Building an Alexander Henry Target Rifle from a Rod England Kit

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
FYI - Henry’s wrist area is small compared to most makers of the time - instantly noticeable when you grasp one. I hope Rod’s dwg provided you those dimensions.
Still looking great..
 
Rod's drawing shows 1-1/14" wide and 1-1/2" tall just a bit behind the lock panels. Does that sound correct to you? And thanks!

Curtis
 
I am amazed that I missed this thread. This is an amazing build. I am in awe of the talent that you have to build rifles like this.
 
Rod's drawing shows 1-1/14" wide and 1-1/2" tall just a bit behind the lock panels. Does that sound correct to you? And thanks!
Curtis

Yes, at the location you stated.
The small of the wrist is 1-1/8" wide x 1-1/2" tall.

I saw Rod this past weekend at the TN History event, I let him borrow my Rigby Match rifle to copy.
All good stuff..
 
I am amazed that I missed this thread. This is an amazing build. I am in awe of the talent that you have to build rifles like this.

Thanks for the kind words there, will do my best and try not to not let you down!
 
Yes, at the location you stated.
The small of the wrist is 1-1/8" wide x 1-1/2" tall.

I saw Rod this past weekend at the TN History event, I let him borrow my Rigby Match rifle to copy.
All good stuff..

That is fantastic 52Bore! That will go a long way in helping to insure future productions stay true to the old guns.
 
Wow Wonderful work. That is going to be a great looking rifle and a shooter I trust.
 
Been traveling with my wife for a few weeks, went out east and saw a lot of historic sights, had a great time.

So trying to take up where I left off... I removed the barrel some more shaping of the forestock, bringing the "belly" down to near finished dimension, rounded it off and did some file work to level out and straighten the sides.







Next I started to work on the comb and butt stock area, drawing some reference lines first and rasping away some wood.







I used a straight edge marked with a Sharpie to spot the high points and flattened out the sides of the butt some more to straighten them up:





Next I used a spokeshave to bring the pistol grip down closer to finish size. A SHARP blade set extremely fine makes a nice, smooth curved cut.







Curtis
 
I enjoy following this post. Can't wait to see the final product.
 
Don’t loose the abrupt transition of the grip and butt.
Here are some photos.
This grip cap is nearly parallel with the bore.
I’m sure it’s shaping up nice.
693B4190-C033-41BF-AF6C-06EC43C412CC.jpeg005A394F-8726-4E63-9ABF-72F6C0CF8AE5.jpegF65A367D-1ED0-465C-8718-03C48FBF73BF.jpegBE429F84-9540-4E58-B373-2F38FD8DFA1E.jpegC701183B-EEA5-4E45-B187-71C9C37AB21A.jpeg
 
Here’s a breech loader- even more distinct.
Don’t think any 2 were exactly the same as stock makers stocked to their liking.
2BB54852-0AF5-4564-95EA-EED1BDB03A7A.jpeg 74C56C5B-FC3F-4F66-A4E8-50FB0FC86B2D.jpeg
 
Thanks for the photos 52Bore, they show the area much better than what I have found online and will be a tremendous help!!

Curtis
 
Been busy with other projects, finally got around to doing more work on the AH rifle.

I decided to go head and plug my front sight dovetail and move the sight back to give me a 36" sight radius and allow for a muzzle protector to fit over the muzzle. I cut a piece of scrap steel about the size of the dovetail, filed it with a three cornered file to fit the dovetail in the barrel, then drove it in.



Next I went after it with a file and got rid of most of the extra metal, leaving enough to allow for some peen work.





Then went to town peening the metal to fill all gaps fully. Repeated gentle tapping works best for me. I used punches and the ball peen to work the steel.







When it appeared all gaps were filled I filed more excess metal away and peened any areas that looked like they could use it as they showed up.



When all looked good I filed it the rest of the way down and hit the area with some emery cloth. Not bad!





Last I cut a new dovetail and temporarily installed the sight in it to check for fit.



Thanks for looking,
Curtis
 
Thanks fellers!

Made some progress in shaping the stock and inlet the barrel key escutcheons.

















Still have some refinement to do, but have the lock panels and pistol grip mostly shaped. I used some home made round floats for part of the shaping, they cut smoother than a file or rasp.





















Curtis
 
What a Cool Project, a True work of Art!! You do AWESOME Work!!
 
Thanks for the good words guys, you are waaayy too kind!! :D

Curtis
 
Back
Top