British Pattern 1803 Baker Cavalry Carbine
"In 1803, I tried a rifle-barrel for cavalry, twenty inches in length, before a Committee of Field Officers at Woolwich, in competition with other makers; when a decided preference was given to mine, which I afterwards mounted as a pattern for the Tenth Regiment of Light Dragoons, under the command of His late Majesty George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales." - Ezekiel Baker, 1820.
The Pattern 1803 Baker Cavalry Carbine is a very scaled down version of Ezekiel Baker's famous rifle. In the early 19th Century, the Board of Ordnance felt there would be some benefit in arming cavalry troops with rifled carbines to complement standard issued smoothbore Paget carbines, thus giving them a more accurate and longer ranged firearm to engage the enemy. Several designs were submitted for testing, but Baker's carbine was ultimately selected and designated the "Pattern 1803". The P1803 shared a lot of visual similarities with Baker's Infantry rifle, but was dramatically scaled down to allow for easier handling on horseback. The barrel was shortened from 33" down to 20" and the rest of the parts were scaled down proportionately. Apart from its size, the most notable physical difference between Baker's rifle and carbine is the carbine's inclusion of a "captured ram rod"; a swivel assembly that allowed the ram rod to be permanently fixed to the end of the muzzle, and minimized the risk of the ram rod being dropped while reloading on horseback. Additionally, Baker also included an external sliding safety on the lock of the P1803 Carbine. This little switch could be engaged when the gun was in halfcock, and physically blocked the cock from dropping against the frizzen. This added safety measure was a must for cavalry troops, and minimized the risk of an accidental discharge while mounted.
This museum-quality P1803 Baker Cavalry Carbine was built by David Stavlo, and is a a true recreation of one of the more rare weapons used during the Napoleonic Wars. It features all the correct finishes and markings.
David began the work by building the lock, which was purchased as a set of rough castings. A lot of time and tuning went in to making the lock not only functional but reliable - it is tiny in comparison to most other British miltiary flintlocks, with a lock plate that measures just over 4" long. In addition to building the lock, David also had to fabricate the sliding safety components from scratch. Once the lock was finished, it was polished and set to a professional engraver to have all of the cast-in engraving hand-chased.
With the lock finished, David was able to turn his attention to the stock. The was stock was carved from straight grained Walnut. David hand-fit each component to the stock to make sure the fit was similar to what's found on original Baker Carbines, produced during a time that predated modern stock bedding machinery. After all the parts were fit, David continued with the stock shaping. After studying quite a few original guns pictured in books like DeWitt Bailey's British Military Flintlock Rifles 1740-1840, David was able to work the stock down to the graceful and delicate profile of the original Baker carbines; with special attention paid to the lock mouldings, wrist, and forestock. The stock was burnished like the originals before being finished with linseed oil. As an added bonus, David was able to inspect an original Ordnance Pattern Baker Carbine and copy the gun's markings. This allowed us to have a full set of Baker proofmarks/store keeper's marks made to the exact specifications of those found on originals. These stamps were applied the the butt stock and barrel; making it a perfect replica - right down to the smallest of details.
With the stock finished, the work continued with the finishing of the gun's metal. David silver-soldered the lug for the captured ram rod assembly and cut the dovetails for both the front and rear sights. He then custom fabricated a correct brass front sight for this gun, again using various references on original Bakers for the dimensions. With this finished, the barrel was then draw filed and the correct proof marks were stamped. David completed the barrel with a correct browned finish.
The captured ram rod proved to be a unique challenge, and David ended up fabricating the entire ram rod swivel assembly from scratch; again using photos of original Baker carbines as a reference.
The lock and breech were bone-charcoal color case hardened by David in-house, and screws, along with the wedges and springs were then nitre-blued like those found on original Bakers.
The brass furniture was hand finished and polished and installed on the finished stock.
Finally, David test-fired the rifle and was quite impressed with how accurate it shot with a .610 ball over 65 grains of FFG.