Thanks for that picture. I like this idea better than the pinning in the barrel channel.Probably something like this. The ‘capture’ pin is placed under or behind the slotted inlay, and goes through the slot in the wedge key. You can just make out the pin in the wedge slot in this photograph.
-
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Has anyone tried to make Wedge keys for barrels?
- Thread starter Forrest Smith
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Some people do make their lives Difficult..
A piece of Mild Steel about 5/8"x 3/8 three times as long or more than the key"..Mill it or File it
to the thicknes you wont leaveing enough to form the head. Saw slot the required depth aaaand
weld up the end where you don't need the slot.. File the head .. Job Done.. SIMPLEMPELS.. In the Words of the Old Ferret.. ( MEERCATS ENCLODED)
A piece of Mild Steel about 5/8"x 3/8 three times as long or more than the key"..Mill it or File it
to the thicknes you wont leaveing enough to form the head. Saw slot the required depth aaaand
weld up the end where you don't need the slot.. File the head .. Job Done.. SIMPLEMPELS.. In the Words of the Old Ferret.. ( MEERCATS ENCLODED)
Considering it would take me a good two hours if my time, no. $20 is way cheaper.
I enjoy tinkering in my shop, I spent two days filing this sight out of piece of angle iron, I never considered the time spent as lost wages. I like the old adage that states "time that you enjoy wasting is not wasted time".
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2023
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 20
Larry (Omaha) I have the vise, ball peen hammer and the Material. I feel like I a dumber than a post at times, but put the steel in the vise and with the ball peen hammer side, whack the end of the steel down and then shape with a file?
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2023
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 20
Nice Job on the sight, Eric!
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2023
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 20
I have the steel cut and I will give it a try at hammering it down on Sunday. Got a rifle match on Saturday to go to!
I make all my rifle wedges out of cheap big box weldable steel and cut it to size with a hacksaw and file. I then clamp it into a vise that has protective jaws with one end extended above the jaws about 1/2". I then take a small ball pein hammer and start to tap on the end of the steel to form the head. This will take some care so as not to form cracks - only heavy enough hammer blows to shape the head - no heat necessary - then file to shape. Saw in the pin slot and do as others have said and place the pin under the escutcheon plate. This should take you about 20 minutes of work. Good luck -.
Most of the Old Originals I Have collected around the Old B'ham Gun trade were all Steel Castings and so well cast they need very little file work.. The Old Boys were very good at casting small parts
usng the Lost Wax process, used by the Ancient Egyptions..
Even the Escuchens were Cast.. O.D.
usng the Lost Wax process, used by the Ancient Egyptions..
Even the Escuchens were Cast.. O.D.
But it won't look like a piece of steel heated with a torch and beaten with a hammer. Plus there's the factor of the value of the time involved.
longcruise
70 Cal.
My time has absolutely zero dollar value. 
I am missing one on my 1977 CVA mountain rifle and I think I'll go out to the shop and make one instead of spending $15-$20 for one and waiting a week to get it.
Edited to show what I came up with
Edited to show what I came up with
Last edited:
I can understand placing a dollar value on your time if you are making a gun to sell. For a rank amateur like myself, just walking into my shop brightens my day, making things there is an extra uplifting bonus. There is a gun build in the vise in this picture.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2015
- Messages
- 5,010
- Reaction score
- 3,585
I too made a key for a cheap Ardessa rifle I picked up at a pawn shop. I too just cut some scrap steel to width and clamped it in the vise and had at it with the ball peen hammer. I’d show a picture but the rifle is at my daughter’s.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 3,236
- Reaction score
- 7,170
Forest,
Place the key stock that is already cut to width and thickness (not length yet) in the vice so only about 1/8" protrudes above the vice jaws. If you extend too high, then the peen hammer blows will bend the key. It will mushroom with repeated hammer blows. When the mushroom starts to hit the top of the jaws, move the key up another 1/8" etc until you have an oversized head. It needs to be oversized because the head will not be symmetrical or to your desired shape. When you have enough of the head mushroomed, then file and polish to your preference. Another item to consider: If the stock is curved where the key inserts, then the head will need to be bent down in order to follow the curve of the stock. A lot of the half stocks have a key head laying against a more or less flat stock. It all depends on a curved stock or no curve.
Larry
PS If you would have replied to my post, and not a separate one, I would have been notified by the forum that you had asked a question. I was unaware of your reply. Good luck
Larry
That's the way I think about it. Why spend 4 or 5 bucks when I can make one myself in a couple of days?
SeaBee133
40 Cal
I have all those tools, and a blasting cap box full of good smithing coke. And will still buy new wedges if needed. My discounted labor rate of $25/hr still makes a hand forged barrel wedge/key a $100 part.
Cleaning up a cheap commercial sight I found in my plunder. This is the best way I've found to hold the thing, soldering it to a piece of square stock.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2021
- Messages
- 2,818
- Reaction score
- 6,042
I do basically the same thing, usually epoxy small parts to a piece of scrap wood. Clamp the wood in a vise and file/sand away.
