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Originally Posted by rickystl
To answer a question posted above about the two open holes in the barrel tang. This is another curious mystery. There are no threads in the two holes. And, there are no holes beneath the tang in the stock where wood screws or nails would have been. So the only thing holding the barrel to the stock are the multiple barrel bands, which do hold it firmly in place. My guess is that the were originally screws/nails used when the barrel was originally utilized as a matchlock. So the barrel was re-used while making the current stock and flintlock configuration.
I do have some original dome head wood screws that are over 125 years old that I thought about using.  Rick. |
Hi Rick,
Nice job of restoration but like others above, I believe that there is a limit IMHO as to how far one should go. There is a fine line between restoration and rebuild. As an example I once saw what had been a nice original Sharps rifle totally ruined by "restoration". The owner had gone so far, that all marks etc had been removed, and he had ended up with nothing more than a shiny replica.
Anyway....back to those holes....I would not expect that they were threaded, but what I think is that there would at some stage have been screws which threaded into the trigger plate.....ie they would have gone right thru the original stock, which may not have been the one which is there now.
Stu