Moroccan Snaphaunce and Introduction

[DaleH]

INTRO – Before I present my 1st piece here, I thought I’d introduce myself. Recently I have been corresponding, from other muzzleloading forums, with both ‘Ricky from St Louis’ and Richard aka ‘Pukka Bundook’ and they inspired me to look over here and join up. So thank you to both Rich’s!

I hail from Massachusetts in the NE corner of the USA, which once was the cradle of liberty, most famous for the “Shot heard ‘round the world”.

I came into this world of ethnographic arms by my fascination of and shooting of black powdah (BP) firearms, predominantly those of the matchlock and flintlock ignition. This gradually expanded my horizon and my BP collection (most are shootable) which now spans from a replica of the Tanneberg hand gonne from The Rifle Shoppe (received in 4-days no less!) to an original Hall breech-loading flintlock rifle from 1839, where the design was patented in 1811.

I also own an Afghan jezail and Mughal Toradar, both of which are in the midst of restoration, and began my trail down the ethno road. Thus I can say that my goal is to have at least one fully functional and shootable arm of the BP ignition types from around the world, from the 1st introduction of BP to the last model of the flintlock evolution. I also have an original Hall percussion model of 1841 and a replica Zouave 58-cal 1863 rifle-musket that I reserve for US War-between-the-States BP shoots, but other than that … and I try not to shoot “cap guns”, as I just LOVE the early ignition arms!

SNAPHAUNCE – I just picked up this Moroccan Snaphaunce, where I was the only bidder and was able to pick it up locally to me. Thus by the time it was bought and paid for, I only paid a few $100 (US) for it, maybe 4-times or more less than the low bid in the range expected. It is my 1st snaphaunce lock mechanism.

The auction ad said 62-caliber, but I can’t even get a 58-caliber jag down the bore. Mechanically it is complete and in excellent shape overall – as all the wood is sound and the metal is sound, less the steel (frizzen) which I’ll get to. The barrel is cleaning up nice, but right now I’m using brushes to get out the years of accumulated crud. I’d really like to pull the barrel and check the condition of the breech plug and if shootable, then if needed I may consider lining. It would be awesome to get it shootable!

Taking it apart has proven to be a challenge as it appears that there were some ‘solder’ repairs to some of the ornamental metal bands holding the barrel in place, but it turns out to be a gray epoxy-like product, like a construction adhesive. I have not yet used a heat gun to help soften the epoxy, but I’d like to remove the bands to get a full assessment of the barrel and barrel channel, as well as to completely remove the barrel.

My biggest obstacle will be the steel. See the crack across the face? Any suggestions here? I do thank you for your input in advance and I hope that I can be a welcome contributor to you all here. My next build or purchase will be a wheellock!

Cheers!