maynard ID

[glennmay]

I am trying to ID a maynard rifle. It is around 35 caliber, has a 20 inch barrel, a flip up tang sight, and no fore end. The buttstock has a patch box and it is set up for the maynard priming tape ignition. On the right side of the receiver it says Maynard Arms Washington on the left side it says Mass Arms Co Chicopee Falls. Any idea what this is?

[John Holland]

Your Maynard is known as the "Model 1 Maynard".

John Holland
Small Arms Committee

[glennmay]

Was this rifle used in the CW? What caliber is it? And will parts from the Romano repro maynard 1st model work for it? Anyone know?

[RangerFrog]

You can use John's answer to refer to the model... If it is unchanged, the bore is the same as the Civil War version (which this could be, or it could have been sold on the civilian market. More info needed.) Larry Romano is good at matching parts... although the original carbines were somewhat hand fitted so don't completely interchange. He builds his complete arms to original specs, but don't expect a complete drop in fit.

The question arises, what parts does this carbine need? If it is original, there should be no fore end or any sign of one. There will probably be a tang sight that has a flat plate which is loosened to slide up and down for elevation and can slide right and left for windage. The front sight is a simple blade. There should be a little lever on the right side of the receiver to hold the primer tape door closed. I don't think Larry makes replacement parts for the primer mechanism as this is blanked out on his repro (no tape available!! :? )

As for shooting it, after checking for safety, bullet moulds are available from Romano and others and brass (as well as high-temp plastic) cases are available from several sources. The only loading tool needed is a bullet seater (hand held) like the one I got from Lodgewood. Hope this will help you get started and please feel free to contact me by PM if you want to discuss specifics. Green

Regards,
Froggie

[glennmay]

The carbine needs the little arm that holds the door that holds the priming tape closed, it needs a buttstock, a nipple, and the hammer is usable but the spur is broken off. It also needs the aperature for the tang sight. (all this sounds much worse than it is). And it appears to be about 35 or 36 caliber. Any idea which specific maynard caliber it would be?

[Eddie Bruner, 12222]

PM me for the buttstock.


-Eddie Bruner

[glennmay]

So does anyone have any idea what cartridge this thing fires?

[efritz]

You're not too far away from having a shootable Mod 1. As with any hobby it can begin to get expensive but you will have a very satisfying experience with a mostly original Mdl. 1. There are a few people in the organization that could make a new stock. John Bly, using Hoyt barrels,
makes excellent repro barrels, (John does the breeching process) and can make a repro in .50 cal 20" - .50 cal 26" - .36 cal. 20" - or .36 cal 26".
He's made two for me and I am very pleased. This is also good because you keep the original barrel without altering it in any way. The rear sight aperature should also be fairly easy to be purchased or made. The arm on the other hand may be the most difficult to obtain. Original Mdl 1 parts are not that easily found. The Baltimore gun show in March would be a good place to look. Lodgewood could also be asked to be on the look out for you. I think John is up to about $425.00 or there abouts for a barrel. A link may also be required for additional cost. In any event they're a hoot to shoot.

[RangerFrog]

Glenmay, I got that percussion nipple assembly and the sight part you need for the tang sight from Larry, and both work perfectly.

As far as the lever to keep the door closed, you will want that to be fitted to your gun, otherwise it will probably not go in at all or will be so loose it droops down... neither of which you want. S&S sells them, as does Lodgewood (I think) and definitely Romano. I happen to have the S&S part as a backup, and it is a casting that will have to be fitted before it is used since it is quite a bit oversize (a good thing.)

Romano would be my choice for the replacement hammer as he can and will provide it in the finished (hardened) state... this is not something I would want to deal with; and as someone else already offered a butt stock it would be extraneous to mention Romano and S&S again, but of course I will! :lol:

Somehow when I hit the reply button your question disappeared from my screen, but I think I've addressed all of your questions except loading, and they were in my previous answer. Expect to pay close to $2 each for the brass cases and about $.35 or so each for the plastic (I forget because I don't use them.) I think Larry's mould for the .36 is going to be one of the best bets for you for bullets, and again, the Lodgewood hand loading tool duplicates the original in appearance and function... I use one with my .50 cal with great satisfaction.

Froggie

[R. McAuley 3014V]

The carbine needs the little arm that holds the door that holds the priming tape closed, it needs a buttstock, a nipple, and the hammer is usable but the spur is broken off. It also needs the aperature for the tang sight. (all this sounds much worse than it is). And it appears to be about 35 or 36 caliber. Any idea which specific maynard caliber it would be?

Glennmay, does your carbine look anything like the one at the link below or the one below it?

http://www.civilwarpreservations.com/ca ... e=carbines (http://www.civilwarpreservations.com/catdet.asp?TargetItem=SFC302&CategoryType=carbines)

http://www.blujay.com/?page=ad&cat=7080200&adid=1377047

[glennmay]

Yes it does look like the one in the top link. However the one in the liink does not have the tang sight. This one alos has the same patent information on the patch box as the one in the link. I also found the serial # which is 1992. It is marked with these numbers on several parts.

This gun is in pretty rough shape. It needs a hammer, a stock, a nipple, tang sight parts, and it doesnt function. The hammer will not cock. Just last night I completely disassembled it and cleaned and inspected all parts. I can't find anything obvious that would explain why it doesnt work. I am going to reassemble it tonight and see if perhaps it was assembled improperly or just seized up. Ill post as soon as I know something.

The biggest problem I see with it is that the bottom tang is broken. I have both parts though. I am a gunsmith and I have access to a tig welder. If I am going to save this piece of history then this problem is going to have to be addressed. Has anyone else ran into this issue?

[glennmay]

CORRECTION:

the serial # is 1192

[R. McAuley 3014V]

This gun is in pretty rough shape. It needs a hammer, a stock, a nipple, tang sight parts, and it doesnt function. The hammer will not cock. Just last night I completely disassembled it and cleaned and inspected all parts. I can't find anything obvious that would explain why it doesnt work. I am going to reassemble it tonight and see if perhaps it was assembled improperly or just seized up. Ill post as soon as I know something.

You should talk with Rob Lewis at Tri-L Machine, who specialise in cobalt welding, and he could probably add to the hammer and repair it, and he could also repair the tang. He also does a great trigger job so would be able to tweek the internals. I used to shoot a original P/60 Enfield rilfe until the sear broke, which the rifle being one of the noninterchangeable Enfields, it was either build a new sear from scratch or find a way to fix the broken sear. Rob was able to repair the sear with cobalt, and while he had the rifle, also reduced the trigger pull from 14-lbs to 3.5-lbs. While I realise you may be a gunsmith, I was a unit armorer and small arms repairer when I served in the Army, and while there are a lot of things that I can do myself, there are some things best left to those who specialise and Rob happens to specialize in these type repairs.

[RangerFrog]

The hammer/trigger arrangement of the Maynard is pretty simple except for that Rube Goldberg 2-springs-and-a-stirrup arrangement. You can put it together with slave pins through the hammer and trigger and watch it work with the side plate off... that should show you what is (or is not) going on as far as cocking the hammer, etc.

I'm a little confused about your intent, though. Do you want to save as many original parts as you can, replace broken/damaged parts with originals, or use new repro parts? This is critical information with regard to such things as the tang, hammer and stock you describe. Restoration type repair, as was stated above, is highly specialized work, and the carbine in question is valuable enough to be worth giving the best treatment possible.

JMHO ~ Froggie

[glennmay]

My intent is to save this rifle and return it to shootable condition. I would like to say that cost is not an issue here but frankly it is. If original parts can be saved, great. If they cant and there are originals available great, if not but there is repro parts, then that will do. I would prefer to save its original parts but if that route will be very expensive then I will have to consider other original parts or repro parts. I know repro parts are sometimes frowned upon, but they are better than letting it rust into oblivion (which was its fate before me) or letting "bubba" "customize" it. I just want to return it to something resembling its former glory. I am a smith but i have no problem turning some jobs over to a specialist. There is just no sense in me messing up a piece of history out of silly pride. Please PM me his contact info and I'll see what he thinks.