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New Sheath for the Cattaraugus 225Q Quartermaster Knife

The replica sheath that I ordered from eBay seller "banddinsidethegoldmine" arrived today. It's a pretty close replica of the original sheaths. Here's a pic with the knife in the replica sheath next to the original that it came with. After I took the pic I applied some neatsfoot oil, which darkened it a bit, as expected.

The seller also has right handed sheaths, but since I'm left handed I stuck with the historically correct lefty sheath.

Cattaraugus 225Q "Quartermaster" Knife

Last week I started reading up on the Cattaruagus 225Q "Quartermaster" knives that were produced for the US military during World War 2. My interest was piqued so I went online looking for one as a user.

Up until fairly recently they were available for $50 or less but as with everything else, prices have gone up. I found this one on eBay and was able to get it for $90 + tax and shipping. It arrived today.

For a knife made about 80 years ago it's in extremely nice shape. The carbon blade is free from serious corrosion or pitting and shows signs of only light use. It came with a nice, sharp edge, too.

The stacked leather washer handle is also in very nice condition. It bears the typical random grooves found on my 225Qs, intended to enhance one's grip. The pommel is tight and doesn't show any signs of being used as a hammer. Overall the hilt is tight. I've applied a few light coats of Fiebing's 100% neatsfoot oil and the washers have soaked it up. I'll add some more and then give it a coat of Sno-Seal, which is mostly beeswax.

On the other hand, the sheath is showing its age and for that reason I have a replica on the way for actual use. I've given it a couple light coats of neatsfoot oil and like the knife's handle, it's drinking up the oil.

The 225Q has a 6" blade with a swedge on the back of the tip, but it's not sharpened. The blade is 3/16" thick at the spine and a hair under 1.3" wide. The small guard shouldn't get in the way of use in woodcraft or dressing game.

The blade shape is very similar to my Varusteleka Terävä Jääkäripuukko 140, which I've used to process a few deer. I'd expect the Cattaruagus to perform similarly to the Finnish knife.

For size references, here's the Cattaraugus flanked by a Mora Kansbol and a Case Stockman.

As a contemporary of the USN Mk.2 fighting knife, AKA the "Kabar," it invites a comparison. The 225Q's blade is an inch shorter but a little thicker. I like the feel much better than the more famous Kabar. Likewise, the blade geometry on the 225Q makes it a better field knife than the later USAF Aircrew Survival Knife, AKA the "bolt knife". (Having used a USAF knife in the field, I am not a fan of it.)

I'm looking forward to taking this knife into the woods and using as it was intended to be.

First Range Trip with the Rector Rifle

I took the Rector rifle to the range today.

My load was a .389 ball in a 0.018" pillow ticking patch lubed with Hoppe's No.9 BP Lube and Bore Cleaner, on top of 50 grains of Goex 3Fg. This seated easily with only thumb pressure in the muzzle. It shot several inches high at 50 yards from the bench but unfortunately did not group well. I think it's too loose a patch/ball combination.

So I decided to try a thicker patch on my 12th shot. I had some 0.020" patch material with me. I loaded it up and it was noticeably more snug. However, on this shot, the cleanout screw blew out.

The screw didn't go far, landing on the shooting bench. This obviously put an end to shooting the rifle for the day so I cleaned it up and put it away.

After getting home and inspecting the screw closely it looks like the threads stripped out. I think what happened is that was undersized and let go with the higher pressure with the tighter patch.

It looks like I can retap the hole for the cleanout screw hole to accept a 10-32 screw to get the gun back into shooting condition.

Aside from being a bit undersized, the .389 balls didn't look so great. I've had excellent results from Rush Creek balls previously but these didn't look good. I got a Lee .390 mold in and will cast up a bunch to try.

If I can't get the rifle grouping well I'll probably send the barrel to Bobby Hoyt and have it rebored to .45.

Anyway, aside from the Rector rifle I also brought my Numrich Arms H&A Heritage Model underhammer .45. I've always shot .440 balls from it since that what my dad used when he taught me to shoot with it. I decided to try .433 balls for easier loading because I want to shoot it from woods walks without using a mallet to start the balls. With the .433 balls in ticking over 50 grains of Goex 3Fg, all the holes were touching from the 50 yard bench. After I got home I ordered a Lee .433 mold.

After shooting that group I adjusted the sights so POA = POI at 50 yards.

A Percussion Target Rifle by J.H. Rector

I picked up this original 19th Century target rifle via trade yesterday at Dixon's. The asking price was $850.

From what I've been able to determine, J.H. Rector was active in Syracuse 1845 - 1855, and later moved to Buffalo, NY with a partner. My SWAG is that it was built sometime around 1850.

The .40 caliber barrel is 29.5" long and 1" across the flats. It's held to the stock with a single key. It's rifled with 6 grooves although I haven't checked the twist rate yet. The best thing, is that it's in excellent condition. It had some surface rust in the bore which cleaned up nicely with Hoppe's No.9 and elbow grease. There's no significant pitting.It has a hooked breech, but it's not a patent breech. This is an ideal setup IMO. I borescoped it today and this is the breech face. You can see where the flash channel enters the barrel:

The barrel is marked "J.H. Rector Syracuse" with the serial number. It's also marked "Cut by E.G. Davies".

The nipple is .265" x 28 and in good shape but has a larger hole than I'd like. As it turns out Track carries this size as "oversize" nipples, so I ordered a couple.

A closeup of the lock, which is marked "A.T Russel" (only one L):

A sharp eye will see that the hammer nose is damaged, likely from corrosion. I measured its diameter and I may be able to use the neck of a .44-40 case soldered on as repair.

Very clean inside. It's fitted with a fly, although that's not strictly necessary since it doesn't have set triggers.

It holds solid at full and half cock.

The tang is drilled and tapped for a lollipop-style peep sight, which is missing. Once I figure out the thread size I'll look into making a replacement.

All the furniture is iron (tested with a magnet) except for the brass inlays on both sides of the butt.

That small crack at the heel, along with a small chip behind the tang, along with a few dents are the only stock damage.

The business end:

The ramrod appears to be original or a period replacement. The muzzle end is plain but the bottom is fitted with a reversible tow worm.

The gun weighs 9.1 lbs. on my bathroom scale and 46.5" long overall.

For the past few months I've been casually looking for a shootable 19th Century percussion rifle on Gunbroker and Guns International. So, when I saw this on the rack at Dixon's I found it hard to resist.

It's in fantastic shape for a gun that's potentially 175 - 180 years old. I plan to shoot it. Along with the gun I got a bag of .389" balls and have a Lee .390 mold on the way from Track of the Wolf.

Incidentally, if you search for 19th Century percussion rifles you'll find a lot of them that resemble this one. By the last few decades of the century much of the country was settled so this style was developed for target shooting, not taking large game or fighting. Many gunsmiths along the Eastern seaboard were turning out very high quality guns of this type. You can see some of them in Ned Roberts' The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle, which is pretty much the Bible for percussion rifles.

Replica Hawksley Flask from Veteran Arms

I just received this copper Hawksley flask replica today from Veteran Arms. Shown with my Zouave or Peace flask for scale on the left. The originals were made in England in the 19th Century.

Closeup of the adjustable valve. It's marked in drams. One dram = 27.348 grains. I will leave it at the smallest setting of 2-1/2 drams and dispense into a separate powder measure, for safety's sake. If you pour the powder into the gun directly from the flask, you risk of having it go off like a bomb in front of your face if there is a spark down the bore.

A nice feature of the Hawksley-style flasks is that the entire valve assembly unscrews for filling, which is nicer than the American-style flasks that fill through the pour opening, requiring you to use a funnel and hold open the valve. I filled the new flask with some Scheutzen 2Fg. I'm not sure of the capacity, probably about a half pound, but it should hold enough for a woods walk or day of shooting at the range.

New .54 Caliber Barrel for my Cabela's Hawken Rifle

Two years ago I took a very large doe in Tioga County, PA with my left handed .50 Cabela's (Investarm) Hawken. The ball was loaded over 70g grains of 3Fg black powder and impacted at about 55 yards. It was a high chest cavity broadside shot with the ball impacting a few inches behind the right shoulder. It made a mess of the chest cavity but the deer ran, which is normal. What I wasn't happy with was the minimal blood trail, which was difficult to follow with the forest floor covered in leaves. A complete pass-through would've have let more blood out faster and made the blood trail easier to follow.

I thought about experimenting with conicals like a Hornady Great Plains or Lee REAL bullet, but then I saw that muzzle-loaders.com carries replacement barrels for this rifle in .54 caliber. They sell it as the Bridger Hawken. Since I like shooting patched round balls I decided to get the larger caliber barrel.

It came well packed and included a replacement tang, which I didn't use. The barrel came with sights and a nipple. The gun as it now looks:

Monday I took it to my club and zeroed the sights for 50 yards. Like my Investarm Gemmer Hawken, it likes a .530 patched ball on top of 80 grains of 2Fg Scheutzen black powder. I used CCI No.11 caps for ignition.

The first two shots were in one hole at the bottom right. After some sight adjustments I put 6 rounds into the group in the center. POA was 6:00 on the bullseye. This is an SR-1 target. The black is 8" in diameter. Of note is that the barrel doesn't seem sensitive to lube. Most of my shots were lubed with Mr. Flintlock, since that allows me to shoot many rounds without swabbing. However, I also shot some rounds lubed with Track of the Wolf's Mink Oil Tallow, which I'll use when hunting. The 6 shot group I circled was 3 shots with Mr. Flintlock and 3 with Mink Oil Tallow.

I recovered about half the patches I used. None showed signs of burnout or cuts. The edge fraying is normal for fired patches, IME.

I lost count of how many rounds I shot but it was around 25 - 30. I shot my last 5 offhand at 50 yards. By this time I was tired and the recoil was getting to me, but this would still put a deer in the freezer.

Speaking of deer, this fawn was hanging out at the range. I took this from about 100 yards with my iPhone 12 before I started shooting. He moved to another part of the property while I was shooting but I saw him nearby on my way out.

Hopefully I'll get to connect with a deer during the October anterless-only season. While I'm not expecting any deer I shoot to drop on the spot, I'm hopeful that the larger, heavier ball will create an exit wound that causes the animal to bleed out more and sooner, for a more humane kill and less tracking.