some pictures when you get er done.  

It was a 3 month wait for an "in the white" gun. I made a few mods (longer barrel, Chambers lock, etc) and it came in at $989 shipped.

Joe,

I ordered this gun as a base for me to finish into what I believe was an Indian Trade gun for the Mohawk Valley of NY in the 1770s. I used specific orders from Sir William Johnson (Superintendant for the Northern Indian Dept.) to English gunmakers like Wilson, quotes that mention the fact that the Mohawk wanted lightweight guns and a few original guns of the period. Some weigh in at less than 6 pounds with 48" of barrel!

I'm slimming down the wood to give it a profile more like the originals I've seen. Better handling qualities are just an added benefit...


Will post pics when I can.

Mario