The Trigger Guard

Fabricating the trigger guard for the Edward Marshall Rifle presented Jud with a difficult problem: either start from scratch using an oversize form and cast it, or cut it out of brass stock. This trigger guard is much wider than any other standard casting available so it did need to be fabricated de novo. The author of this blog was able to obtain beautiful yellow brass rounds from stock at a local metals supply warehouse. Jud used a bandsaw to cut and form the guard from a 2.5 inch by 12 inch round bar. This is illustrated in the following pictures which also show the trigger guard in its finished form and inletted into the stock. The beginnings of the shaping of the wooden patch box lid are also shown.

Progress on the Edward Marshall Rifle: Shaping the stock

Jud has been devoting nearly all his time on his "bench interpretation" of the E. Marshall Rifle.
This series of photographs shows the shaping and inletting of the stock and sliding wooden patchbox fitted into the dovetail slot where it snaps in with a decisive and very authoritative "click".  The buttplate was fabricated by forging annealed brass into the correct shape.