Firstly, I put on 16" barrels and extended all measurements to the front by 4". This helps bring the unit up to 750mm, the legal requirement in Victoria, Australia for a long arm, replica or otherwise.
Secondly, I made mine with the front bow bolted on to the frame fronts instead of being silver soldered so it can be removed and the dummy barrel assembly/carrier block (used for display and firmly held together by long thin bolts from the front barrel plate into the carrier block) can be interchanged easily from the front with a working assembly held together the same way. A licensed dealer and workshop are working on this for me as we are not allowed to manufacture a working firearm on a normal shooters licence.
Also, I filled the rear top gap in the front cam track piece, and altered the bolt extractor to do away with the spring, extend the piece that completes the cam track to do this precisely and bolted it directly on to the hand knob at the rear, this being held in by a knurled knob with bolt thread keeping the cam track piece firmly up against the brass casing and allowing easy removal to change bolts. I could not work out how to easily put in the last bolt with the bolt extractor as per plan, and that was the reason for this modification. Also there is now no impediment at all in the cam track, and a larger cam follower on the bolts can be used for better wear. For display, a small brass cheese head screw replaces the knurled knob which is there for when in use.
I used o-ring pieces for extractor springs and they work well. The working assembly is nearly complete and will be registered soon.
The whole piece is mounted on a heavy wooden surveyor tripod, and instead of an oscillator, I got inspired by the 1879 model pointing bar, and made up something similar to that, so the gun will be able to be "walked" onto the target. It moves both in elevation and traverse quite freely, but can be locked in elevation by the binder box on the pointing bar, and in traverse by a screw on the yoke swivel with a wing nut head and wing nut lock. The lower swivel piece attached to the tripod has dimples every 15 degrees on the PCD of the lock screw to avoid damaging it, and it can thus be locked in any position.
I need to make up a nice handle, and get all steel parts polished and blued as can be seen by the photos, and the tripod top possibly stripped and polished as it is bronze.
If anybody is interested in any of these modifications I am more than happy to provide details, measurements and photos. The pointing bar gives a much greater range of movement than an oscillator and elevator wheel.
Pete.
PS Not highly computer literate and can't work out how to post my photos. Anyone interested please send me your e-mail address and I can attach them.
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