Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

[marylandmarine]

I just got my new Armi Sport 1853 Enfield back from getting defarbed by James River Armory and I am so excited, I had to share it with y'all! After talking it over with Mark, I decided to go with the Barnett Lockplate, and stamps and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out! Not only was the service prompt, but Mark was very patient with my laundry list of amateur questions. I am throwing up some pictures for everyone to see what a great job he did on it! I am kicking myself for not having a "before" picture, but to see one of those, all you have to do is look at any new, off the rack, Armi Sport Enfield. There's a lot that was done but I'll try to list what I remember:
Re-shaped comb on stock
stripped, and re-stained stock
moved serial to underside of barrel
stamped barrel with correct markings
new Barnett Lockplate
re-blued entire barrel
It looks like the barrel bands were worked on a little as well, but I can't place exactly what was done.
stamped correct markings on side of stock, and underside
Replaced brass washers (forgot the correct name) with square ones

Thanks again to Mark and his very nice wife and their awesome dog! Great work, Cheers!

Tony Manson

[Dbackfed]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Nice work. Too bang bad they stopped their Civil War product line.

[4VADRUMMER]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

That is an awesome job! Outstanding indeed! You care sharing how much that work set you back?

[marylandmarine]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Sure thing, ill shoot.you a PM though, I just don't remember if there are any forum rules about posting prices and such on here and I don't want big brother yelling at me! Mods, if you see this and there are no rules, please let me know and I can post it on here.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

No problem. Post away!

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

You might enjoy a bit of background research on Barnett & Sons, David Burt posted the monograph on them at:

http://www.factasy.com/civil_war/2010/12/23_4

There are a couple small cosmetic differences, such as a plain lock plate would not be found with an engraved hammer
but that is easy to remedy and Mark did a fine job overall. Glad Mark Hartman is still in the game, he does good work.
Apparently, he can still defarb Enfields if you send him your musket but can no longer order them through Armi Sport?
I know Euroarms is out of business, which was his primary supplier. This is the first Civil War defarb I have seen from
James River Armory in a couple years. I hope he can still do the US models, too. He did a series of contractor
variations for the US 1861 which were very, very good.

[marylandmarine]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Craig,

Incredible article! Thanks for the link, just read it with my morning cup of coffee and learned so much about both, Barnett and Sons, and Enfields in general! It's funny you mentioned getting the plain hammer, that is one thing I'd like to get changed, I know James River didn't have any hammers on hand so I figured I'll snag one in a little while. We went back and forth between the LA Co and Barnett locks but Mark had showed me them and we thought the Barnett Lock turned out a little better during the case hardening process than the LA Co one so that's what we went with. So, I am going to purchase one of the plain hammers, any recommendations as to where I buy from? Is that something that I can put on myself or should I take it to a gunsmith? Is it something that a gunsmith could do at a reenactment if I pre-purchase the hammer? Are they just called plain hammers or are there specific terms that the vendors know them by? Thanks again for the nice comments gents, I feel like a proud pop with his new kid, haha.

[wade03]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Saw this thread and figured I'd also sing the praises of James River Armory. Craig, you mentioned that they did some US contractor plates and what not. Attached are photos of my defarbed Miroku 1861. I bought an extra lock plate from Dixie and filed everything but the eagle off. Sent that, my barrel bands, and my barrel to James River and he stamped everything very neatly. They also sold me just the Enfield lock plate I attached photos of. Really great customer service. A friend and I did all the rest of the defarbing work.

Someone asked where to get an unlined hammer. The Enfield I posted a photo of has an unlined hammer that I got off and Indian made Enfield. I believe Track of the Wolf might just sell these hammers. Either way, they have the weight of an original hammer, the Italian made ones are a little small looking. The hammer will need to be fitted and casehardened, but thats something a good gun/blacksmith could do for you.

Good looking Enfield by the way.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

That is a very good looking hammer on the Potts & Hunt defarb. Absolutely an unengraved original
hammer is the best possible alternative here, but you can also remove the repro hammer and
carefully grind off the "flames" and double line engraving with a moto-dremel tool if nothing else.
You can also shape a Colt Special model hammer into a decent alternative by taking a bit off the
tip of the nose. Essentially, the Colt Special model is a modified P53 Enfield design. The point is,
the plain lock plate has the plain hammer. The double line engraved lock plate--some Tower marked
Barnett locks were double line engraved--then it should also have the engraved hammer.
That's how the lock makers in the English gun trade produced them. Lock making was a specialized
branch of the trade with most of the best known firms located in the Midlands.

The US 1861 plates JRA offered were from a variety of makers, Parkers' Snow, Bridesburg, Savage,
SN & WTC for Mass, etc. He also had some original US plates at one time. Those were the days...

[marylandmarine]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

The Mods have said I'm good to tell, so the cost for the job was $275.00 which I felt was great for the amount of work he did and the time it was done in. This, coupled with zero shipping costs for me worked out very well.

On a side note, Barry, is this hammer modification something I can purchase pre made? Would lodgewood or taylors have these? Is it something I can have done at an event? Just trying to see what my options are with it, and which are the least painful.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Easy enough, remove the hammer screw and the hammer will come off with light tapping.
Take a file, or a moto dremel tool if you have one, and carefully file or buff off the "flames" and
the two line engraving around the perimeter of the hammer. Lightly sand the surface and buff with
steel wool. Viola! Plain hammer to match the plain lock plate.

The best thing is to look for an original hammer, of course. Depends on what you want to spend
on the project. I think Wickett paid something over $150 for a really mint original hammer from
Lodgewood Mfg.

[marylandmarine]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

And finally got the defarbed hammer installed on it by the master himself, Mr. Todd Watts!

[dixieflyer]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Beautiful work. I'm going to have to purchase another musket soon, and figured just to get a defarbed Enfield from Blockade Runner, but found a couple of James River Armory '61's for sale too. Decisions, decisions.

Warren Dickinson

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

The best thing is to look for an original hammer, of course. Depends on what you want to spend
on the project. I think Wickett paid something over $150 for a really mint original hammer from
Lodgewood Mfg.

I think I paid $200 for the hammer and an original snap-cap and chain. That was 1998 or so. Finding a non-engraved original enfield hammer is a bit of a holy grail quest. You find quite a number of them, but all ground for Snider conversions. It's probably in the wheelhouse of Todd Watts or other similarly qualified gunsmiths to weld such a hammer back up to "revert" it to its original form... just a thought. Another option might be to use a Rifle Shoppe cast part. A pard of mine did that with his LA Co defarb with pretty good results. Be sure they have it in-stock, though, before you place your order.

[marylandmarine]

Re: Awesome Defarb Job by Mark and James River Armory!!!

Mr. Wickett,

I ended up asking Todd Watts to take an Armi Sport repro hammer and grind it down for me. He did this in an incredibly efficient time and was very easy to talk to and ask questions about, so Mr. Watts, I tip my hat to you sir!

Regards,