In which I attempt to build a Pecatonica Blunderbuss

Well, I finally did it. After lusting over it for the better part of a year, I finally broke down and bought the Pecatonica Blunderbuss parts set.

http://longrifles-pr.com/blunderbuss.shtml

I'm very new at this muzzleloader building stuff, but I figure this should be a good learning opportunity and might make for a fun winter project. I'm a recovering machinist so I'm pretty comfortable working with metal, but I never have been much of a woodworker. My plan is to use this thread as a "build log" of sorts to detail what goes into building one of these things and the challenges faced by a rank amateur such as myself. This will be the thread I kept looking for before embarking on this project. It will be picture heavy and may include a few videos, but we'll see. I'll do separate posts about the stock, lock, barrel, furniture, and some basic test fitting as I get started. There will be an initial flurry of posts while I document things, then it will slow down and updates will be few and far between as most of my project timelines can best be measured on a geological timeline.

Ok, so first things first... let's see what's in the box!



Stock, barrel, bag o' parts. Simple enough.

I'd asked for a chunk of walnut to test stains and I also received a thin plank of walnut, similar to the maple the barrel is taped to in the image above, but not pictured. That piece of maple will find a home with another project. That's it, other than the mess of styrofoam peanuts and the ramrod.



Furniture, hardware, lock, and ramrod tip & jag. First impression is that it is in fact a complete set of parts but will require quite a bit more fitting work than I was expecting. More on this later.

As you can see, most of this stuff is iron and steel which fits well as I've intended to be a very functional "working" gun, so no inlay or other fancy stuff. This is definitely not going to be davec2's Copy of an original blunderbuss thread, or Noeyebrows' English style blunderbuss build and 4 bore English Blunderbuss is done threads, I simply don't have the skills to match those guys. A mans got to know his limitations.

Next up: The Barrel

Here's the barrel, in all its .75 caliber glory.



22" OAL w/tang, 20" from muzzle to shoulder, 19.25" from muzzle to the bottom of the bore. I appreciate that 0.75" of breech plug engagement. Its about 1.125" across the flats of the hex, 1.23" OD and 1.1 ID at the muzzle. She weights in at 2lb 13.5oz. No makers mark, no proof marks, no flash hole.



The breech plug is indexed to the flats and then it appears the hex was draw filed, including the tang.



It sits nice and flush but is a little rough and will require some cleanup.



When I initially placed the order I'd asked for the underlugs to be installed, then thought better of it and called back the next business day and asked that they not be installed. That didn't make it into the final calculus and both lugs were installed. The rear is on a small dovetail.



The front is soldered on.



I'm not sure what type of solder this is, and while its a little rough it does seem to have wetted completely under the lug



As someone coming from TC Hawkens and Renegades with big chunky lugs for keys, these things are absolutely tiny! The width on both is 0.425" and height is 0.175"!

I don't know if its worth removing the underlugs while I fit the barrel to the stock, we'll see.



The "wedding band" features are very nice, if not a little chattery. I'm hoping I can maybe clean that up a bit.



The "business end" is impressive but not exactly what I expected. I suspect the flare may have been a separate piece that was added later, probably welded on.



It's quite rough and I'm hoping I can polish it out while keeping it concentric, I wouldn't want to ruin the transition.

Apparently there is a 10 image limit per post so that's it for the barrel.

On to the lock and trigger!



Here is the "L&R Queen Anne Flint" lock, as supplied by Pecatonica



I'll admit the surface rust was a little surprising.



It's going to take a lot of grit to get this cleaned up. I haven't decided how I want to finish this yet, I'm thinking maybe some sort of browning process to keep it subdued.



L&R stamp on the backside of the lock plate.

It didn't include a flint so I can't test it, and I still haven't bothered to see if a file skates across the frizzen but I'll update when I get there. L&R says 3/4" flints on their website page for the Queen Anne lock, so I've ordered a couple 3/4 x 3/4" square FLINT-ENG-6S from Track. Unfortunately their 3/4 x 7/8" FLINT-ENG-6 is currently out of stock, but I'd like to get a couple of those to try out as well.

The trigger assembly is very basic, almost primitive looking.



It's got some odd casting artifacts in the surface too. I can't really find a match for it anywhere online.



The trigger pad is very wide and the whole thing is pretty rough. Also no provision for mounting. Hopefully I can knock that cross pin out so I can break it down and clean it up. It's really sloppy in the bar/plate so that might get re-cut and perhaps earn a bronze bushing. I need to keep reminding myself I'm not building the space shuttle, but after years of manufacturing prototype surgical tools its going to be hard to keep those urges in check.

Furniture includes a set of 3 thimbles and entry pipe, buttplate, long trigger guard, and simple side plate. All steel.



The buttplate is a surprisingly robust chunk of steel with a surprisingly long ... whatever the big spike is called. (Sorry, still learning)



Fairly odd hook looking feature under the top section that I haven't figured out yet. Maybe that's supposed to get a pin? More reading to do.



The ramrod thimbles and entry pipe are also some sort of steel



Again, I like the "wedding band" features, though the "skirt" on that entry thimble is going to be a real challenge to inlet properly.



The trigger guard is incredibly long but seems to be a very high quality part, perhaps a lost wax casting? The big gates will need to be knocked off, of course.



Probably one of the nicer castings I've handled recently. I'm not entirely sure how its supposed to mount, but I'll figure it out.



I like the acorn finial, very classy.



The big spike on the tail matches the spike on the top of the buttplate.



The sideplate is very simple, unadorned steel



Lock and tang screws are surprisingly high quality. A touch/vent hole liner was included, but I'll probably ditch it and pick up a stainless steel White Lightnin' vent when the times comes.

The rest of the hardware is pretty generic muzzleloader faire. Wood screws are 3x #4s, 3x #6, 2x #10 and then 5x 0.072" dia nails that I assume I'm supposed to cut up for pins. There are no instructions to tell you where any of these are intended to go, so I'll have to figure that out at some point.

Ahh, the wood. My nemesis.

The very high temp white light and grey background probably make it look very pale, but its not as bad as all that.



A little big of grain figure in the wrist and very straight into the toe of the butt.



The lock inlet is a bit rough, and it does break into the barrel channel



The "hump" in the underside at the ramrod entry is an interesting stylistic feature.



Side profile of the forend.



The ramrod channel. It's cut for a 3/8" ramrod which seems a little undersized compared to the comparatively enormous bore size. I wish it was a 7/16" or 1/2"



Inlet for the trigger, but not for the trigger guard. The trigger plate is oversize and will not drop in as it sits currently. Which I guess is good, because I suspect I'll have to remove a lot of metal to clean it up.



The buttplate cut screams "apprentice with a dull beaver" to me, but as this is all getting covered with the steel buttplate its probably not the end of the world.



Inlet for the buttplate does not look square or symmetrical. I'll know more about that as I get into it.



Pre-carve on the wrist is not exactly smooth, but nothing I can't take care of with some sandpaper.

Looks like a nice piece of wood.

Breech end of the inlet



This is going to take some cleanup. Most of this will be hidden by the barrel and lock but man, I was not expecting it to be this rough.



The rounded corners in the back of the breech section and tang will need to be cut out to match as well.



There's a real odd transition in the middle of the barrel channel that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It'll sand out but its really odd. Might be a misalignment from where they changed operations in the cutting machine and didn't quite get it lined up.



Another odd section in the forend near the muzzle.



The nose on this thing is far FAR from symmetrical. That's going to take a whole bunch of head scratching to figure out how to fix.

A couple more pics of the lock inlet

I have to say I'm not impressed with the interior machining on the big end of the barrel. It looks from here like there may be some gaps in the inletting on the breech end. We'll see how it turns out.

Here's a couple pics of the breech plug and tang off the shipping board





I appreciate that an effort was made to get it to blend in.

Getting the breech plug and tang dropped into the stock is probably going to be my first real challenge







Nothing really "fits" as the slot for the tang is undersized, but I'd rather it be under than over.



The lock also does not exactly drop in. It's catching on the inside of the inlet so I'll need to take it apart and add one part at a time until I can figure out where its interfering.



It doesn't exactly match the inlet either, but it might be slightly undersized?



I'll find out more after I strip the lock down to the lock plate. Pics to follow. Eventually. Also seen here, the lock bolsters are rather generous.

The inlet for the buttplate is far from accurate or complete



That's going to take quite a bit of work to get flush, it looks like I might end up losing about 1/4" off the LOP just to get that cleaned up.

Order a jar of Jarrows inletting black and be prepared to get most of it on yourself. That's what I've been doing the last couple of days. I doesn't look like it will take over about 1/8" to get the buttplate to fit. There are some good books on stock building that will help you out if you don't already have them, also probably some videos on line. Maybe some one can list them for you. Don't be afraid to ask for some help here either. There's a thousand years worth of experience on this forum.

So that's about it, for now.

The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed that there is no ramrod hole cut in the stock, nor cut in the bottom of the barrel channel for the ramrod, cut from above. This is a serious setback for me as I don't have the machinery to really add something like that with any sort of accuracy. I'll be doing a lot of reading and searching to figure that one out. I'll be re-reading that section of The Gunsmith of Grenville County tonight, and thumbing through my copy of Recreating The American Longrifle to see if they've got any good tips to resolve that problem.

All in all its probably fine as far as a kit parts set goes, but I'd like to have seen a bit more attention to detail for the money.

Secesh said:

Looks like a nice piece of wood.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I actually like it quite a bit myself! This will be my first time working with walnut so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

The Crisco Kid said:

I have to say I'm not impressed with the interior machining on the big end of the barrel. It looks from here like there may be some gaps in the inletting on the breech end. We'll see how it turns out.

Click to expand...

Same here. I've got a friend who has a lathe and rest that may be large enough to hold this thing securely. If that's the case, I'll see if I can get a cutter in there to smooth it out, or maybe some sort of rotary too with a stone on it on some sort of fixture? I don't think its the end of the world, its just going to be tedious as all get-out to try and finish by hand.

The Crisco Kid said:

Order a jar of Jarrows inletting black and be prepared to get most of it on yourself. That's what I've been doing the last couple of days. I doesn't look like it will take over about 1/8" to get the buttplate to fit. There are some good books on stock building that will help you out if you don't already have them, also probably some videos on line. Maybe some one can list them for you. Don't be afraid to ask for some help here either. There's a thousand years worth of experience on this forum.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the recommendation! I'll take a look around for the Jarrows black when I get a chance. There's probably about 10,000 years worth of experience here! It's one of the reasons I joined this forum in the first place

Be prepared for a lot of stupid questions, though I promise I'll try to search before starting new threads

It’s a set of component parts from various manufacturers. There’s lots of work to be done to get them to marry but it takes work. Take it step by step.
And yes, You’ll need more than a piece of sandpaper to get it done.

Try to draw a center line to keep you buttplate, trigger guard, thimbles, and barrel lined up and straight. Might be hard to do with a pre carved stock but it will help!

It’s not a Kibler, that’s for sure! Looks to be a really fun project though! Can’t wait to see the progress on this blunderbuss.

Drain_Bamage,
You do have two excellent books to guide you through the process.
Rule one is never get in a hurry.
When you run into a problem you are not sure about stop
and give it thought before proceeding.
I have built these things for over 50 years and have only used
a pre-carve stock three times. They will have their challenges.
I prefer to work from a plank.
I might also mention that I have tried different coatings to indicate
where to remove wood. I always go back to candle smoke, it
gives a very thin coating that transfers very well.
Since you are a "retarded" machinist you will recognize problems
quicker than most people starting out.
Keep your nose in those books and if you still have a question
post it on here. You will get plenty of answers and some
of them will be correct!
Good luck and keep posting your progress.
Barry

Just checking in to see if you’ve made any progress yet.

Lots of reading, but not a lot of progress!

Planning out the assembly is still my primary concern and where I'm focusing most of my energies, the last thing I want to do is get excited and go off half cocked, then start making mistakes. I've been looking at a lot of Brown Bess and Baker builds here on the forum and also on youtube just to get an idea of assembly tactics, one piece at a time.

I also picked up another book, The Blunderbuss 1500-1900 - James D. Forman


Its about the size and thickness of a comic book and has a lot of historical anecdotes and pictures, but its not as detailed as I'd have liked with regards to assembly or finishing. As with many such things, the B&W images are not always high enough resolution to use as a good reference. It was still an interesting read, just not what I was expecting.



For example, I'm still scratching my head a little bit as to how I want to do the single tang screw. Two completely different animals, I know, but from reading posts here on the forum from, many guys who have worked over older Thompson Center Hawkens and Renegades seem to be of the opinion that a machine screw passed through the wrist from the tang to the trigger guard is a great way to build some strength into the assembly. I really like that idea, but I'm unsure if I want said screw to go from the bottom up, or the top down, or if I can make that work with the trigger guard I have now. Little things like that. I plan on actually shooting this monster so I'd like it to hold together. I'm not necessarily looking for historical accuracy in assembly here, safety and functionality are the primary concerns.

I've already decided to abandon the nails that came with the parts set in favor of 3/32" assembly pins from TotW but I'm still waiting for them to arrive, along with a couple other bits and pieces. While I was there I ordered one of their RT-10-6 Shotgun Ramrod Tip, 10ga to put on the end of the ramrod, rather than using the screw-on jag. I'll use the female threaded tip on the other end of the rod. TotW offers the RT-10-6 10ga (0.740" OD) and the RT-12-6 12ga (0.700" OD) flat faced tip for loading, but no 11ga/0.75" bore flavor. I was going to make my own, but its hard to argue with a $4.30 part that requires almost no effort. If that 0.740" ends up being a little too close to nominal bore size I can always turn it down.

I've also been looking into a good vise, and there appear to be some pretty functional and inexpensive patternmakers vises around. I grew up on cheap flea market, garage sale, and old harbor freight tools and at some point in my life I realized I was spending as much time fighting my way around low quality tools as I was working on the projects themselves. I don't mind investing in proper tools to do a job right, so I'd like to get a proper vise. Kibler used to have one on their site that I was eyeballing pretty hard, but it looks like they stopped selling it. I'll keep looking I guess.

As I mentioned, I move on a glacial timeline. I'm still an 8-5 guy with other responsibilities but thanks for checking in!

Oh, I did stumble into an interesting video about drilling the ramrod hole I've been dreading:



He makes it look almost too easy.

Luckily, the Blunderbuss is short enough that I can probably get away with using a 24" long 3/8" diameter "bell hanger bit" easily sourced from places as pedestrian as The Home Depot for as little as $20. Even a 48" version is not unreasonable. I don't have a hand drill such as the gentleman in the video is using, but I bet I could find one.

If I can help with pics of my buss purchased here a few months back, please let me know. Happy to if it helps.