[Daves-M1A]

I want to restore a percussion rifle to working condition and it needs a complete stock and many other parts. I was given the gun several years ago and posted pics on this board here http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...-identifying-this-rifle&p=1114551#post1114551 .
Now I have some time and cash to start to bring it back to working condition. What I need is someone in NJ or who can do it over the web that can tell me what it should look like when finished and where to find the parts. The rifle appears to have been run over and spent some time out in the weather.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Dave

 

[TP]

Dave, when you say "working condition", what exactly do you mean? It sounds like you plan a full rebuild using a few original parts and, well, I do not think that will not give you what you want. If you want a shootable gun, it is best to start from scratch and build a gun using a new barrel, lock, wood and furniture. That will certainly be more affordable than everything that you will have to do to use the parts from this one to make a shootable new gun. That is a decent old original and deserves a proper restoration by an experienced person that knows what he or she is doing. Cost will be high, probably more than the gun is or will be worth for a while but it will pay for itself as prices increase in the future.

The barrel work needed to make it safe and shootable alone will run at least $200 - $300, even if you only have someone re-cut the rifling and put a new, solid, properly fitting breechplug in it. Depending on condition, a liner for the bore will possibly be needed and they and the work to install them are not cheep. A new barrel with plug will be much less expensive and safer to use.

A new stock is not cheep. Even if you do the work yourself, stable, decent wood of the proper thickness and width goes up all of the time, you can't buy it at Home depot as I know you are aware. I would simply leave it as is and, if you must have one like it to take to the range or out hunting, find a new barrel, lock, band-sawed stock blank and furniture that you feel is sufficiently like it to meet your desires and have at it.

I am going to quote one of your posts from the earlier thread: "With furniture if you refinish the wood and polish the brass you have ruined the piece." That is true in spades with an antique firearm, even one in NRA Antique Poor to Fair condition like this one. It is restore-able if done correctly, especially the stock, it appears to be in pretty good condition and the stock is the heart of the gun describing where and who it came from but the work must be well done. Without the original stock, the gun is less than questionable and has no originality and little value, even as a shooter - it is just a colle3ction of old parts and is at best, questionably safe to shoot. Please don't take offense, I'm just sayin'.......

 

[Daves-M1A]

I don't want to shoot rounds out of it but I want it to be in a working condition. I might put a dash of powder down the barrel and shoot a patch out of it when finished but that would be it and I probably won't even do that. I see your point about the stock and I'll just repair what is there but in a way that can be reversed. As there is no finish on the stock is it acceptable to oil it and if so what oil? There are however parts that are just missing. I don't know what it should look like or where to source the parts

 

[Southron Sr]

Go to the "Track of the Wolf" website (you can "Google" them up.) They have a lot of parts for percussion and flintlock guns. Also, Google up "Lodgewood Manufacturing" they also have a lot of antique gun parts. Then there is Dixie Gun Works, Gunpowder Lane, P.O.Box 130, Union City, TN 38281. Send them a money order for $5.00 and they will send you their 700 page catalog that has tons of gun parts (and everything else connected with muzzleloaders) in it.

As for a new stock, Google up "Dunlap's Gun Stocks" they carry a lot of those 95% carved stocks that are a lot easier to finish than just a wood plank.

 

[TP]

I don't want to shoot rounds out of it but I want it to be in a working condition. I might put a dash of powder down the barrel and shoot a patch out of it when finished but that would be it and I probably won't even do that. I see your point about the stock and I'll just repair what is there but in a way that can be reversed. As there is no finish on the stock is it acceptable to oil it and if so what oil? There are however parts that are just missing. I don't know what it should look like or where to source the parts

As said by Southron, Sr., Track of the Wolf is one source of parts and, as a last resort, Dixie Gun Works may be able to provide something. What parts are missing? It is a half stock rifle, correct? The photos are not too clear but, if it is a half stock, all I see missing in the photos shown is the under barrel rib and ramrod pipes and maybe(?) the metal stock tip? Those are not too easy to find but Track may be able to provide a rib that will work.

Dunlap Woodcrafts (http://www.dunlapwoodcrafts.com/) is an excellent source for stock blanks and may be able to provide something in the way of a 95% inlet for a half stock but not that I am aware of, their turned stocks are strictly military, maybe they are offering civilian pre-turns now but if so they are not listed on their site. No one is going to be able to replace what you have with a "95% carved stocks".