Just finished my R Murdoch in 32 Rimfire

[Tripplebeards]

I picked it up a few months ago. It was in ruff shape. It was missing the lever spring and screw. I picked one up at C Sharps. It was also missing the front sight blade and rear sight adjuster. I made my own. I re blued the barrel and gave a faux case hardening look on the receiver. Unfortunately it darkened when I oiled it. The forend was cracked and missing wood. The closest thing I could find was a Stevens Perfect forend of the same length. I had to file the barrel channel and remove about an 1/8” or more from the forend to make it fit. All done! Now to find ammo...or trade it.lol

When I first picked it up...

https://i.imgur.com/oOjWo68.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qV0Zfrj.jpg


After bluing the barrel and stripping the other parts...

https://i.imgur.com/fh7sbv5.jpg

Faux case hardening...

https://i.imgur.com/vorAOqI.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/kVGDoZ1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Xu6v7Hf.jpg

Back together with original broken forend sanded smooth where it was broken off. The frowns rattle loose since it doesn’t go all the way around the barrel...

https://i.imgur.com/oTzK3HA.jpg

New blades I made...

https://i.imgur.com/34woA9K.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Wna4sQE.jpg

And new forend I just installed...

https://i.imgur.com/KFcwSnk.jpg


All done! Don’t know if I’ll ever shoot it. Maybe a neat wall hanger. It was a fun project. Might have to sell or trade it for another builder or toy.

[303Guy]

Awesome! It would be fun to shoot that.

[Bent Ramrod]

If the bore is decent, you can make a new link with hole spacing such that the block is higher and the rimfire firing pin is centered. It can then be fired with moderate loads in .32 Long Colt brass.

That’s a nice job of refurbishing. The little H&As are cute, the medium ones are very graceful, and the big ones are UHHHGGG-LEE!

[uscra112]

Yup. Done that with one of mine. Only gripe is that the block sitting higher interferes with the extractor a bit.

It IS a Hopkins and Allen, btw. Is it marked Murdoch?

[303Guy]

What would it take to make a new block with a centered firing pin?

[uscra112]

Not a lot, except for rounding the back. That's not a precision profile, so it could be done with a file. Otherwise it's a very simple job for a milling machine. The originals appear to be a low-carbon steel, not even case hardened. I'd use 12L14, and case harden it on general principles. You could use 4140 prehard, but IMHO it would be overkill. The 9xx series of H&A is fundamentally pretty strong for a boys' rifle of the times, but it has a weak point, which is the rebounding hammer. It doesn't back up the firing pin, potentially allowing burst primers if a centerfire version were to be loaded to anything over black-powder pressure. You could probably fit a Mann-Niedner firing pin into it to fix that.

BTW I think the O.P.'s was/is a "deluxe" model 1932, since it's got the full-octagon barrel.

[Tripplebeards]

If someone wants to help me with the year and model these are the only markings I could find other then R. Murdock on the barrel. These are the parts before I restored them.

https://i.imgur.com/WUQHibH.jpg

281771

It is tapped for a peep sight like I guess all were manufactured that way. It would be neat to have one on it.

[Bent Ramrod]

The Hopkins&Allen plant burned to the ground in the last year or so of the nineteenth century. Previous to that, their “Junior” falling block model had the ringed set screw for takedown coming in through the right side of the frame. It was tapered, in order to take up wear and keep the barrel tight, in the manner of the Remington #4 takedown rifles.

In 1902, the plant was rebuilt, and production began of the “New Model Junior,” a name that was quickly dropped in favor of the 9XX, 19XX and 29XX designations. These had a somewhat longer receiver front, with the set screw coming in from the bottom, and only holding the barrel in place, no wear takeup. To keep the action the same length, the tangs were shortened. The “arc,” or S-shaped lever, was modified in some cases to a slight curlicue, like yours has. The tangs began to be drilled and tapped for Lyman sights. Deluxe models, with checkered stocks, and a couple of Scheutzen models, with Swiss buttplates and straight or pistol-grip stocks, were available. One specimen was found with a close-coupled double-set trigger. Some of these were chambered in .38 S&W and .25-20 Single Shot, as well as the .22 and .32 rimfires. It appears, from my quick skim of Carder’s book, that the serial numbers started anew in the new models after the fire, although Carder doesn’t state this directly.

They would mark the rifles for any jobber who wanted to buy a lot of them to sell under their own brand. So Rev-O-Noc HS&B, R. Murdock Manufactured By National Firearms Co, Western Reserve Gun Co and Federal Gun Co are some of the brands noted.

In 1915, the company contracted to make Mauser type rifles for the Belgian army. The Germans conquered the Belgians, so the money was never paid, and H&A went bankrupt. It was snapped up by the Marlin-Rockwell company to make parts for BARs and the brand vanished until Numrich started using it on muzzleloaders in the 1970s.

So your gun was made between 1902 and 1915. Only a guess of how many they made a year is possible, since no records remain.

[uscra112]

Yup, what Bent Ramrod wrote is about all anybody knows. As I posted before, going by a catalog reprint I have, the full-octagon barrel was supplied for the 1932, which was one step up from the basic 932. 1932 did not have any deluxe wood or checkering. (Most H&A checkering was done by astigmatic left-handed bears anyway. I'd rather have had the plain wood.)

Charlie Carder worked long and hard gathering info about the rifles, which he self-published on a shoestring. I met him at a show in (I think) Lima, Ohio, and bought the book, which he autographed then and there.

The only other book worth a darn is Joseph Vorisek's, but as he covered all the gazillion shotguns and revolvers that H&A made, there's only a few of pages on the rifles. Vorisek did, however do some research into state incorporation records, and into patents, which make interesting reading. Both books, and some catalogs, are available as reprints from Cornell Publications. www.cornellpubs.com

[Bent Ramrod]

Mr. Carder was certainly a diligent scholar in an area of firearms manufacture largely neglected by most other writers.

I was a member of his HAAMS group for a number of years and still have a bunch of the newsletters. He certainly brought a lot of interesting things to light about the company.

I think besides the octagon barrel, the 1932 had a slight perch-belly stock and the curlicue lever.