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My name is MAGNUS WIBERG, and I am a part time gun
smith living close to Stockholm, Sweden`s capital city.
I have been interested in the GUN SMITH�s trade all
of my life and I always tried to pick
up information of that old time way of building fire
arms. I fired my first muzzle loader about 45 years
ago. I built my first gun about the same time. My first
riffling machine I built around 1962.
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I always enjoyed building the
guns and accessories of yesteryear, and about 10 years ago
I erected the building thas was to be my new gun shop. This
building has all modern commodities and houses traditional
tools and equipment as well as some modern. The traditional
forge and anvil have a central place. A boring and reaming
machine and a hand operated cam bar rifling machine also take
a lot of space in this building. In another corner is equipment
for sand casting brass and silver gun parts. There are also
some modern electrically powered machines to aid work . In
this shop I build, completely by hand, my muskets and rifles
and the accessories needed!
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At this ,May 2000 picture I take the role of an old settler/hunter
of the northern woods around 1800. Together with some twenty
other enthusiasts I made that 350 kilometer march on foot
in 11 days to rediscover an old Swedish trader �s route.
I carry hand made rifle and accoutrements of that era
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I will build to order this ca 1620 Swedish
match lock musket of 20 mm caliber.
It is, to the last minute detail , an exact
copy of a Swedish General Issue musket, originally built at
J�nk�ping Arsenal, and presently part of the collection of
the Royal Army Museum in Stockholm, where my drawings and
measurements of the gun were also executed. This was the type
of gun issued to Swedish troops in major battles on the European
continent during Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus�campaigns
of the Thirty Years War. Also it was the very type of musket
sent by government to be used by military personal in Sweden�s
North American colony on the Delaware between 1638 and 1655.
The barrel is of my own construction and made of tough steel
, SIS 2244. Caliber is 20 mm with a breech plug made tocompletely
seal off the black powder residue from the threads.
The ram rod has a spring steel device at the front end, used
to scrape the black powder residue from the interior of the
barrel to facilitate reloading.
I will also build to order this powder flask in different
sizes, that is the proper type with my matchlock musket.
Flask is of wood covered with linen and velvet or thin leather
and with hand made metal fittings and tufts.
Musket fork that fits my musket and that I will build to order.
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Handforged nails hold the steel butt
plate to the stock.
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I will also build, to
order,an exact copy of a Scandinavian snaphaunce hunting
rifle of ca 12 mm caliber.
This rifle I copied from an original gun that
is in my personal collection. It was common in the northern
parts of the Scandinavian countries and around the Baltic
Sea, and was used in Sweden from the early 17TH century and
into the late 20TH century.
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The very short buttstock is held only tothe chin
when aiming and the shooter often laid on his back, supportingthe
barrel of the riffle between his lifted and crossed legs. Sometimes
the trunk of a tree or a stone would steady the aiming. The
powder horns with measure and bullet pouch in one unit I will
also built to order. This is the type that was commonly used
in sweden and other scandinavian countries,and it is correct
with this type of rifle. Leather is bark tanned deer hide. |
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The snaplock parts are forged from soft iron and then color
case hardened in a mixture of charcoal and charred .bone.
I stamp my barrels and locks `` MW.`` Stock is made of swedish
birch wood that has been dried for five to seven years. Since
my guns and accessories are completely handmade they are all
individuals . Hence no gun or powder flask or whatever it
is, is exactly like the other. They very closely copy the
original speciemen, just like in the old days when every gun
was hand made, but when carefully checked they will all show
small differences, because the eye rather than the scale is
often used for measurements. Neither will any of my products
show signs of machine tooling. This is simply because all
parts are completely handmade with a maximum wood to metal
fit. This will also give that unique feeling that you are
holding a one of a kind gun or powder flask in your hands.
A similar type of rifle is represented among the guns found
on board the wreck of the swedish 17TH century warship WASA.
This rifle is a great shooter, using that old method of lying
down aiming. At the 80 meter range my own gun will group within
an inch or two, and this with very crude sights directly copied
from the original ones. The octagonal barrel is made in my
own shop and precision rifled using cam bar rifling machine
I also build my own rifling heads of the hook type. These
tools are quite complicated and require many hours to complete.
Oil under pressure is feed to the cutting edge to wash out
the tiny metal chips that the operation will remove from inside
the barrel.
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The present cam bar rifling machine that I built about ten years
ago. |
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Rifling head of hook type that I build myself and use in rifling
all my barrels. In fact, I also rifled some high power nitro
powder barrels for modern bolt action rifles with this equipment
As all of my guns and accessories
are 100 % handmade, time of delivery will vary Price will
be given on request
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