Rifle from Sind (Sindh)

[rickystl]

Hello again.
I purchased this gun from a fellow Forum member maybe three years ago. It required no real restoration. It was already in the excellent condition as shown in the photos below. It is a typical Sind rifle with the wide, but very thin butt. It is brass mounted with silver barrel bands. Looks like the k is rosewood, maybe from the Malbar coast (?). An interesting feature is a Period break - and repair - at the wrist area that was repaired with brass. Looks like the repair may have been done by the same gunsmith that built the gun (?). Hmmmm.
It has a beautiful swamped, thick wall barrel. It took a lot of cleaning, but the rifling was in good shape. Just a lot of loose rust and dirt in the bore. But no real corosion. So I was most happy with that. The only other two small issues were the lock and the nipple. The lock was in perfect shape, but the hammer was slightly binding against the stock when pulled back. Just a small amount of shim material inside the lock mortise solved the problem. The nipple had to soak in penetrating oil for a few days, then heated slightly to get it out. The original nipple was in good shape, but the size required a #12 percussion cap that haven't been made since about the early 1980's. So, just turned the nipple down a small amount to use #11 caps which are available everywhere.
So, it just took a good bore cleaning, and a couple small fixes to get the gun in firing order. And it shoots fine. It's a .41 caliber. I use a .400 round ball and patch for shooting. The original 7 groove rifling is still very accurate.
Picture heavy, so hope you enjoy. And thanks for looking. Rick.