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20yr old project...

DavidVanVorous

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So after having retired, figured it was time to fiddle with old hardware again.
TVM P+++ curly maple blank with only barrel inlet done by them (dont have a router)
L&R warranted side hammer cap lock
R.E. Davis long bar double set trigger
36" Moody barrel 1:66 twist (round ball for the uninformed) .50 cal taperd
Slant breach and lollypop tang
Mostly steel fittings including crescent butt plate, thimbles and fore endcap are nickel silver.
Trigger guard (not shown) is a S.Hawken design. Needs to be slimmed down given the slim nature of the piece.

Why 20 yrs? Life and doing 2 long distance moves kinda got in the way...:grinpimp:
 

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Might add that I did happen to have a blue print from the St. Louis Plains rifle Co. on what I was planning which gave me an idea of proper proportions and such.

Some folks might want to know why a long bar trigger and lollypop tang...look to the wrist. Long bar trigger (1/4" thick) goes from right around to front of the lock back to the end of the comb of the stock. Lollypop slant breach tang goes from the rear of the barrel to about 1/2 the distance of the long bar trigger with 2 8-32 bolts tieing the assembly together. 1 bolt behind the slant breach block and the other in the lollypop part of the tang. That adds strength in the wrist area.
Given the cantankerous nature of figured wood like curly maple for doing weird splits at inopportune times adding a bit of strength in appropriate places isnt a bad idea.

After dealing with another build (1/2 stock Hawken) with a 1" straight barrel, the balance found in a tapered barrel is well worth the extra $ paid...unfortunately I believe the gent that made my barrel passed a few years ago but Green Mountain, Colerain and Rice also make that geometry...
 
Bit more update...fiddling with the key inlets and browning the plates plus trigger guard efforts.
Yes the kerosene lamp is used for inletting for those unfamiliar. Soot the part and carefully place in inlet area. Black spots get work until the entire inlet has soot showing...then its done. Yes one can use Prussian blue as alternative to soot.

Guard has a fair bit of effort sanding fitting and such. One to the right is an "as cast" from the vendor of a tad different style (Kit Carson Hawken replica part). Gets browned when Im happy with shape and mounted to trigger plate...
 

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Nice work.
Progress...browning done on trigger assembly including guard. One of these days I might consider setting up a furnace and bending my own guard...
Tried Laurel Mountain forge chemistry on a couple parts (key guards for stock and various bolts). Yes its easier to apply but I get better results with Mike Lee even with the PITA preheat gyration.
 

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Nice work! Sooting is a lost art but very handy. Last stock work I made up some Prussian blue using line chalk and vaseline. Messier in some ways but carbon black gets into everything.

I like the browning color. Is it from a bottle? Which one?

Having a tapered barrel makes a BIG different in the balance. Worth the money and effort.

My next project will be a Swamped columnated barrel on a wheel lock. Still looking for the right barrel.
 
Nice work! Sooting is a lost art but very handy. Last stock work I made up some Prussian blue using line chalk and vaseline. Messier in some ways but carbon black gets into everything.

I like the browning color. Is it from a bottle? Which one?

Having a tapered barrel makes a BIG different in the balance. Worth the money and effort.

My next project will be a Swamped columnated barrel on a wheel lock. Still looking for the right barrel.
I got my "prussian blue" from Michaels (arts&craft store), nothing more than a tube of water color in that color. Comes off with...water:grinpimp:.
I use soot on simple parts line lock/trigger/butt plate. Itty bitty parts like key plates are a PITA to soot much less hold onto and install w/o rubbing the soot off.
As to the brown, was watching a video on blueing and the gent mentioned using the goop before doing a cold blue.
Stuff is "Mark Lee Express brown #2" I picked up from Brownells. The interesting part about it is that it will go blue in HOT water, doing multi coats w/o the water step yields a plum brown. I stopped early in the coats (about 4) to get what I have.
Applies like the Birchwood Casey stuff but seems a tad more concentrated, i.e. heat and either dip or wipe on, let sit and buff loose rust off. Repeat as required...
Fussing with key plates and inlet. Not happy with flat head appearances, need to track down some oval head #4 wood screws and fuss with the plate color some more.

So...wheel lock? Action gonna be a home built or do they peddle that somewhere?
Whose barrel are you using?
 

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I got my "prussian blue" from Michaels (arts&craft store), nothing more than a tube of water color in that color. Comes off with...water:grinpimp:.
I use soot on simple parts line lock/trigger/butt plate. Itty bitty parts like key plates are a PITA to soot much less hold onto and install w/o rubbing the soot off.
As to the brown, was watching a video on blueing and the gent mentioned using the goop before doing a cold blue.
Stuff is "Mark Lee Express brown #2" I picked up from Brownells. The interesting part about it is that it will go blue in HOT water, doing multi coats w/o the water step yields a plum brown. I stopped early in the coats (about 4) to get what I have.
Applies like the Birchwood Casey stuff but seems a tad more concentrated, i.e. heat and either dip or wipe on, let sit and buff loose rust off. Repeat as required...
Fussing with key plates and inlet. Not happy with flat head appearances, need to track down some oval head #4 wood screws and fuss with the plate color some more.

So...wheel lock? Action gonna be a home built or do they peddle that somewhere?
Whose barrel are you using?
Thanks! I'll have to look for some of that. I like the color.

I agree on the flat heads. Since you are already surface treating things you could oval the heads yourself chucking them in a screw gun as a mini lathe against sand paper or belt sander. Done that before!

I found some plans in PDF form long ago that seem pretty compete. Lots of little bits to fab but that is half the fun. I'm still stumped on the barrel and have yet to get serious. Not sure if I am doing a pistol or Caliver.

My project will fit in well with your 20 year timeline...:flipoff2:
 
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Thanks! I'll have to look for some of that. I like the color.

I agree on the flat heads. Since you are already surface treating things you could oval the heads yourself chucking them in a screw gun as a mini lathe against sand paper or belt sander. Done that before!

I found some plans in PDF form long ago that seem pretty compete. Lots of little bits to fab but that is half the fun. I'm still stumped on the barrel and have yet to get serious. Not sure if I am doing a pistol or Caliver.

My project will fit in well with your 20 year timeline...:flipoff2:
Im sure I can track down oval heads, hopefully sans zinc plate, at McMaster Carr. Really don't want to strip the stuff though I do have both tech grade nitric and a bunch of aquafortis I made from some of the stuff.
To be HC one would think large smoothbore barrel. If one had access to a lathe one might track down a 12 ga barrel and go from there, that's roughly .72 cal IIRC.
 
Fussing with butt and toe plate. For the uninformed, toe plate saves chipping of the stock when loading as one places the butt on the ground, or in my case on the arch of the left foot, to load smoke poles.
As one can see by the "patch" at the toe, already had a chip on the butt compliments of long distance moving this project on 4 separate occasions.
 

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Update...something like 20 full strength coats of BLO after the 50:50 BLO turps and some polish with rottenstone_BLO mix. Then about 2 weeks of dry time before assembly and test.
Lots of folks use either Tung or Tru oil but I'm not after a high shine and have an allergic reaction to Tung oil and its blends. BLO just takes longer and I wax after its all done with mix of Turps and beeswax (old school)
 

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Nice work man! Good polish and depth in that finish. I prefer BLO myself. I do not want a more modern looking finish on my olde firearms.

I do a three way mix of BLO, turp, and beeswax for stock final finishes.
 
Nice work man! Good polish and depth in that finish. I prefer BLO myself. I do not want a more modern looking finish on my olde firearms.

I do a three way mix of BLO, turp, and beeswax for stock final finishes.
The butt hasn't quite caught up with the finish of the fore stock...the hassles of a piece of wood well "aged" and a sponge for the oil. :laughing:
Few more coats and...hurry up n' wait for the oil to dry, ususally about 2-3 weeks in my area if my Mauser stock is any equivalent. Then off to assemble. The time allows me to do the barrel up right. With the shop unheated it takes a toll on heat applied "rust"; Needs to be uniform...
 
Bit of an update, stock is done. Still need to brown the barrel and soak the ramrod. Have to wait for a relatively warm day to do the barrel...shops not heated and MT weather is officially NW territory Canada cold.:shaking:
 

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Only thing left is to target it in. :grinpimp:
Real interested in how it works in comparison to my older build. Barrel on that is a Green Mt 1/72 twist and a tad longer...
 

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So we went out to the range at the house, popped off one to see how it did with a 60 gr 2f load, .015 patch and .495 ball. Do enjoy a double set trigger. Excitement set in and what did the old curmudgeon do in the charge? Dry ball...off to the shop (20 yds away) and extricate said fiasco with the air compressor.:shaking::dustin:
Yea I coulda pulled the nipple and drizzled 2f in the breach and popped it off, yea I coulda used the grease gun and made a mess oooooooooooozing the ball out the barrel...lots of coulda's in this exersize, somehow the sound of the THWAK! of the ball exiting the muzzle and hitting a tree immediately outside the shop man door is much more appealing. :laughing:
Yes I also have a CO2 discharger that does the same thing but why waste a cartridge when the compressor is right there?:dustin:
 

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How much psi? :grinpimp:

By dry ball do you mean you forgot the powder before sending the ball down the barrel?
 
How much psi? :grinpimp:

By dry ball do you mean you forgot the powder before sending the ball down the barrel?
As it applies to ML, yes a dry ball is sans the requisite propellant, and about 40 according to the gage at the compressor.:homer:
Still fun to get out and make a bit of smoke even with a fiasco involved. :dustin:

So...now we wait for the next calm after the storm to actually target it in. Got my hammer/punch, hacksaw and smoothing files RTG fer that.

For the uninitiated in fixed sight manipulations, Hammer/punch for drifting sights left or right, Files and hacksaws for dealing with elevation. file front down to raise the shot on the target. working front is basackwards relative to rear sight adjustments.
I save saw for deepening the slot in my semi buckhorn rear sight for old eyes sight picture reasons.
The ace is making sure both front and rear are mounted accurately on barrel to begin with. +/- .0001" total for both is best I've done w/ depth mike which saves a bunch of hammer/punch tapping...and requisite deleted explicatives when ya miss the measurement.
 
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