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My new and sad Virginia Manufactory project


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albatrosdva

I got this musket with a bunch of other parts guns about a week ago. It is what it is. My first plan is to find someone with a destroyed 1795-1812 model US musket with a decent butt so I can splice it together. I also need the butt plate and model 1795 style trigger guard. Then I may just turn it into a canoe gun and stretch the stock to the end and put a front band on it. Tempted to get it welded though. Still plenty of meat on that barrel. They are rare enough in original Flint to make this sad project worthwhile. Hope you enjoy.

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dunmore1774

that is a project that has "potential" written all over it :)

if you're patient, pieces will surface,  but as you mention, nice to see the lock hasn't been converted.

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ludwigh1980

I guess I am a bit different toward it. I have seen so many restored, pieced together pieces: Colts, Winchester, muskets, civil war guns, etc,  over the years that once a gun is pieced together it is always a pieced together. I appreciate un-touched relics a lot more. I think that it is a great relic on its own that speaks. Its not a M1903 or a Garand or even a M1911 for that matter, examples of which may have seen numerous rebuilds within the government system. That one quite possible saw the frontier in the hands of a soldier, settler, Indian etc. However it is yours and to do what you please. If it was me, I would hang it on the wall with one of my relic civil war cavalry sabers, an Indian war canteen and a Sioux parfleche bag. 

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Wharfmaster

Your musket may have been used by Native Americans and may have great historic and monetary value.  

 

I would not do anything until I talked to a Pro.

 

 

 

W

 

 

 

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I would recommend talking to Clay Smith (https://www.claysmithguns.com/).  He's a master gunsmith who used to work for Colonial Williamsburg and now has a private business.  He does excellent work and is very reasonable - I recommend him very highly.

 

Lodgewood Manufacturing (https://www.lodgewood.com/) also does excellent work but their prices can be high.  I haven't had personal experience with them but they have a great reputation.  Their website has an example of a Virginia Manufactory musket they reproduced based on an original.

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albatrosdva
On 3/21/2023 at 1:25 PM, ludwigh1980 said:

I guess I am a bit different toward it. I have seen so many restored, pieced together pieces: Colts, Winchester, muskets, civil war guns, etc,  over the years that once a gun is pieced together it is always a pieced together. I appreciate un-touched relics a lot more. I think that it is a great relic on its own that speaks. Its not a M1903 or a Garand or even a M1911 for that matter, examples of which may have seen numerous rebuilds within the government system. That one quite possible saw the frontier in the hands of a soldier, settler, Indian etc. However it is yours and to do what you please. If it was me, I would hang it on the wall with one of my relic civil war cavalry sabers, an Indian war canteen and a Sioux parfleche bag. 

I really respect your opinion as well as others about this relic. I think what I will do is a compromise between what I initially said and what you said about it being pieced together once touched. The broken wrists have round wire nails so I can say it's been repaired and the original butt lost within modern times. I've just found a very beat up stock locally with signs of Confederate use (or just a well beat up hunting gun that had thong straps at one point, for a sling). What I will do to make it a little more presentable is fit the two pieces, run a wooden dowel for strength and use some of the hide glue I have for violin repair to put it together. Then with a leather wrap the repair will look period and I will have done nothing that can't be reversed if someone else doesn't like it put together.

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