Muzzleldrs Help with restoration

Eliitejake

Cadet
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
I have a musket I’m trying to bring back to life. It was handed down threw my family. I have the breach plug out and after a metric S ton of cleaning I still see no end in sight of rust. I have a donor rifle for the lock work but I see I have missing screws and screws busted off that need removed then tapped . The leafs are all busted off the rear site and the pass threw from the nipple to the chamber is plugged. The screw is buggered and froze up.
the nipple is froze up and buggered also.
I don’t intend to hunt with it. Just get it back to condition for light wad loads. I’m hoping to have it done by the last weekend in March. My uncle who took a wire brush and lost the lock work and busted it all up will be here in April. i want to show him what it can be still.
Any directions on where to get parts would be great. Thanks Jake.
 
Your uncle LOST THE LOCKWORK?
Remember that most muskets were hand fitted and the parts don't interchange.
Tim Prince of College Hill Arsenal once offered a complete lockplate with all lockwork and hammer for one of the Germanic made M1809 muskets converted to percussion, often called the Pottsdam musket by modern collectors, with the comment that it was guaranteed NOT to fit any Pottsdam musket.
You have got a difficult project!
Be sure to post how it goes
 
I had in the back of my mind that the parts would not interchange. Ugh. I stumbled across this forum after I started the restoration. Here are a few pics.
the donor rifle I have has a Norfolk 1863 side plate. the one I am restoring has a 1964 Providence RI side plate.

E682AD54-C83E-4618-A953-26AEC5B9447F.jpeg


04FE2506-C0BC-4B45-B70A-AECBCC6DB97C.jpeg


2494270E-EDD2-421E-84A8-E788781BADC7.jpeg


D77E2E10-2E8D-498C-A2EE-E3759010C547.jpeg


4ADF855C-E2D5-4EDC-9A6F-7290DAD349F8.jpeg


68776C67-2EEF-488C-B0AA-9D5C4658DDB1.jpeg


1A9D8459-4902-4DA3-8F19-D65EC479E2DC.jpeg


F74A8350-F9D1-407A-A850-CFEB2ADFC890.jpeg
 
Great Looking project be sure we get to see before and after photos.
 
What a difference some photos make to your question! You don't have a musket, you have a rifle-musket, and that makes all the difference in this case. All parts are supposed to interchange, as they were made according to standard gauge measure on standardized machinery.
 
Aahhha. I remember dad saying it was a 64 cal. But I will have to mike it. It’s smaller then the donor rifle parts.
I love the education I’m getting on this piece of history. I’ll post a few more pics as I go.
thank you to all.
 
The rifling is good from about 7” out to the end. It is remarkably still sharp and visible. The bottom 7” is a whole different story. I wonder if there was a load stuck in there for a extended period and then it got pulled or pushed out. I’m leaning that way bc the breach plug had been removed once b4 I got to it.
 
You're lucky it wasn't still loaded when you got it. Bore doesn't look too bad, but get the barrel inspected before you shoot it. I'm a little leery about that stock though. Looks a little too "orange". The pitting at the breech shows what the old fulminate of mercury caps would do to metal.
 
The metal has been chemically cleaned, I think, with some sort of rust remover such as naval jelly, and the wood cleaned to a bright color, and I would guess it was your uncle who made these improvements.
 
After cleaning a 5gallon bucket of rags worth I finally got the barrel to stop putting off rust.
I was able to get the passage from the nipple to the barrel open and now I am looking forward to getting the screws replaced and the lock work repaired. I’ll have to do the rear site as well.
 
Hello all. Sorry for the delay on updates.
So I got the nipple out and all but the one screw on the barrel below the nipple. The screws I needed I ordered from lodge wood. Thank you for the info on where to get them. I pulled the rear sight apart and had to file the sides a bit to get the blade to rotate into place. Looks like it was dropped a few times on it. The lock work is all original and the hammer is off the donor rifle. Unfortunately the original had a huge hole in it where it would impact the nipple. The middle band where the sling swivel should be. Has had the sling band busted off. I’m not planning to replace it at this time.
had the barrel inspected b4 I reinstalled the breach plug. The worst part of the barrel was at the breach. And not as bad as I thought. So I can shoot light loads threw it.
I want to take it out to shoot a smoke load. I have FFG powder to use. Just don’t know what a fare load with a wad on top would be. Figure 20-30grains. Any thoughts ?
thanks Jake
 
Last edited:
On the down side. The lock plate isn’t as sharp and clean and crisp as it used to be. Still need to find a screw for the bayonet lock.

233D444F-81F5-4840-953D-BA8BAA1C2E37.jpeg


D6D31A88-CCCD-4CCC-B10A-9EA95F14A4F2.jpeg


8A48C30F-19E0-4714-8F2D-FEF7ED063D4A.jpeg
 
Back
Top