First Shooting of my Schimmel, Poor Boy Rifle

[RonRC]

I haven't been to the outdoor range to shoot black powder for some time. The range has been closed due to fire danger and now has re-opened.

I brought my "Schimmel" poor boy rifle in .45 cal. It has a maple stock, sliding wood patchbox, no buttplate. The barrel is Colerain, 13/16 across the flats, and lock is L&R Durs Egg. Iron mounted southern style.

It is a very basic,simple gun, a working man's rifle used around a farm and hunting for meat. Others terms used would be "barn gun" or "schimmel."Typically they don't have muzzle-caps or butt plates, entry thimbles or embellishments.

According to the builder, this is a true, Lehigh-Berks-Schuylkill Counties, Pennsylvania flinter in style and form.

The flash hole had to be cleaned out with a wire about every 2 shots and the bore became rough and hard to load after about 3 shots. I had to wipe down the bore after every 3 shots. The 50 yard results were acceptable, but the 100 yard results were not very good (due to me - I had trouble seeing the targets clearly at 100 yards.) I shot from a bench, resting my elbows on the table. Here is the 50 yard target:

I jerked the first 2 shots, then settled in and didn't let the flash in the pan distract me after that.


The bore took a lot of cleaning effort last night and I  plan to do some more bore cleaning today.

Overall, I am pleased with the results. It would be nice to have a butt plate to protect the wood while resting the rifle on the ground during loading and cleaning. Even with a chunk of carpet underneath, the wood is still easily marred.


Ron

 

[Sparkitoff1]

So there is no butt plate at all?  Just bare finished wood? I personally haven't noticed any like that. Most I see have a metal butt-plate or at least toe and heel caps. It's a very nice looking rifle. I hope you can figure out how to protect the butt without detracting from the nice lines.

I think you shot about 3 times in a row before swabbing. I am not positive of this based on the way you worded it. Nonetheless, I do have one rifle where I must spit swab after every shot to keep a tight group. Actually, I fire a half-charge with just a patch to "foul" the bore. Then I use a spit patch down in short strokes and up in one long pull. I flip the same patch over and repeat. Then I load a full charge and fire. Repeat the spit patch routine.

I figured this out after many hours of trial and error, give and take. For whatever reason it works to keep the groups tight. It would keep shots in a 5" circle at 50 yards when I loaded and shot until it loaded tight and then I swabbed. With my "new" method it easily keeps the balls within 2" and occasionally when I do everything right I get one big hole in the paper.

You know what you're doing so I aint preaching. I just know sometimes when we see or hear what is working for someone else we go "ah-ha" and tweak our own sequence enough that it works.

Beautiful rifle - best of luck!

 

[RonRC]

The description of your swabbing approach, Sparkitoff, is helpful. I will try it. Thanks!
It was easy to feel the fouling buildup after every shot. If I didn't do some wet swabbing after 3 shots, loading was very difficult. I could feel the roughness as I pushed the patched ball down the bore.
It could be that the new bore was a little rough when new and needs to be shot more to smooth it out.

I'll add here that the rifle is iron mounted with the metal parts rust browned.

Here is the butt stock:

Ron

 

[Buck Conner1]

Ron get some of Jonathan's products, that should help on the bore. Nice rifle, who was the maker?

You may want to enlarge the vent hole to get rid of any slowness in ignition.  Is "slowness" a word ???   :scratch:

 

[RonRC]

Jackie Brown built the rifle.
I have several of Jonathan's products, but I thought the patch lube was to put in my hair to cover my bald patch.
Ron

 

[Buck Conner1]

Hey, if that what your doing with it and it helps, get another jar for the guns.  

 

[Hilljack1]

Here you go Ron these are some Schimmels from the 1700's hanging on the walls at Dixons as you can note there are no butt plates and are very basic....Nice piece....

Hilljack

 

[exMember]

Thats a darn good looking rifle! The worm holes add a lot of character in my opinion!

 

[Okie Hog]

Nice rifle and good shooting.

 

[RonRC]

Thank you, gentlemen.
I just wish he didn't leave the worms in those wormholes.  

One of the reasons I bought this rifle is that I didn't have a single rifle with a 42" barrel. The flintlocks I have are equipped with 38-40.5" barrels. The Schimmel has the full, 42" barrel.

Ron

 

[Hanshi]

Good looking rifle, Ron.  Once it gets a couple hundred rounds through it accuracy should improve.  I use canvas duck or heavier unbleached canvas for patches.  Almost never wipe the bore during a long range session but did polish the crowns to make thick patching easy, not "easier", but easy period.

 

[Mofish]

I am an old guy, but still shoot a match once a month. I've been shooting matches for many years, and while there are a lot of different approaches to this stuff...this has worked for me for a long time. I carry a little spray bottle (left over from eyeglass cleaner), and use a mix of Murphy's oil soap and Windex. I mix 1 part Murphy's to 2 parts Windex, and have been using this concoction for about 40 years. 
I can shoot an entire match without any swabbing, and can't hardly remember any matches that I didn't bring home at least one blue ribbon. I just give the patch a couple squirts of the mix and when I seat the bullet, I think it cleans out some of the fouling in the bore and lets it go down smoothly....I guess it's sort of like swabbing with the next bullet/patch combo. I use the same mix to clean my guns when I get home and it works just fine. 
Others mileage may vary, but I'll just continue using the technique I have used for a lot of years and hopefully keep winning matches ( plus deer season is coming up in just over a month ! )

 

[Mofish]

Really nice looking rifle...it surprises me. I have one of Jackie's rifles, and had to rebarrel it before it could be safely used.

 

[RonRC]

Mofish,
What was wrong with the original barrel? I would be shocked and angry if I was sold a rifle with a dangerous barrel.
My rifle barrel seems fine, although the bore is a little rough.
Ron

 

[Mofish]

The rifle is a full stock .40 caliber. When he drilled the holes to pin in the barrel, he missed one completely and drilled it through the lower part of the barrel, and another was drilled so it barely hit the bottom of the staple that was dovetailed into the barrel. He put pins in the holes and called it good I guess. The hole through the barrel was close enough to center that I had concerns about the safety of the rifle, so I started over with a different barrel and got it set up correctly. He also drilled incorrectly to place the nipple bolster in. The hole he drilled actually contacted the breech plug slightly and resulted in the bolster being canted at an angle. 
When he finished with the installation, the rifle would fire...it just wasn't right.

 

[Mofish]

The rifle is a full stock .40 caliber. When he drilled the holes to pin in the barrel, he missed one completely and drilled it through the lower part of the barrel, and another was drilled so it barely hit the bottom of the staple that was dovetailed into the barrel. He put pins in the holes and called it good I guess. The hole through the barrel was close enough to center that I had concerns about the safety of the rifle, so I started over with a different barrel and got it set up correctly. He also drilled incorrectly to place the nipple bolster in. The hole he drilled actually contacted the breech plug slightly and resulted in the bolster being canted at an angle. 
When he finished with the installation, the rifle would fire...it just wasn't right.

 

[RonRC]

That is a shocker! It is inexcusable to sell a rifle in such a compromised condition!
I would be aggravated....no...I would be angry.

With your information, I am going to take another look down the bore.
Thanks,
Ron

 

[Mofish]

I am an old codger, and don't get as angry as I did when younger. I sorta just try to take things in stride and learn from them. I learned to not buy any other rifles built by him. 
I had a Hawken built by another guy once, from Oregon that was a disappointment. In this case I just returned the rifle and all was called even. I expected some expertise as it was a pretty expensive build, but didn't get it. He hogged out the barrel channel quite a bit oversized, and filled it with bedding compound. I would have preferred he fit it properly as it should have been, and done up the rifle in the manner that it would have been done back when they were originally made. I thought the bedding was a pretty crude shortcut.

 

[BigAl52]

Ron
I have some shoot out you can use if you wish. We just need to get to the range so we can shoot out.

 

[RonRC]

Thanks, Al. I appreciate your offer!
I ordered some Shootout, but I still would like to get together to do some shooting.
Ron