I reached my 68th birthday on July 12th. Truth is that I was told I probably wouldn't make it this far. Twelve years ago some doctors told me that they had nothing to offer in the way of treatment and that people with my form of cancer averaged 7-10 years survival. I managed to last long enough for them to come up with two drugs that, while they won't kill the cancer, slow it way down.
So I was still here and browsing through online gun auctions a couple of weeks back when I came across something that caught my eye. There are a number of things for which I'm a sucker. Some of them have to do with flintlock rifles. My father started building muzzleloaders in the 1950's. Needless to say, this was before you could go to the store and buy a ready-made rifle or a kit. It was even before everybody had to have a "Hawken". A .45 caliber was a big-bore and considered adequate for any game east of Dallas. Serious builders were on a first name basis with Turner Kirkland. My first rifle was built on the pattern of Jacob Dickert and was in .40 caliber. I took my first deer with it at the ripe age of 8.
So back to the up-for-auction rifle. First thing that caught my eye - lefty. Second - Tiger striped maple stock. LOT'S of striping! Third - .45 caliber. Lancaster School. Long and slender. Fourth - some well executed line engraving/carving.
Adding to the intrigue was the patch box lid being engraved with "Nemo Me Impune Lacassit". I had to look that up. Turns out it was the motto of the Scottish Royal family, the Stuarts, from at least 1578 and remains the motto of the Order of the Thistle and a military regiment today. An exact translation is difficult but basically means "You will not attack me with impunity".
The seller told me the lock was a Siler and that the barrel had no markings. Everything was in good shape except that the stock has a ding on the bottom of the butt. There was a photo of that. Looked like something I could at least lessen. Turns out the seller wasn't exactly telling the truth about the lock and barrel.
I bid the starting bid amount without expecting to win. I won. About a week later a package arrived with one of the best packing jobs I've ever seen. It took me about a half hour to cut and peel my way through the first and second box then all the bubble wrap. Despite my best efforts I decorated the kitchen floor with a fair number of styrofoam peanuts. Finally, I had her free and she was if anything more beautiful than I expected. Examining from muzzle to buttplate, I almost got the feeling I was holding one of my dad's rifles from 50+ years ago. I closed my eyes, shouldered the rifle, opened my eyes and I was looking directly over the sights. I noticed that the sights are what was called "fine" back in the day. Narrow and low. Not ideal for old eyes. I can fix that.
The face of the frizzen had a coat of rust that I removed with oil and fine sandpaper. Once clean the frizzen bore no scrapes from being struck by a flint. Is this gun unfired? I rooted around and discovered that I have a dozen or so flints of the right size. A few minutes later I learned that the lock throws a beautiful shower of sparks.
How was the bore? I ran an oily patch down and back out. No rust. My micrometer calipers indicated the bore was exactly .450". Twist is 1:66".
A few days later I removed the lock. Visible on the back of the lockplate was RUSS with more letters obscured by the sear lever. Now I don't usually disassemble a lock unless it needs work but my curiousity was killing me. I've never seen a Siler lock with RUSS stamped on it. So I removed the sear spring and sear. The stamping read RUSS HAMM. So I have a Russ Hamm lock and a left-handed one at that.
Might as well remove the barrel. I wanted to be sure the underside wasn't rusted and the barrel channel in the stock was either oiled or waxed. Time for the second surprise of the day. That "unmarked" barrel was clearly marked "G.R. Douglas .45". To the left was "J.M. Chandler", almost certainly the name of the maker. NOTE: I can't find a reference to a gunsmith by that name. If any of you have this information I would greatly appreciate you passing it on to me.
So that's the story of my birthday surprise. I haven't taken her to the range yet but that's in my plans for the next week. If she shoots as good as she looks....
John
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Topic: The Birthday Present & A Trip Down Memory Lane (Read 1763 times)